A drip that lands in a neighbor’s ceiling
Behind a trim plate, a leaking valve can run for weeks with no sign in your own bathroom. If the unit below has a ceiling stain, a shower valve in the wall belongs on the list of suspects.
Arlington, Virginia
Shower repair in Arlington.
For shower repair in Arlington, the plumbing visit is $49, or $250 after hours. Call SwiftPro, rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews, at (703) 997-9757, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
SwiftPro’s plumbers in Arlington are rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews and work under Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276. Shower repair in Arlington, from Fairlington condos to high-rise towers: we pull the handle, show you the worn part, then give you the price in writing. A cartridge, stems or a diverter usually lands at $250 to $450. A whole new valve, trim included, runs $950 to $1,400, and a new tub spout runs $200 to $400.
- The worn part shown to you before the price
- Our own licensed plumbers
- Run hot and cold, with a toilet flushed, before we leave
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews
Two of our plumbers in a Northern Virginia basement, beside the water heater and the supply lines that feed the bathrooms upstairs.
Get your price in writing
Send this and the office calls or texts you back to set a time.
We’ll call or text this number about your request. By sending it you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Rather talk now? (703) 997-9757
Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceWe answer day or night, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
Our own plumbers, our own trucksNobody here is a subcontractor with a magnet on the door
The price is settled before the workYou see the number in writing before anything is taken apart
What it costs
What shower repair costs in Arlington.
These are the same numbers on our shower and tub repair page, from jobs we’ve billed. The visit fee matches our plumbing price list.
Plumbing diagnosis visit
$49
Plumbing diagnosis visit, after hours
$250
Shower valve repair (cartridge, stems, handle, diverter)
$250 to $450
Shower valve replaced, new trim included
$950 to $1,400
Tub spout or diverter spout replaced
$200 to $400
Prices checked .
Where a repair lands in that range depends on the valve brand and how stuck the old cartridge is. You see the number in writing before anything comes apart.
A dripping sink or kitchen faucet is a different repair, with its own prices on our faucet repair page.
What’s different in Arlington
In Arlington, the building decides if a shower repair takes one visit or two.
A handle that turns without changing anything has lost its bite on the stem. Lift the cap first, because a set screw may simply have walked out. If it is snug and the lever still slips, the splines inside the handle or on the cartridge are smooth, and one of the two gets replaced.
More than half of Arlington homes, 55 percent, are in apartment and condo buildings, and a third went up before 1960. Fairlington is the classic case: 3,449 garden apartments and townhouses from 1942 to 1944, renovated and sold as condos in the 1970s. Some bathrooms were redone in that conversion, so a Fairlington shower may be a 1970s valve rather than a 1940s one.
In a building, the first call is not always to us. A cartridge swap means water off, and in many Arlington buildings that means a riser. Tell the front desk or management office what you need, give them a window, and we schedule around their engineer. Waiting on a drip has a cost, because it lands in the unit below.
Arlington’s water averaged 8 grains per gallon in 2025, which is on the hard side, and the County gets it from the Washington Aqueduct. Scale on the seals is why a cartridge that felt fine last year sticks and then seeps this year.
By the numbers
Arlington houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
Arlington
- Median home built1960 Census
- Built before 1980about 5 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 3 in 10 Census
- Most homes arecondo and apartment buildings, about 6 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 6 in 10 Census
- A lot of houses here were built before 1960, when two- and three-handle showers with no pressure balancing were the norm. Stems and washers keep them going, and a new valve is how you stop the cold blast when someone flushes.
- Most homes here are townhouses or condos, where the shower often sits over somebody’s ceiling, so a drip behind the trim gets fixed before it shows up as a stain below.
The signs
When a shower in Arlington needs a plumber.
The handle is loose or spins
Usually a set screw under the cap that backed out, or worn teeth where the handle grips the cartridge. Tightening the screw only lasts if the teeth are still good.
It drips after it’s off
On a single-handle shower that’s the cartridge. On an older two-handle or three-handle shower, it’s the washers or the stems. Either one comes out the front, and the wall stays closed.
Need shower repair in Arlington?
A person answers day and night. See this month’s deals before you call.
Choosing who does it
How to pick who fixes a shower in Arlington.
Questions to ask anybody who pulls your shower handle off, us included.
Will they work with the building’s management office?
Ask whether they’ll coordinate the shutoff, the elevator or loading dock, and a certificate of insurance if your building asks for one. In many Arlington towers you can’t start without those.
Did they pull the handle before quoting a new valve?
Most loose handles and drips are a cartridge or a screw. A plumber who prices a new valve without looking inside first may be selling you a wall you didn’t need opened.
Did they test it with a toilet flushed?
A shower that runs fine on its own can still jump hot when someone flushes. Ask them to run it both ways before they pack up.
Two of our crew going over a work order before the day's calls.
From our Google reviews
What our customers say.
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Tyson quickly/painlessly removed a broken shower nipple and installed a new shower arm and nozzle. Work was neat and efficient!
- 5.0stars across 1,130 reviewsHow we count them
- ABBB Accredited, A ratingCheck it on bbb.org
- 2026Voted a Nextdoor Neighborhood Faves winner two years running: 2026 in 30 Northern Virginia neighborhoods, 2025 in Emerald Chase (Herndon) and Hunters Run (Chantilly)See it on Nextdoor
- #1BusinessRate Best of 2026: the top-ranked heating contractor in Fairfax, VirginiaSee our BusinessRate score
- Class AVirginia contractor, license #2705192276Look it up with DPOR
Where we work
Shower repair in every Northern Virginia town we serve
Next door to Arlington: Falls Church, Alexandria, Dunn Loring, Annandale and McLean.
Fairfax County
Arlington County
Loudoun County
Prince William County
Fauquier County
Stafford County
Every town on one page
Questions
Shower repair questions from Arlington.
Can you tighten a loose shower handle in my Arlington apartment without the building’s water off?
Usually yes, if all it needs is the handle tightened or swapped. A new cartridge is another matter. Some valves have their own stops, but in a lot of older buildings they don’t hold, and the riser has to close.
My Fairlington condo has a different shower valve than my neighbor’s. Why?
Units were renovated at different times after the 1970s conversion, and owners have redone baths since, so two on one floor can differ. Send a photo of the trim before we come, and we’ll bring the likely cartridge.
How much is shower repair in Arlington?
Most shower valve repairs we do run $250 to $450, with the visit at $49, $250 after hours. A whole new valve with trim runs $950 to $1,400, and a tub spout runs $200 to $400.
Will you have to open the wall or break tile?
Not for a cartridge, a handle or a diverter. Those come out the front. A valve replacement goes in from an access panel when there is one, and when there isn’t, a larger trim plate can usually cover the opening so the tile stays.
Ready when you are
Get the shower back to normal.
Call, or send the form at the top. We pull the handle, show you the worn part, and you get the price in writing before we fix it.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
SwiftPro Plumber & Water Heaters
4200 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151
Virginia Class A contractor license #2705192276
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Arlington and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
From SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Chantilly. Housing figures are the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, for each place named; permit, water and sewer facts link to each office’s own page and were checked in September and October 2026.