Plumbing guides for Houston homeowners

These guides go deeper than the service pages. Each one is written for Houston-area homeowners, sourced to official or published references, and dated so you know how current it is.

• How much does a plumber cost in Houston? Published cost ranges for common jobs, what service call fees and after-hours rates look like, and what pushes a quote up or down.
• How to choose a plumber in Houston: checking a Texas plumbing license, the questions to ask before you sign, and the warning signs of a bad contractor.
• Why slab leaks happen in Houston: the clay soil problem, how slab foundations and buried water lines interact, early signs and repair options.
• Cast iron pipes in older Houston homes: how to tell what your drains are made of, what failure looks like, and when replacement is worth considering.
• Preventing sewer backups in Houston storms: why backups happen during heavy rain, how to tell whose pipe is blocked, and what you can do ahead of storm season.

A few facts come up in almost every guide, so here they are in one place.

Licensing is statewide

Plumbers in Texas are licensed by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. License types include Responsible Master Plumber, Master Plumber, Journeyman Plumber and Tradesman Plumber-Limited, and apprentices must register. TSBPE says a Tradesman Plumber-Limited may work on one- and two-family dwellings under the supervision of a Responsible Master Plumber. You can check any license in the Texas plumbing license search.

Permits are local

Inside the City of Houston, permits for water heaters, fixtures, gas connections and sewer connections are obtained by a master plumber registered with the city, and an inspection is required. Suburbs set their own process.

Your private lines are your responsibility

Houston Public Works says the property owner owns the water line from the meter into the house. On the sewer side, it says private wastewater pipes closer to the home are the homeowner's responsibility.

Most sewer backups are preventable

Houston Public Works says 70% of the city's sewer overflows are caused by fats, oils and grease poured down drains and wipes flushed down toilets. It also says that when temperatures drop, the city responds to twice as many grease-related overflows, because holiday cooking produces more grease and cold weather makes it solidify in the pipes. Its advice: only flush pee, poo and toilet paper, put grease in the trash, and use a sink strainer.

Small leaks add up

The EPA's WaterSense program says the average household's leaks waste more than 9,300 gallons of water a year, and that fixing easily corrected leaks can save about 10 percent on water bills. Its simplest test: read your water meter, use no water for two hours, and read it again. Any change suggests a leak.

Cost figures come from national guides such as HomeGuide, HomeAdvisor and Angi, labeled with the year. They are not Houston-only prices and they are not our prices, because we do not sell plumbing work. Use them to sanity-check a written quote, then ask the plumber to explain anything well outside the range. When you compare quotes, the Texas Attorney General suggests getting written bids from more than one contractor and being wary of a low-ball bid far below the others. It also warns never to sign a contract with blanks in it, to make sure every promise, including start and completion dates, is in the written contract, and not to pay in full until the work is finished and you have inspected it. For homestead improvements over $5,000, it says Texas law requires the contractor to deposit your payments in a construction account at a financial institution.

If you know which job you need, the services section covers costs, permits and questions to ask. If something is leaking right now, use the emergency checklist first. To reach a plumber, call one of the licensed contractors listed on this page or see all listed contractors. If you prefer to email us, see the contact page; we reply by email and do not perform any work ourselves.