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SwiftPro tests and repairs backflow preventers in Burke, and the yearly test is $250 a home (normally $300). 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 Burke are rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews and work under Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276. Backflow testing in Burke, from Burke Centre townhouses to the Lake Braddock side: we test the device, fix it if it fails and get the report to the County. Book it at (703) 997-9757 or online. We’re rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews, and we set the visit around the date on your notice.
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews
Our plumbing team in front of three of our vans.
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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
The yearly test is $250 a home, normally $300, and you can pay for it online. HOA and condo communities that book their units together pay $175 to $225 a unit. A new preventer, installed and tested, runs $800 to $1,200. Those are for a home’s device up to 1 inch; where an HOA unit or a new preventer lands in its range is set at the house and quoted before we start.
Yearly backflow test, one home
$250 (normally $300)
HOA or condo units booked together, per unit
$175 to $225
New backflow preventer, installed and tested
$800 to $1,200
Repair or rebuild after a failed test
Priced in writing before any work
Prices checked .
A device that fails is priced in writing before any work. Most can be rebuilt with new springs, seats or rubber parts; a body cracked by a freeze gets replaced. Either way it’s tested again afterward, which Virginia requires.
Booking for an HOA, townhouse or condo community? Here’s what each unit pays when the community books one visit. And what a backflow test costs covers what moves the price up or down.
What’s different in Burke
Most people in Burke see the County’s notice, book the test and never think about it again. The trouble starts when that notice goes to an old email address or gets buried. Skip it and the next letter is a Corrective Work Order, which gives you 30 business days counted from the date of the violation, not the day the letter reached you. After that comes a Notice of Non-Compliance with 10 business days, and that one is copied straight to Fairfax Water.
Fairfax Water’s manual spells out the rest: a notice of disconnection, a final notice after a call or a visit, and then the water to the house gets turned off, with a placard posted, until the device passes. Turning it back on can carry a fee. The sample work order in that manual describes a property with no test on record since 2013, so a device can sit forgotten for years.
Burke Centre is a planned community of 5,862 homes, and close to half of them are townhouses, most built between 1980 and 1999. Behind a townhouse, a sprinkler line was usually added by an owner along the way, so the device tends to come with the house and nobody remembers it’s there. Around Burke Commons Road the County’s grid puts the test in June.
The older side of Burke, along Burke Lake Road by Lake Braddock, tests in March. The Burke Census place is about two homes in three detached, with more than half built before 1980, and plenty of those yards got sprinklers decades later. March is early in the season, so plan the spring start-up and the test for one visit. Our sprinkler winterizing guide covers the fall side.
Neighborhood by neighborhood
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and what usually brings the test notice to houses like these.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | What usually needs the test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burke | 1979 | single-family houses, about 6 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | A sprinkler system or pool added later, where there is one. |
| Burke Centre | 1982 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 7 in 10 | Mostly the association’s sprinklers, plus any yard system an owner added. |
By the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
When it’s time
If you bought in Burke in the last few years, the County’s record for your device may still list the seller. The work order clock runs from the violation date either way, and the County won’t add time because a notice was slow to reach you.
A letter from the water utility with a date on it means there’s a testable device on your line, usually on the lawn sprinklers, and its test is due.
On an RPZ, a little water when the pressure jumps can be normal. A steady stream from the opening underneath means a check valve isn’t sealing, and it won’t pass.
Need backflow testing in Burke?
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Before the first hard freeze
A device that sits full of water all winter is the most common reason it fails the spring test. Around here, get this done by the end of October.
On most houses it’s outside by the foundation: a brass valve on two pipes standing out of the ground, with a cap on top. That’s a PVB. An RPZ or double check may sit in a basement or a box in the ground instead.
Turn off the valve that feeds the sprinklers, usually in the basement or utility room just past the main shutoff. Leave the rest of the house on.
Most systems here get blown out with compressed air so nothing sits in the lines or the device. If yours hasn’t been, that’s the step that matters.
Set the device’s two shutoff handles and its little test cocks about halfway, near 45 degrees, so no pocket of water stays trapped inside to freeze.
An insulated cover helps a PVB through the winter. On an RPZ, never block the relief valve opening underneath: it has to be able to dump water.
Some owners bring the device inside for the winter. Check the rules first: Loudoun Water wants a device that came off tested again when it goes back on, and Fairfax County wants it back on before your testing month.
Not sure it was drained, or saw water coming from the cap when the sprinklers ran? Call us. We’ll look at it, and if it cracked, you get the reason and a price before anything gets replaced.
Who sends the notice
Fairfax County’s Cross Connection Program wants testable backflow devices on lawn sprinklers, fire sprinklers, pools and hot tubs tested every year by a tester on the County’s Authorized Vendor List. The tester files the report and the County emails you when it’s in; nothing after 14 days, and the County asks you to check with them. Source.
Each property gets its own testing month from the County’s tax map grid, and the report is due before that month ends. A device that fails has to be repaired or replaced and retested within 10 business days of the failed test, and one taken off for the winter goes back on before the testing month. Source.
Our Virginia Class A contractor license, 2705192276, is on the side of the van.
Choosing a tester
Questions to ask anybody who offers to test it, us included.
A Corrective Work Order runs on business days from the violation date, so the test, any repair and the report all have to land inside it. Ask when they can come and whether common repair parts are on the truck.
Since January 1, 2023, Virginia only accepts tests from a DPOR-certified Backflow Prevention Device Worker, and some places keep a list of their own on top. Ask to see the certificate before the gauge goes on.
Some utilities take it from the tester and some want it from you. Ask which, and keep a copy either way, so you can show the date if a second notice turns up.
Ask for the reason and a written price before anything gets taken apart, and whether the retest is part of it. A failed device runs on a deadline, so a tester who can also fix it saves you a second trip.
Two of our crew going over a work order before the day's calls.
From our Google reviews
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
My technician James gave an honest assessment of my situation, clearly laid out the scope of work, and provided different pricing options to resolve my concern. I will definitely call SwiftPro in the future for any plumbing needs!
Where we work
Next door to Burke: Fairfax Station, Springfield, Annandale, Fairfax and Oakton.
Questions
Fairfax County sends a Corrective Work Order with 30 business days, then a Notice of Non-Compliance with 10 business days that’s copied to Fairfax Water. If it’s still not done, Fairfax Water sends disconnection notices and can shut off the water until the device passes, and reconnecting can carry a fee.
Around Burke Commons Road the County’s tax map grid puts it in June. Along Burke Lake Road by Lake Braddock it’s March. Your notice names the month for your parcel, and it’s the same month every year no matter when you tested last.
SwiftPro does, all over Burke. We test the backflow preventer on your sprinkler system, fire line or pool in about 30 minutes, repair it on the same visit if it fails, and get the report where your water utility wants it. Call (703) 997-9757 or book online.
The yearly test is $250 a home, normally $300, and you can pay for it online. HOA and condo units booked together on one visit run $175 to $225 a unit. A new preventer, installed and tested, is $800 to $1,200. Where an HOA unit or a new preventer lands in its range is set at the house and quoted before we start, and a device that fails is quoted in writing before any repair. More in what a backflow test costs.
About 30 minutes a device. The water is off for a few of those minutes while the gauge readings are taken.
Ready when you are
Call, or send the form at the top. Have the notice handy: how many devices it lists and the date on it are what we need. Or pay $250 online and we’ll call to pick the day.
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 Burke 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.