- Leaks don't stand a chance.
Water Service Line Replacement in Gainesville, FL
The pipe from your meter to your house is yours. When it gives out, we replace it, and we put your yard back.
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, held by the owner.
Service call to come out and diagnose, waived on larger jobs
$
69
Parts and labor warranty on our work, plus manufacturer coverage
2
yr
Emergency line, because a main does not wait for business hours
24
/7
What is water service line replacement?
Water service line replacement means replacing the underground pipe that carries water from your meter to your house. In Gainesville and Alachua County that pipe belongs to the property owner, not the utility. First Choice Plumbing locates the failure, replaces the line in PEX or copper, pulls the new pipe through instead of trenching the whole yard wherever the ground allows, pulls the permit, and warranties the work.
- Where your responsibility starts
Who is responsible for the water line between the meter and the house?
You are. It is the part of the answer nobody wants, so here it is plainly.
The utility owns the main in the street and the meter itself. Everything on the house side of that meter, the buried run across your yard, under your driveway, up through your slab and into the wall, belongs to the property owner. Call the utility about a wet spot in your front yard and they will check their side, confirm the meter is fine, and hand the job back to you. That is not them being difficult. That is where the line is drawn, and it is the same in the city and out in the county.
Two things worth knowing while you are dealing with it.
- First, if a hidden leak already ran up a shocking bill, ask your utility about a leak adjustment before you pay it. Many customers qualify once the leak is repaired and documented. We will give you the paperwork you need.
- Second, if you are on a private well instead of city water, the same buried run exists between your pressure tank and your house, and it fails for the same reasons. We replace those too.
Not sure where the leak is yet? Start with leak detection.
- Before anybody digs
Let's find out what is actually wrong before anybody digs
Call and tell us what you are seeing. The bill, the pressure, the wet spot. We will come out for $69, prove where the water is going, and give you one written price with the repair option and the replacement option side by side. If the smaller fix is the right one, that is the one we will tell you to buy.
- $69 to come out
- Waived on larger jobs. One written price before work starts.
- Financing from about $500
- Through Wisetack. The repair option and the replacement option, side by side.
- Meet the owner
Who you are actually hiring
First Choice Plumbing is a locally owned shop out of Hawthorne. Will Harrod holds the license, CFC1430748, and he still runs the estimates himself, including this one. Big Mike runs the service calls. Kim answers the phone and does the dispatching, which is why the truck gets to you without three days of phone tag.
Will’s favorite part of the trade is the part most plumbers avoid. “I like looking and finding things that other people can’t find.” Underground line work is exactly that, and it is why leak detection became the thing we are known for.
- Will Harrod, owner. Holds the license, CFC1430748, and still runs the estimates himself.
- Big Mike runs the service calls.
- Kim answers the phone and does the dispatching.
- Related work
If it turns out to be something else
Leak Detection.
$375 flat to come out and find it, and if we do not find it, you do not pay.
Water Line Leak & Repair.
When one section has failed and the rest of the run is sound, we repair it instead of replacing it.
Whole-House Repipe.
When the pipes inside the walls are the real problem, not the one in the yard. Every hole we cut gets patched.
Polybutylene & Galvanized Replacement.
If your house was piped between the late seventies and the mid nineties, this one is worth two minutes of your time.
- How to tell the service line is the problem
How do I know if my water service line is failing?
Your bill jumped and nothing changed.
No new people in the house, no new irrigation, no filled pool, and the number went up anyway. An underground line can lose thousands of gallons a month through a crack you would never hear.
Pressure dropped everywhere at once.
One weak faucet is a fixture problem. Weak pressure at every faucet, on both sides of the house, usually means the pipe feeding all of them is corroded, crimped or leaking.
There is a wet or unusually green stripe in the yard.
Look at the ground between the meter and the front of the house. A soggy patch, a strip of grass that grows faster than everything around it, or a spot that never dries out is the line telling on itself.
You hear water running with everything off.
Stand in a quiet room with every fixture closed and listen. If you hear it, something is still flowing.
The water is discolored or gritty.
Rusty or cloudy water, especially after the street main gets worked on, points at old galvanized pipe shedding from the inside.
The driveway or walkway has cracked or lifted.
Water moving under a slab washes sand out from under it. Florida sand does not put itself back.
The five minute test you can run yourself: turn off every fixture in the house, then go look at the meter. If the low-flow indicator is still creeping, water is going somewhere. That is a free test, it takes five minutes, and we would rather you run it than pay anybody to tell you what you can see yourself.
- How we replace a water service line
How does a water service line replacement actually work?
We prove where it is failing.
We start at the meter, verify the loss is on your side, and locate the leak instead of guessing at it. Leak detection is what we are known for, and we will not sell you a new line to fix a problem a single coupling repair would have handled. Leak detection
We give you one written price and two honest options.
Repair the section, or replace the run. We tell you which one we would do at our own house and why. If a repair is the right call today, we say so. Water line repair
We replace it, pull the permit, and put the ground back.
New line, pressure tested, tied in at the meter and at the house, inspected, and the yard closed up. Two year parts and labor warranty on our work, manufacturer warranty on the materials. Our warranty
Digging as little as the ground allows. Where the soil, the depth and what is buried in between cooperate, we open a small pit at the meter and another where the line enters the house and pull the new pipe through between them. Your lawn gets two holes instead of a trench across the whole front yard. Where it does not cooperate, and in Florida it sometimes does not, we trench, and we tell you that up front rather than discovering it halfway through the day. Under a driveway or a walk we bore where we can so the concrete stays where it is.
What we put in the ground. For most homes here that is PEX, run in one continuous piece with no buried joints to fail, or copper where a home or an inspector calls for it. Both beat what usually comes out: corroded galvanized, brittle polybutylene, or a run of thin poly tubing somebody buried in 1985 and never thought about again. Polybutylene and galvanized replacement
- The difference is in the details
The difference is in the details
| What matters underground | First Choice Plumbing | Typical Installer / Big-Name Brand |
|---|---|---|
| Finding the failure | Located and proven before anybody quotes a replacement | Assumed from symptoms, quoted as a full replacement by default |
| Repair or replace | Both priced, with a straight recommendation and the reason | One option, and it is usually the larger one |
| Your yard | Pulled through where the ground allows, two pits instead of a trench | Trench first, because it is faster for the crew |
| Who is on the job | Owner-run shop, licensed contractor still doing the estimates | Rotating crew, dispatcher you never meet, owner behind a curtain |
| The price | $69 to come out, waived on larger jobs, one written number before work starts | No fee published anywhere, price appears after the truck is in the drive |
| Permit and inspection | Pulled and scheduled as part of the job | Left to the homeowner or skipped |
| After the work | Two year parts and labor warranty, ground put back | Shorter warranty, dirt pile left where the trench was |
Licensed Florida plumbing contractor CFC1430748. Locally owned, out of Hawthorne. The owner still shows up. Book Online
- What it looks like done right
What it looks like when it is done right
The meter stops moving when the house is quiet. Your next bill looks like your bills used to look. The shower holds pressure while the washer runs. The wet stripe in the grass dries out and stays dry, and in a few weeks you cannot tell where we worked.
You have a written warranty in a drawer, a permit closed out with the county or the city, and a pipe under your yard that will outlive the one it replaced by decades. And you have a plumber’s number in your phone who answered when you called and told you the truth about what you actually needed.
That is the whole job. No drama, no surprises, no crater in the front yard.
- What waiting costs you
What happens if you leave a failing service line alone
A service line rarely gets better on its own, and the bill for waiting is not just the water.
The leak keeps running, so every month is another inflated bill. The escaping water keeps washing sand out from under whatever is above it, which is how a driveway cracks or a walkway drops an inch. Wet soil against a foundation is its own problem. Old galvanized pipe keeps closing up from the inside, so the pressure keeps falling until a shower and a running dishwasher cannot happen at the same time.
Then there is timing. A line that is weeping today is a line that can let go on a Sunday night, and an emergency dig on a Sunday night costs more than a scheduled one on a Tuesday morning. If yours has already let go, do not wait on this page. Call us. Emergency plumbing
$69
Service call to come out and diagnose, waived on larger jobs
2 years
Parts and labor warranty on our work, plus manufacturer coverage
CFC1430748
Florida certified plumbing contractor license, held by the owner
24/7
Emergency line, because a main does not wait for business hours
- Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
You do. The utility owns the main and the meter. Everything from the meter to your house is the property owner's, including the run under the yard and the driveway. If a hidden leak already inflated your bill, ask your utility about a leak adjustment once the repair is documented, because many customers qualify.
Most single-family replacements are a one day job. A long run, a driveway crossing, rock or roots, or a line that has to be bored under concrete can push it into a second day. We tell you which one you are looking at before we start, not at five o'clock.
Usually not. Where the soil, the depth and whatever else is buried out there allow it, we open a small pit at the meter and another where the line enters the house and pull the new pipe through between them. Where the ground does not allow it, we trench, and we say so up front.
Yes. Florida requires a permit to alter, repair or replace a plumbing system, and that includes the service line. Unincorporated Alachua County permits through the county building division, while the City of Gainesville and the other municipalities permit through their own offices. We pull it and we schedule the inspection.
Usually PEX, run in one continuous piece so there are no buried joints to fail, or copper where the home or the inspector calls for it. What comes out is typically corroded galvanized, brittle polybutylene, or thin poly tubing from the eighties.
It is unlikely in most homes here, but utilities across the country, including in this area, have been inventorying service line materials and mailing customers about unknown pipe under federal rules. If you got one of those letters and your material is listed as unknown, we can tell you what you actually have while we are at the meter.
Policies vary. Many cover the water damage a failed line causes but not the pipe itself, and some sell a separate service line rider. We document what we find with photos and a written report either way, the same way we do for insurance leak claims. Insurance claim leak detection
- FAQ
Frequently asked questions
You do. The utility owns the main and the meter. Everything from the meter to your house is the property owner's, including the run under the yard and the driveway. If a hidden leak already inflated your bill, ask your utility about a leak adjustment once the repair is documented, because many customers qualify.
Most single-family replacements are a one day job. A long run, a driveway crossing, rock or roots, or a line that has to be bored under concrete can push it into a second day. We tell you which one you are looking at before we start, not at five o'clock.
Usually not. Where the soil, the depth and whatever else is buried out there allow it, we open a small pit at the meter and another where the line enters the house and pull the new pipe through between them. Where the ground does not allow it, we trench, and we say so up front.
Yes. Florida requires a permit to alter, repair or replace a plumbing system, and that includes the service line. Unincorporated Alachua County permits through the county building division, while the City of Gainesville and the other municipalities permit through their own offices. We pull it and we schedule the inspection.
Usually PEX, run in one continuous piece so there are no buried joints to fail, or copper where the home or the inspector calls for it. What comes out is typically corroded galvanized, brittle polybutylene, or thin poly tubing from the eighties.
It is unlikely in most homes here, but utilities across the country, including in this area, have been inventorying service line materials and mailing customers about unknown pipe under federal rules. If you got one of those letters and your material is listed as unknown, we can tell you what you actually have while we are at the meter.
Policies vary. Many cover the water damage a failed line causes but not the pipe itself, and some sell a separate service line rider. We document what we find with photos and a written report either way, the same way we do for insurance leak claims. Insurance claim leak detection
$69
Service call to come out and diagnose, waived on larger jobs
2 years
Parts and labor warranty on our work, plus manufacturer coverage
CFC1430748
Florida certified plumbing contractor license, held by the owner
24/7
Emergency line, because a main does not wait for business hours
- Where we work
Where we replace water service lines
We are based in Hawthorne and we work across Greater Alachua County and the counties around it. City water or private well, in town or ten miles down a dirt road, the buried line between your supply and your house is the same job.
Gainesville | Hawthorne | Alachua | High Springs | Newberry | Micanopy | Waldo | Melrose | Interlachen | Keystone Heights | Williston | Starke
Don’t see your town? We likely still come out — call 352-377-9447
- Leaks don't stand a chance.
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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First Choice Plumbing
6940 SE 221st St
Hawthorne, FL 32640 - Office Mon to Fri, 8 to 5. Emergency line 24/7.
Copyright © 2026 First Choice Plumbing Inc. All rights reserved. FL Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748.
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