Data checked · source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
How much does sewer line replacement cost?
Digging up your yard and lining the pipe from inside are two different jobs at two different prices, and only one of them is possible on your pipe.
Expect roughly $2,500 to $25,000 to replace a residential sewer lateral in the United States in 2026. The labour part of that is 8–56 hours at a billed rate of about $68–$98 an hour, which is what the US median plumber wage of $30.67 works out to once a shop covers burden, overhead and profit.
Where the money actually goes
This is the same quote, taken apart. Every line is a real price from a real listing or a published fee schedule, not a number we made up.
| Line | Low | High | What decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | $50 | $450 | Which unit you pick. The table below lists them. |
| Parts and fittings | $313 | $3,742 | Most jobs need some of the parts list, not all of it. |
| Labour (8–56 hr) | $542 | $5,479 | Hours × billed rate. Varies by metro — see below. |
| Permit | $30 | $1,000 | Set by your city. Median $256. |
| Disposal | $0 | $0 | Spoil and old pipe removal is normally inside the excavation line item.. |
| Total | $2,500 | $25,000 |
The low column assumes a straightforward job with the cheapest listed equipment; the high column assumes the full parts list, the top of the labour range and the most expensive permit jurisdiction we measured. Most real quotes land in the middle.
How we got the labour hours
Trenchless lining is often one day. Pipe bursting is one to two days. A traditional trench replacement is four to seven days once you count excavation, install and putting the yard back.
Sources: SewerEx — how long sewer line repair takes · HomeGuide — sewer line repair cost. Where a source gives a crew size and a duration but not man-hours, we multiply the two ourselves and say so.
What the permit costs
Highly local. Morgan Hill, California publishes $256 for a building sewer lateral permit plus percentage surcharges. Los Angeles charges a bonded sewer fee of $74 per linear foot of lot frontage on top of the permit.
Source: Morgan Hill plumbing permit fee schedule.
What the equipment costs
| Option | Unit price |
|---|---|
| CIPP lining, per linear foot installed | $90–$250 |
| Pipe bursting, per linear foot installed | $60–$200 |
| Traditional trench, per linear foot installed | $50–$450 |
Source: HomeGuide and NuFlow per-foot ranges, checked 2026-08-06.
Specific products, with the price we saw
Not a recommendation and not an affiliate link. These are the listings we checked on 2026-08-06, so you can see whether the equipment line on your quote is close to retail.
| Model | Listed price |
|---|---|
| Charlotte Pipe 4 in x 10 ft SDR 35 PVC sewer pipe ($2.60/ft) | $25.99 |
| IPEX 443863 — 4 in PVC SDR 35 cleanout adapter | $30.11 |
| IPEX 4 in PVC SDR 35 45 degree wye | $36.29 |
Retail prices move. If one of these is wrong now, tell us and we will fix it with the date.
Parts list
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| PVC sewer pipe, per linear foot (bulk material) | $2.60–$4.50 |
| Cleanout, installed | $500.00–$2,000.00 |
| Backwater valve, installed | $150.00–$1,200.00 |
| Camera inspection — do this first | $125.00–$500.00 |
| Concrete driveway restoration, per sq ft | $1.00–$25.00 |
| Landscaping restoration, per sq ft | $4.50–$12.00 |
What this job costs in 49 US metro areas
Materials cost roughly the same everywhere. Labour does not. The wage column is US government data; the labour column is that wage run through our published multiplier; the total applies it to the job above. On the same work San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara comes out 107% higher than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater at the top of the range and 107% higher at the bottom — the two differ because materials, permits and disposal do not move with the wage.
| Metro area | Plumber wage | Labour on this job | Estimated total |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $51.71 | $3,314 | $4,215–$42,150 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $49.70 | $3,185 | $4,051–$40,512 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $48.86 | $3,131 | $3,983–$39,827 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $48.56 | $3,112 | $3,958–$39,583 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $46.52 | $2,981 | $3,792–$37,920 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $45.78 | $2,934 | $3,732–$37,317 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $41.53 | $2,661 | $3,385–$33,852 |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | $40.72 | $2,609 | $3,319–$33,192 |
| Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | $38.37 | $2,459 | $3,128–$31,276 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $37.79 | $2,422 | $3,080–$30,804 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $37.44 | $2,399 | $3,052–$30,518 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $37.11 | $2,378 | $3,025–$30,249 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | $37.02 | $2,372 | $3,018–$30,176 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | $37.01 | $2,372 | $3,017–$30,168 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | $36.61 | $2,346 | $2,984–$29,842 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $35.99 | $2,306 | $2,934–$29,336 |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | $35.91 | $2,301 | $2,927–$29,271 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $34.86 | $2,234 | $2,842–$28,415 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $34.55 | $2,214 | $2,816–$28,163 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $34.19 | $2,191 | $2,787–$27,869 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $33.70 | $2,159 | $2,747–$27,470 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $31.35 | $2,009 | $2,555–$25,554 |
| Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | $31.33 | $2,008 | $2,554–$25,538 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $31.15 | $1,996 | $2,539–$25,391 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $30.73 | $1,969 | $2,505–$25,049 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $30.72 | $1,969 | $2,504–$25,041 |
| Albuquerque, NM | $30.72 | $1,969 | $2,504–$25,041 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $30.65 | $1,964 | $2,498–$24,984 |
| Columbus, OH | $30.41 | $1,949 | $2,479–$24,788 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $30.38 | $1,947 | $2,476–$24,764 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $30.20 | $1,935 | $2,462–$24,617 |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA | $30.03 | $1,924 | $2,448–$24,478 |
| Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $29.75 | $1,906 | $2,425–$24,250 |
| Richmond, VA | $29.56 | $1,894 | $2,410–$24,095 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $29.47 | $1,888 | $2,402–$24,022 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $29.45 | $1,887 | $2,401–$24,006 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | $29.10 | $1,865 | $2,372–$23,720 |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | $28.90 | $1,852 | $2,356–$23,557 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $28.70 | $1,839 | $2,339–$23,394 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $28.44 | $1,822 | $2,318–$23,182 |
| Jacksonville, FL | $28.33 | $1,815 | $2,309–$23,093 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $28.22 | $1,808 | $2,300–$23,003 |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $28.22 | $1,808 | $2,300–$23,003 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $28.07 | $1,799 | $2,288–$22,881 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $27.97 | $1,792 | $2,280–$22,799 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $27.77 | $1,780 | $2,264–$22,636 |
| Charleston-North Charleston, SC | $27.58 | $1,767 | $2,248–$22,481 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $26.62 | $1,706 | $2,170–$21,699 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $25.00 | $1,602 | $2,038–$20,378 |
Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-2152 — public domain. Metros where BLS suppressed the figure are left out rather than estimated. Totals are FieldPricing calculations from the parts and hours on this page — they are not quotes and no contractor has agreed to them.
What did you actually pay?
Everything above this line is arithmetic on public data. It is honest, and it is not the same thing as a real invoice. If you have had this work done, the number on your invoice is worth more to the next reader than anything we can calculate.
No reports on this job yet. This site went up in August 2026 and nobody has sent one in. We would rather show you an empty table than invent entries to look established.
When reports come in, they get published here with the amount, the city and the month — never a name, never an email.
No account, no login, no newsletter. A person reads every submission before it appears, so it will not show up instantly. If we cannot make sense of one, we leave it out rather than guess — and if you would rather just email it, that works too.
What actually moves the price
Whether trenchless is even possible
Lining follows the shape of the existing pipe, sags included — so CIPP cannot fix a belly. Pipe bursting can re-establish grade but needs an excavation pit at each end. A fully collapsed or badly back-pitched line means open trench, no choice. Get the camera inspection before you accept any quote; it is $125–$500 and it determines everything.
What is on top of the pipe
Under a lawn is one price. Under a concrete slab it is $300–$350 per linear foot. A driveway adds $1–$25 per square foot to put back; landscaping adds $4.50–$12 per square foot.
Length and depth
Trenchless on 25–35 feet runs $1,500–$8,750. On 75–100 feet it is $4,500–$25,000. Depth matters too — past a certain point the trench needs shoring, which is a safety requirement and a real cost.
Tree roots
$100–$600 to clear, and usually a sign the pipe was already compromised at the joints.
Trenchless is normally cheaper once you count the yard
Plumbing-only, trenchless can look more expensive. Add driveway and landscape restoration and it typically comes out 30–50% below open trench. Note that the source making that claim is a trenchless vendor — we are repeating it, not endorsing it.
What we could not verify
We publish this list because a cost page that never admits a gap is not telling you the truth.
- Verbatim IPC text on backwater valves and cleanout spacing — ICC Digital Codes is paywalled and served us no code text.
- Street cut and encroachment permit fees — Los Angeles states inspection is billed by the linear foot and by number of trips but does not publish the rate; San Francisco and Concord fee pages are blocked to crawlers.
- Crew size for a typical residential lateral — no source we found states one.
- The per-foot ranges disagree badly: HomeGuide says $50–$250 for open trench, NuFlow says $150–$450. NuFlow sells trenchless. We show both.
How we got these numbers
- Wages — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters), pulled through the BLS public API. US federal data, public domain.
- Billed rate — wage × 1.3 labour burden × 1.70–2.454 overhead and profit, so 2.21×–3.19× the wage. Our assumption, published in full on the methodology page so you can disagree with it.
- Equipment and parts — retailer and supply-house listings, each linked above, checked 2026-08-06.
- Labour hours — SewerEx — how long sewer line repair takes · HomeGuide — sewer line repair cost.
- Permit fees — Morgan Hill plumbing permit fee schedule.
We do not use RSMeans or Craftsman cost data. Their licences forbid building a database from them, so every number here traces to a public source or a public listing you can open yourself.
This page is not a quote. It is arithmetic on public data. Get it in writing from a licensed contractor before you spend anything. If a number here is wrong, tell us — we log every correction with the date.