Water Line Leak & Repair in Gainesville, Florida

Find it. Fix it. Put the yard back. Leaks don’t stand a chance.

Rather text? Send a photo of the problem to 352-377-9447 and we’ll tell you what it sounds like.

Licensed Florida Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

Florida certified plumbing contractor license. Owner run and locally operated. Leak Detection in Gainesville, FL

Flat-rate leak detection. Find it or it's free.

$ 375

Service fee to come out. Waived on larger jobs.

$ 69

Parts and labor warranty, then manufacturer coverage.

2 yr

Water line repair in Gainesville means finding and fixing a leak in the private service line that runs from your water meter to your house. First Choice Plumbing locates the leak with non-invasive equipment, marks it in the yard, then either repairs that section or replaces the run in PEX, copper, or HDPE. Leak detection is $375 flat, and if we don’t find it, you don’t pay.

What Are the Signs of a Water Line Leak?

A buried line rarely blows all at once. It weeps first, and it tells on itself in small ways for weeks before anybody connects the dots. Here’s what our customers usually notice, roughly in the order they notice it.

A water bill that climbed and stayed up, with no change in how many people live there or how you use water.
A wet, spongy, or unusually green strip across the yard, often running in a straight line from the meter box toward the house.
Water pressure that dropped everywhere at once. One weak faucet is a fixture problem. The whole house going soft is a supply problem.
The sound of running water when every tap, toilet, and irrigation zone is off.
Air spitting from a faucet, or water that runs cloudy for a second when you first open it.
Soft spots, settling, or a driveway edge that has started to dip where the line runs underneath it.

The free test you can run in thirty minutes. Shut off every fixture in the house and turn the irrigation off at the timer. Open the lid on your meter box and look at the small triangle or star, the low-flow indicator. Watch it for a full thirty minutes. If it moves at all, water is going somewhere on your side of the meter. That’s not proof of where the leak is, but it’s proof there is one, and it’s the first thing we’re going to ask you about when you call.

What Does Water Line Repair Cost in Gainesville?

Water line work gets priced by how long the run is, how deep it sits, what’s on top of it, and what pipe is going back in the ground. A short repair beside an accessible meter box is a completely different job from a hundred and twenty foot run under a paved driveway, and we’re not going to pretend one number covers both. Anybody who quotes you a firm price over the phone without seeing it is guessing, and you’ll find out where the guess went at the end.

What we will publish is the part we can:

$69 service fee to come out and look at it. Waived on larger jobs.
$375 flat for leak detection. You’re guaranteed we’ll find it. If we don’t, you don’t pay.
Two years parts and labor on the work, with the manufacturer warranty on top of that.
Financing through Wisetack on jobs from about $500 up, so a line replacement doesn’t have to come out of savings in one hit. Financing options

You get the number before we start the work, not after it’s finished and the trench is open.

You'll Meet the Man Whose Name Is on the License

Will Harrod is the certified plumbing contractor behind First Choice Plumbing, license CFC1430748, and he still runs the estimates himself. Mike handles service calls, and Kim answers the phone and dispatches the day. It’s a small crew on purpose.

That matters on a job like this one, because a buried leak is a judgment call. Somebody has to look at your pipe, your soil, and your budget and tell you the truth about which fix you actually need. That’s easier to do when the person telling you owns the company.

Who Is Responsible for the Line Between the Meter and the House?

In Gainesville and across Alachua County, the utility owns the main in the street and the meter itself. Everything on the house side of that meter is yours. That buried run across your yard is called the private service line, and when it leaks, locating and repairing it is on you.

That’s the part most people find out the hard way, usually after a bill that made them sit down.

There is some relief available. GRU offers a leak adjustment for customers who get hit by a hidden leak, and it’s worth asking about. But that adjustment only applies after the leak has been repaired and your usage comes back to normal, which means the fastest way to stop paying for a leak is to fix it, then go ask.

Here’s our end of it. If we get out there and the problem turns out to be on the utility side of the meter, we’re going to tell you that and hand you GRU’s number instead of selling you a repair you don’t need. You’ll be out the trip fee and nothing else. We’d rather lose a job and be the plumber you call the next three times.

See exactly how we locate a hidden leak.

How We Find It Before We Dig

Anybody can dig a trench. The skill is knowing where to dig, and that’s the part we built this company on.

We isolate the line and pressure test it so we know the leak is actually in the service run and not in the house, under the slab, or out at an irrigation valve. We trace the line electronically so we know its real route, which is often not the route the previous owner assumed. Then we listen. Acoustic equipment picks up the sound of water escaping under pressure through soil, and we walk it down until the loudest point is the only point. We mark it in the grass with paint or a flag before a shovel moves.

Leak detection is $375 flat. You’re guaranteed we’ll find it. If we don’t, you don’t pay. That’s been our promise since the day we opened, and it’s the reason insurance adjusters and restoration companies send us work.

If the repair moves forward with us, we start it the same visit whenever the parts and the daylight allow. Read more: Leak Detection in Gainesville, FL and Slab Leak Detection in Gainesville, FL.

Do You Repair the Line or Replace It?

Both are real answers. Which one is right depends on the pipe you have in the ground, and we’ll show you the piece we pull out so you can see it for yourself.

A spot repair usually makes sense when:

It’s one clean break in an otherwise healthy line, often from a shovel, a root, or shifting sand.
The pipe is copper or PVC in good condition with no history of leaks.
The break is shallow and easy to reach without cutting through a driveway or slab.

Replacing the whole run usually makes sense when:

The line is polybutylene. Homes built or replumbed in this area between roughly 1978 and 1995 often have it, and it fails at the acetal fittings. Patch one and the next one is already coming.
The line is galvanized steel. It rusts from the inside out, so pressure keeps dropping even after you fix the hole.
You’ve already had this line repaired once or twice.
The run is long, deep, or under something expensive, in which case doing it once properly beats digging twice.

Here’s the honest part. If a spot repair is genuinely the right call, that’s what we quote, even though it’s the smaller ticket. A repair that holds is worth more to us than a replacement you didn’t need, because the second one costs us the referral. Pipe repair · Water service line replacement · Whole-house repipe

What We Replace It With, and What It Takes to Get There

We size the new line to the house, not to whatever was there before, because an undersized run is why some homes never had good pressure to begin with. Depending on the length, the depth, and what’s sitting on top of it, we’ll use PEX-A, copper, or HDPE for long buried runs. All three outlast what they’re replacing by a wide margin when they’re installed right and bedded properly in our sandy soil.

About your yard. No, we don’t trench the whole property. Wherever the site allows it, we open two small pits, one at each end, and bore the new line underneath the ground between them. That keeps driveways, sidewalks, patios, and mature root systems intact. When a straight open cut is genuinely the better and cheaper choice, we’ll say so instead of selling you the fancier method.

And we patch every hole we cut. If the work goes through drywall inside, a professional drywall contractor does the patch. We don’t paint, and we tell you that before we start rather than letting you discover it on the last day.

Permits. Florida requires a permit to alter, repair, or replace a plumbing system, and a water service line replacement counts. Alachua County Growth Management handles unincorporated areas and the City of Gainesville permits inside city limits. We pull it. We don’t skip it, and we don’t ask you to.

Call Now: (352) 377-9447

What to Expect When You Call Us

Call or book online.

Kim answers, takes the address, and asks what you’re seeing. If it’s an active break flooding your yard, tell her, and we move you up. Book online

We locate it and mark it.

Non-invasive first. Before anything gets dug, you’ll know where the leak is, what caused it, and what the fix costs. No surprise number at the end.

We repair or replace, test it, and put things back.

The line gets pressure tested before we close anything up, the permit gets closed out, the holes get patched, and your warranty comes to you in writing.

The Difference Is in the Details

Licensed Florida plumbing contractor CFC1430748. Find it or it’s free.

What matters	First Choice Plumbing	Typical Plumbing Company
What it costs to come out	Published up front: $69 service fee, $375 flat leak detection	"Free estimate" with no published numbers anywhere on the site
If the leak isn't found	You don't pay for the detection	Billed by the hour while they narrow it down
Who shows up	A small local crew, with the owner still running estimates himself	Whoever the dispatch board assigned that morning
Digging	Located and marked first, bored under hard surfaces where the site allows	Trench first and work down the yard until they hit it
Holes and patching	We patch every hole we cut, drywall by a professional patcher	Patching listed as "by others" in the fine print
Warranty	Two years parts and labor, then manufacturer coverage on top	One year, sometimes labor only
Who is accountable	A named Florida license holder, CFC1430748	A call center and a franchise number
If it turns out to be the utility's line	We tell you and hand you their number	You get sold a repair anyway

Where We Fix Water Lines

We’re based in Hawthorne and we run the whole of Greater Alachua County plus the rural stretches around it, which is exactly where the long buried service runs, the old lines, and the wells are. Kim batches the day’s calls by geography so our tech isn’t crossing the county twice, which is a large part of why we can usually get to you sooner than you’d expect.

Gainesville, Hawthorne, Newberry, Archer, Jonesville, Alachua, High Springs, Micanopy, Waldo, Melrose, Keystone Heights, Interlachen, Starke, Williston, and the surrounding parts of Alachua, Marion, Putnam, Bradford, Union, Clay, and Levy counties.

All service areas

PEX-A

Flexible, freeze tolerant and fast to run. Our first choice for most residential service lines.

Copper Type L

The traditional choice where the site or the inspector calls for it. Installed and bedded properly in sandy soil.

HDPE

For long buried runs and directional bores under driveways, sidewalks and mature trees.

We patch every hole we cut.

Two small pits instead of a trench where the site allows, and a professional drywall patch on anything inside.

Water Line Repair Questions We Get Every Week

How do I know the leak is in the water line and not inside the house?

Shut off every fixture and the irrigation, then watch the low-flow indicator on your meter for thirty minutes. If it moves, you're losing water on your side of the meter. If your yard also has a wet strip or your pressure dropped house-wide, the buried service line is the first place we look. We confirm it by isolating and pressure testing the line before we dig.

Who pays for a leak between the meter and my house?

You do. The utility owns the main in the street and the meter itself, and everything on the house side of the meter is private property. That's why a hidden service line leak shows up on your bill and stays there until it's repaired.

Can GRU adjust my bill after a hidden leak?

GRU does offer a leak adjustment program for customers hit by a hidden leak, and it's worth calling to ask. The adjustment is applied after the leak is repaired and your usage returns to normal, so get the repair done first, then request it. We'll document what we found and what we fixed so you have something to hand them.

How long does a water line repair or replacement take?

A located spot repair is usually a same-day job. A full service line replacement is typically one to two days depending on the length of the run, the depth, whether we're boring under a driveway, and the permit inspection schedule. We'll give you the timeline with the quote, before anything gets opened up.

Do I need a permit to replace my water service line?

Yes. Florida requires a permit to alter, repair, or replace a plumbing system, and a service line replacement counts. Alachua County Growth Management permits unincorporated areas and the City of Gainesville permits inside city limits. We pull the permit and see the inspection through as part of the job.

Will homeowners insurance cover a water line leak?

Policies vary widely. Most standard policies cover the resulting water damage rather than the pipe repair itself, and some carriers sell a separate service line endorsement that does cover the buried line. Check your policy or ask your agent. We work with insurance companies regularly and we write everything up in the detail an adjuster needs.

Can polybutylene be repaired, or does the whole line have to go?

A polybutylene line can be patched, but it's rarely worth it. The material fails at the fittings and the failures keep coming, so a patch buys you months, not years. If we find polybutylene in the ground, we'll tell you plainly that replacing the run is the better spend and show you the piece we pulled out.

Do you come out after hours if the line breaks at night?

Yes. A broken service line doesn't wait for business hours, and neither does the water. Call the number and you'll get a person on the emergency line. Shut the water off at the meter if you can get to it while you wait for us.

Stop paying for water you never used.

We’ll find the leak, tell you the truth about what it takes to fix it, and put your yard back the way we found it. Licensed, owner-run, and local since the day we opened. Leaks don’t stand a chance.

Book Online

Tell us what's going on and we'll take it from there

You get a real person, a $69 visit, a flat price before we start, and a company that patches what it cuts and answers the phone when you call back. If a smaller fix is the right call, we’ll tell you that too.

First Choice Plumbing is a locally owned, owner led plumbing company working Gainesville, Hawthorne and Greater Alachua County. Leak detection, repipes, water heaters, drains, trenchless lining, well water filtration and septic. We find it, we fix it, we guarantee it.

Florida Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

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