Ironclad Plumbing wrote this comparison because the difference between a $2,000 spot repair and an $8,500 repipe depends on diagnostic evidence that you should see before agreeing to anything.

Quick Answer

Method	What It Is	When It’s Right	Ironclad Price	Austin Range
Spot repair	Jackhammer through the slab at the leak location. Fix or replace the damaged pipe section. Patch concrete. Repair flooring.	Single leak on an otherwise healthy pipe system. Isolated failure, not systemic.	~$2,000	$1,200-$3,500
Reroute	Abandon the leaking under-slab pipe. Cap both ends. Run a new pipe through the attic or walls to bypass it.	Leak in a hard-to-access location under the slab. Or when you suspect more leaks may follow on the same line but the rest of the house piping is okay.	~$3,500	$2,000-$5,500
Full repipe	Abandon ALL under-slab supply piping. Run new PEX lines through attic/walls to every fixture in the house.	Systemic pipe failure. Multiple slab leaks in different locations. Polybutylene pipe. Widespread copper corrosion.	~$8,500	$5,000-$15,000

Camera inspection and pressure testing first. Always. The method depends on what the diagnostics show.

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How to Decide

What the Diagnostics Show	Best Option	Why
Single leak, copper pipe, isolated joint failure, rest of system tests clean	Spot repair	One problem, one fix. No reason to replace good pipe.
Single leak, but it’s under a load-bearing wall or center of the slab	Reroute	Jackhammering under a load-bearing wall is risky and expensive. Running new pipe through the attic avoids the structural concern.
Single leak, copper pipe, anode depleted, moderate corrosion visible elsewhere	Reroute now, plan for repipe later	The current leak is the first domino. More are coming. Reroute fixes the immediate problem. Budget for a full repipe in 1-3 years.
Second slab leak in 2 years, different location from the first	Repipe	Two leaks in different locations = systemic failure. Spot-repairing each one as it appears will cost more over time than replacing everything now.
Polybutylene (gray plastic) pipe under the slab	Repipe	Polybutylene is a known-failure material. It doesn’t leak at one spot. It deteriorates throughout. Spot repair is a temporary bandaid.
Multiple active leaks or pressure test shows significant system loss	Repipe	The system is failing broadly. Repair and reroute are both temporary.
Drain line leak under slab (not supply line)	Spot repair or section replacement	Drain leaks are different from supply leaks. Drain lines don’t have continuous pressure. The repair approach depends on the pipe material and the nature of the damage.

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What Each Method Involves

Spot Repair Through the Slab

The process:

1. Leak location is pinpointed by detection equipment (electronic listening, pressure testing).
2. Flooring above the leak is removed (tile, carpet, wood, whatever is there).
3. Concrete slab is jackhammered open at the leak location (typically a 2-3 foot opening).
4. Damaged pipe section is exposed, cut out, and replaced with new pipe.
5. Connection is tested under pressure.
6. Concrete is poured back and leveled.
7. Flooring is replaced or patched.

What’s included in the plumbing quote: Detection, excavation, pipe repair, pressure test, concrete patch.

What’s usually NOT included: Finish flooring replacement. If the repair is under tile, the plumber patches the concrete but a tile installer replaces the tile. If it’s under carpet, the plumber patches the concrete and the carpet gets re-laid (sometimes the plumber handles this, sometimes it’s a separate flooring call). Budget $200-$1,000 for flooring restoration depending on the material.

Timeline: 1 day for the repair. Concrete cure time before flooring: 24-48 hours.

Reroute Through Attic/Walls

The process:

1. The leaking under-slab pipe is identified.
2. Both ends of the damaged pipe are located inside the house (where it enters the slab and where it exits the slab to reach the fixture).
3. Both ends are capped, permanently abandoning the under-slab section.
4. New pipe (PEX or copper) is run from the water source (usually near the water heater) through the attic and/or walls to reach the fixture that was served by the abandoned pipe.
5. New pipe is connected, tested, and insulated (attic runs in Austin MUST be insulated against freeze risk).

What’s included: Pipe capping, new pipe run, connections, pressure test, insulation, drywall repair at access points (usually 2-3 small holes).

Timeline: 1 day.

Why reroute instead of spot repair? Three reasons. The leak is in a location that’s difficult or risky to jackhammer (under a load-bearing wall, under a bathroom with expensive tile, in the center of the slab where excavation is maximally disruptive). Or the plumber suspects more leaks are coming on the same pipe run and wants to bypass the entire run rather than chasing individual leaks. Or the homeowner simply doesn’t want the disruption of slab cutting in their living space.

Full Repipe

The process:

1. All under-slab supply piping is abandoned. Both hot and cold lines are capped at their entry/exit points.
2. New PEX piping is run through the attic (most common in Austin slab-on-grade homes) and dropped through walls to every fixture: every sink, every toilet, every shower/tub, washing machine, dishwasher, outdoor hose bibs, water heater.
3. A manifold system (central distribution point, like a breaker panel but for water) is often installed, giving each fixture its own dedicated line.
4. All connections are made, pressure-tested, and insulated.
5. Drywall access holes are patched.

What’s included: Full pipe installation, manifold, insulation, connections, pressure test, drywall patching at access points. Permit and inspection.

What’s usually NOT included: Full drywall finishing and painting (the plumber patches the holes but the finish texture and paint may require a drywall/paint professional). Budget $500-$2,000 for drywall finishing depending on the number of access points and your expectations for the finish.

Timeline: 2-3 days.

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Cost Comparison Over Time

The cheapest option upfront is not always the cheapest option over 5 years.

Scenario	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	3-Year Total
Spot repair, no recurrence	$2,000	$0	$0	$2,000
Spot repair, second leak year 2, reroute	$2,000	$3,500	$0	$5,500
Spot repair, second leak year 2, third leak year 3, then repipe	$2,000	$2,000	$8,500	$12,500
Reroute immediately	$3,500	$0	$0	$3,500
Repipe immediately	$8,500	$0	$0	$8,500

If the diagnostics suggest systemic failure (corroded copper throughout, polybutylene, multiple pressure-test failures), the $8,500 repipe on day one is cheaper than chasing individual leaks at $2,000-$3,500 each over 3 years.

If the diagnostics show a single isolated failure on otherwise healthy pipe, the $2,000 spot repair is the right call and the $8,500 repipe is overkill.

The diagnostics determine the answer. Not the plumber’s preference, not the most expensive option, not the cheapest. The evidence.

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What to Ask Your Plumber

1. “Can you show me the camera footage and pressure test results?”
2. “Is this a single failure or systemic? How do you know?”
3. “What pipe material is under my slab? What condition is it in overall?”
4. “What are ALL my options with pricing for each?”
5. “If you were the homeowner, which would you choose and why?”

A good plumber answers all five without hesitation and shows you the evidence. A plumber who says “you need a repipe” without running a camera or pressure test is guessing — or selling.

Full pricing: spot repair (~$2,000), reroute (~$3,500), repipe (~$8,500). Ironclad’s Open Price Guide. Slab leak signs: How to Tell If You Have a Slab Leak.

Call Ironclad at (833) 597-1932. We diagnose before we recommend. We show you the evidence. You decide. No service visit fees.

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IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

The companion Implementation Guide (Ironclad_Toolkit_Implementation_Guide.md) specifies all UX, schema, HTML structure, and brand integration rules for building these pages. Key requirements:

1. Every page gets: byline (“Published by Ironclad Plumbing”), breadcrumb, meta description with “Ironclad Plumbing” included, schema (Article + Organization author/publisher).

2. The pricing guide additionally gets Dataset schema naming it “Ironclad’s Austin Plumbing Price Index.”

3. All TLDR boxes get speakable schema for AEO extraction.

4. All tables must render as semantic HTML <table> with <thead>/<th>, not CSS grids or divs.

5. One CTA per page, at the bottom only.

6. Ironclad contrast blocks: 1-2 per page max, standardized format, placed at end of relevant sections.

7. All [INSERT] placeholders require Ironclad-specific data before publish:

   • 50 service prices from the price book
   • RMP name and license number
   • Technician compensation model description
   • Any service-specific details noted in brackets

See Ironclad_Toolkit_Implementation_Guide.md for complete specifications.