How Much Does It Cost to Replace a Water Service Line?

By Matt Schmitz

September 09, 2021

You know the sinking feeling you got when you stepped in that giant puddle in your front lawn and the mud swallowed your sneakers up to the ankles like the quicksand your 10-year-old self just knew you’d get stuck in one day? Well, you can resign yourself to sinking some more when it turns out that you’re in need of an exterior water line replacement as opposed to a mere repair at roughly a quarter of the price. We’re about to go deep on just how deep into your pockets you’re gonna hafta dig to pay for this worst-case-scenario expense.

This May Also Interest You: What’s an Exterior Water Service Line?

Speaking of digging, excavation is a major portion of the overall cost of replacing your exterior water line — a job that may also call for fitting external valves, fusing, welding, pipe cutting, locating a leak and backfilling — so don’t expect it to be dirt cheap. On the bright side, we can help prepare you for the price so at least you won’t be suffering sticker shock when the contractor quote comes in.

Umm, If the Issue Is Underground, How Am I Supposed to Know?

In all likelihood, you’ll know. Maybe not immediately, unfortunately, but at some point, there will be signs. Be it discolored water coming out of your faucets, low water pressure, inexplicably high water bills, potholes, sunken spots in your driveway or sidewalk or soggy spots in the grass that refuse to dry up, the water leaking from your underground line will somehow make itself known.

But one thing’s for sure: The sooner you identify the issue and hire a contractor to address it, the more you’ll be able to mitigate damage to your property. Now, wherever possible, HomeServe’s editorial team encourages homeowners to consider DIY solutions, but due to the scope and complexity of exterior water service line repair, this is one job best left to the pros.

Back Up a Sec … How's This My Problem?

We’ll forgive you for not realizing that your responsibility for your home’s vital systems doesn’t stop at the soil. It’s likely true that your local government is responsible for the water main under your street, as well as the pipe that stretches from the main and underneath public right-of-way to bring fresh water from the municipal supply up to the edge of your property line. But where the line meets your lawn? That’s on you.

So, basically, if it falls within anywhere you’d yell at kids to get off your lawn, it’s your problem.

What Did I Do to Deserve This?

… well, it could be your fault — but a lot of different things could’ve caused enough damage to your underground water line that it needs to be replaced. Careless digging or overly aggressive yardwork are ways in which you may, indeed, be to blame. But other possible causes of leaks, breaks and all-out system failure are pipe aging or corrosion, ground shifting, invading tree roots and, arguably the most common culprit: extreme temperature swings.

In warmer climes such as in the South, water service lines are buried less than 3 feet deep because winters are seldom extreme enough to freeze the ground past the relatively shallow frost line (the operative word there being seldom, as evidenced by the Great Dallas Deep Freeze of 2021). Meanwhile, in the coldest areas, such as the Northern and Northeastern U.S., water lines may be buried more than 8 feet underground to prevent freezing in those regions' depth-plumbing frost line.

Pipe depth affects the replacement cost, as the technician must access the broken line in order to work on it — so the deeper they’ve gotta dig, the more time and effort the job requires. That drives up the price.

OK, What’s the Damage?

To give you an idea of what you can expect to pay for your water service line replacement, HomeServe has calculated the average costs, both nationally and state by state, for comparison. In order to determine what’s wrong with your system, you’ll have to call someone out to diagnose the problem, which comes with its own cost. We’ve calculated that average, as well. As we mentioned, the depth of your pipes has a bearing on cost, so we’ve listed the average depth here, too.

For a broader look at water service line expenses, check out our cost guide covering pricing averages for both repair and replacement state by state. And for a closer look at what factors into how much you’ll pay to get a water service line simply fixed as opposed to replaced outright, go to our state-by-state repair cost guide.

Below, you’ll find the average costs for water service line repair in your state, plus the average depths the water lines are buried. All figures are based on aggregated HomeServe data reported by our network of thousands of contractors across the nation. Where insufficient data was available to determine a verifiable average, we’ve noted so.

(At the time of this publication, another factor dramatically driving up costs was pandemic-precipitated materials shortages, impacting home maintenance, repair and construction sectors across the board; those supply-chain issues are generally expected to be temporary and are not reflected here.)

Nationwide

Diagnosis: $222
Replace: $3,581
Service Line Depth: 4.58 feet

State by State

1. Alabama

Diagnosis: $126
Replace: $2,961
Service Line Depth: 2.49 feet

2. Alaska

Diagnosis: Insufficient data
Replace: Insufficient data
Service Line Depth: Insufficient data

3. Arizona

Diagnosis: $190
Replace: $2,654
Service Line Depth: 2.82 feet

4. Arkansas

Diagnosis: $230
Replace: $2,687
Service Line Depth: 3.67 feet

5. California

Diagnosis: $168
Replace: $3,062
Service Line Depth: 3.17 feet

6. Colorado

Diagnosis: $152
Replace: $4,423
Service Line Depth: 6.16 feet

7. Connecticut

Diagnosis: $150
Replace: $4,088
Service Line Depth: 7.32 feet

8. Delaware

Diagnosis: $152
Replace: $3,125
Service Line Depth: 4.45 feet

9. District of Columbia

Diagnosis: $98
Replace: $1,431
Service Line Depth: 4.00 feet

10. Florida

Diagnosis: $179
Replace: $2,731
Service Line Depth: 2.53 feet

11. Georgia

Diagnosis: $287
Replace: $3,125
Service Line Depth: 3.08 feet

12. Hawaii

Diagnosis: Insufficient data
Replace: Insufficient data
Service Line Depth: Insufficient data

13. Idaho

Diagnosis: $195
Replace: $3,484
Service Line Depth: 4.95 feet

14. Illinois

Diagnosis: $159
Replace: $3,435
Service Line Depth: 5.26 feet

15. Indiana

Diagnosis: $143
Replace: $2,971
Service Line Depth: 3.83 feet

16. Iowa

Diagnosis: $184
Replace: $3,021
Service Line Depth: 5.97 feet

17. Kansas

Diagnosis: $126
Replace: $3,103
Service Line Depth: 4.68 feet

18. Kentucky

Diagnosis: $150
Replace: $2,471
Service Line Depth: 3.75 feet

19. Louisiana

Diagnosis: $199
Replace: $2,973
Service Line Depth: 3.81 feet

20. Maine

Diagnosis: $170
Replace: $3,330
Service Line Depth: 5.00 feet

21. Maryland

Diagnosis: $112
Replace: $2,974
Service Line Depth: 5.11 feet

22. Massachusetts

Diagnosis: $158
Replace: $2,493
Service Line Depth: 4.79 feet

23. Michigan

Diagnosis: $208
Replace: $3,413
Service Line Depth: 6.07 feet

24. Minnesota

Diagnosis: $174
Replace: $5,369
Service Line Depth: 8.27 feet

25. Mississippi

Diagnosis: $241
Replace: $2,493
Service Line Depth: 2.52 feet

26. Missouri

Diagnosis: $126
Replace: $3,437
Service Line Depth: 5.15 feet

27. Montana

Diagnosis: $206
Replace: $5,211
Service Line Depth: 5.64 feet

28. Nebraska

Diagnosis: Insufficient data
Replace: $4,818
Service Line Depth: 5.80 feet

29. Nevada

Diagnosis: $92
Replace: $1,439
Service Line Depth: 3.50 feet

30. New Hampshire

Diagnosis: Insufficient data
Replace: $5,809
Service Line Depth: 5.00 feet

31. New Jersey

Diagnosis: $123
Replace: $3,343
Service Line Depth: 5.04 feet

32. New Mexico

Diagnosis: $188
Replace: $2,712
Service Line Depth: 3.96 feet

33. New York

Diagnosis: $137
Replace: $4,790
Service Line Depth: 5.02 feet

34. North Carolina

Diagnosis: $205
Replace: $3,218
Service Line Depth: 3.89 feet

35. North Dakota

Diagnosis: $198
Replace: $5,243
Service Line Depth: Insufficient data

36. Ohio

Diagnosis: $268
Replace: $2,899
Service Line Depth: 5.76 feet

37. Oklahoma

Diagnosis: $138
Replace: $2,568
Service Line Depth: 2.90 feet

38. Oregon

Diagnosis: $185
Replace: $3,359
Service Line Depth: 4.05 feet

39. Pennsylvania

Diagnosis: $159
Replace: $3,154
Service Line Depth: 4.62 feet

40. Rhode Island

Diagnosis: $195
Replace: $5,294
Service Line Depth: 6.00 feet

41. South Carolina

Diagnosis: $308
Replace: $2,596
Service Line Depth: 2.68 feet

42. South Dakota

Diagnosis: $153
Replace: $4,487
Service Line Depth: 6.30 feet

43. Tennessee

Diagnosis: $195
Replace: $2,716
Service Line Depth: 3.07 feet

44. Texas

Diagnosis: $211
Replace: $2,382
Service Line Depth: 2.93 feet

45. Utah

Diagnosis: $94
Replace: $2,200
Service Line Depth: 4.16 feet

46. Vermont

Diagnosis: Insufficient data
Replace: $2,933
Service Line Depth: 4.00 feet

47. Virginia

Diagnosis: $209
Replace: $3,175
Service Line Depth: 4.58 feet

48. Washington

Diagnosis: $243
Replace: $3,530
Service Line Depth: 3.18 feet

49. West Virginia

Diagnosis: $252
Replace: $3,020
Service Line Depth: 3.88 feet

50. Wisconsin

Diagnosis: $123
Replace: $4,801
Service Line Depth: 6.82 feet

51. Wyoming

Diagnosis: $164
Replace: $4,032
Service Line Depth: 6.37 feet

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