# How long does it take to repipe a house? > How long a San Francisco repipe takes: each stage from walk-through to patching, how long the water is off, and what adds time, from permits to plaster. URL: https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/how-long-does-repiping-take/ Learn A repipe runs in stages: scope, permit, new lines, cut-over, test, inspection, patching. The pipe work is only one of them, and the building decides how long each one takes. Last Updated: October 30, 2026 A repipe takes as long as its stages: a walk-through and written scope, a permit, running the new lines, switching each fixture over, a pressure test and city inspection, then patching. The water is off in stages rather than for the whole job. How long each stage runs depends on the building: stories, wall finishes, access, occupancy and how much is found once walls open. The written scope should carry a schedule for your building. [Hilltop Repipe San Francisco](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/) plans and manages [whole-house repiping](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/whole-house-repiping/) across San Francisco, Daly City and South San Francisco, with the work carried out by licensed and insured contractors. This guide walks through each stage, what sets its length, and what tends to add time in San Francisco buildings, so the schedule in a quote can be read with some sense of what is behind it. Key takeaways - The pipe work is one stage; the permit, the inspection and patching sit on either side of it. - New lines go in while the old ones still serve, so the water is off in stages. - Patching waits for the city inspection, and plaster takes longer to restore than drywall. - A PEX repipe of an existing house is exempt from California's one-week flushing rule for new construction. - Occupied flats add notice periods and per-unit sequencing; a temporary relocation is limited to three months. ## The stages of a repipe ### Walk-through and scope The first visit traces the pipe from the meter box to each fixture, measures static pressure, notes the wall types and finds the routes for new lines. The result is a written scope and price naming the material, the layout, every opening, the permit and who patches what. Nothing is opened at this stage. ### Permit In San Francisco, a contractor holding a qualifying license files the plumbing permit on PermitSF before work starts; since September 14, 2026, new plumbing permits without plans are filed and inspections scheduled only there. In Daly City, the city’s portal has a “Water Pipe Replacement” permit type, and South San Francisco issues plumbing permits through its Building Division. The [San Francisco repiping permit guide](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/san-francisco-repiping-permit/) covers the process. ### Preparation and notices In a pre-1979 building, painted surfaces are presumed to contain lead. In rentals and shared buildings, San Francisco’s lead-safe rules require residents to be notified at least three business days before work that disturbs paint, and work areas are contained with plastic sheeting. In a building of one to four units, textured or skim-coated walls may need asbestos sampling before they are opened. Both can set the earliest start date. ### Running the new lines New pipe goes in alongside the old, usually starting with the trunk along a garage ceiling, basement or crawlspace, then risers and branches up to each fixture group through the planned openings. This is the stage most people mean when they ask how long a repipe takes, and it is where the building matters most. A one-story house over an open garage is a shorter job than a two-story house with stacked bathrooms and plaster walls, and a three-unit building is longer than either. The [guide to how invasive repiping is](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/how-invasive-is-repiping/) shows where openings land. ### Cutting over Each fixture group is switched to the new lines, with a new stop at every fixture and air chambers where San Francisco requires them. The water heater is reconnected. Where static pressure is above 80 psi, a regulator and expansion tank go in. Each cut-over is a short shutoff for that part of the building. ### Testing and inspection Before any wall closes, the new system is tested with water at working pressure, or with air at 50 psi or more, and held for at least 15 minutes without leakage; plastic pipe is air tested only where its maker allows. Then the city inspector sees the work under test. DBI’s plumbing permit categories include a set number of inspections, three for a house without underground work, and a re-inspection costs $259 per half hour. In Daly City, the rough plumbing inspection happens before walls are covered; in South San Francisco, work stays exposed until it is approved. A PEX repipe of an existing house does not add a week here. California’s two-flush, one-week tagging procedure applies to PEX only as the first piping in new construction, and the code says it does not apply where PEX replaces an existing system. CPVC inside homes carries that procedure, which is one reason repipes rarely use it. The [guide to whether PEX is allowed in California](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/is-pex-allowed-in-california/) explains the rule. ### Patching Openings are closed after the inspection passes. Drywall patches are taped, finished and left to dry between coats. Original plaster and lath takes longer, because it is built up in layers to match the surrounding wall. Painting follows if it is in the scope. The [old-house repiping](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/old-house-repiping/) page covers plaster-and-lath interiors. ## How long the water is off Because new lines run while the old ones still serve, most of the job happens with water on. Shutoffs come at the tie-in to the main, at each fixture group’s cut-over and at the water heater. Each one is planned, and the schedule should bring water back the same day wherever the work allows. Where the main valve is seized, missing or in the wrong place, replacing it comes first, since everything after depends on isolating the water reliably. In flats, San Francisco requires that each unit’s hot and cold supply can be shut off without cutting water to the others. Once those shutoffs exist, one unit’s work interrupts only that unit. ## What adds time in San Francisco - **More stories and stacked baths.** Each climb is another route and another opening. - **Plaster and tile.** Plaster takes longer to open cleanly and longer to restore; tile walls need careful openings or access from the other side. - **Occupied units.** Work is sequenced unit by unit so each stays habitable, with water restored each day. DBI issues a separate permit for each condo or apartment unit. - **The service line.** Replacing the owner’s line from the meter box ([water service line replacement](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/water-service-line-replacement/)) adds trenching, and opening a public sidewalk needs a Public Works excavation permit. - **Surprises behind walls.** Rot, earlier unpermitted work or a riser that serves another unit can change the route. - **A failed test or inspection.** Each adds a return visit before patching can start. What shortens it: mains on an open garage ceiling, drywall rather than plaster, an owner-occupied single-family house, PEX’s long flexible runs and a scope that was specific about openings from the start. The Sunset’s one-story-over-garage houses can be among the more straightforward jobs in the city; the [Sunset and Parkside page](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/service-areas/sunset-parkside/) explains why. ## Rentals and the three-month limit For an occupied rental, the schedule decides the legal path. If the work can be phased so each unit stays habitable, with water back on each day, the Rent Ordinance’s temporary-eviction process does not come into play. If a unit would be hazardous or uninhabitable during the work, that process applies: permits must be issued before notice is served, the tenant cannot be required to stay away more than three months unless the Rent Board extends it, and relocation payments are owed. Owners should confirm details with the Rent Board or counsel. The [apartment building repiping](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/apartment-building-repiping/) page covers how multi-unit jobs are sequenced. ## Reading the schedule in a quote A schedule is only as good as the scope behind it. Look for the start date and what it depends on, how many days each area will have open walls, when each shutoff happens, when the inspection is expected and when patching starts and ends. A quote that leaves patching out can look shorter and cost more time later. The [repipe cost guide](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/repiping-cost/) covers the price side, and the [repiping guide](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/repiping-guide/) covers the whole process. For a scope and schedule for your building, call or send the form. ## Questions about this guide ### How long is the water off during a repipe? In stages, not for the whole job. New lines are run while the old ones still serve the building, and each fixture group is switched over in its turn, so each shutoff covers only the part being switched. The longest is usually the tie-in at the main valve. The schedule for each shutoff should be in the written scope. ### Does the permit add time to a repipe? Some, before and during the work. In San Francisco a licensed contractor files the plumbing permit on PermitSF before work starts, and the city inspects the new pipe before any wall closes. Patching waits for that inspection. A failed inspection adds a re-inspection at $259 per half hour and pushes patching back. ### What can delay a repipe once it starts? The common ones are a seized or missing main valve that has to be replaced first, hidden damage found when a wall opens, asbestos sampling before textured walls are disturbed, a failed pressure test or inspection, and plaster that needs several coats to patch. Each is easier to absorb when the scope anticipates it. ## Related service ### Whole-house repiping Every hot and cold supply line from the main valve to each fixture, in PEX or copper, tested and inspected. Whole-house repiping ## More guides - Learn [How invasive is repiping a house?](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/how-invasive-is-repiping/)A repipe opens walls in planned places, not along every pipe. Where the old lines run, what the walls are made of and how the building is stacked decide how many openings there are and how much patching follows. - Learn [Do you need a permit to repipe a house in San Francisco?](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/san-francisco-repiping-permit/)Yes, and the permit shapes the job: who files it, which fee category applies, when the inspector comes and what the inspector looks for before a single wall is closed. - Learn [How does repiping a house work?](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/repiping-guide/)The whole picture in one place: what the water supply system is, what San Francisco buildings were piped with and why it fails here, how a repipe is scoped, permitted, installed, tested and lived through, and what to ask before agreeing to one. - Cost Guide [How much does it cost to repipe a house in San Francisco?](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/repiping-cost/)Typical San Francisco-area ranges for a whole-house repipe by number of baths, what sits inside the price, the permit fees by city, the programs that help and why two quotes for the same house can differ. - Decision Guide [PEX vs copper for a repipe: which should you choose?](https://hilltoprepipesanfrancisco.com/guide/pex-vs-copper/)Both materials are code-approved in San Francisco. The real differences are in how each one travels through a building, what it costs, how it is joined and what has to change around it.