Rust-colored water or grit in the head
Orange water, or sand-like grit that clogs the spray holes, points to iron or sediment arriving at the house. The cartridge is the first place it shows. A water test tells you what’s coming in.
Great Falls, Virginia
Shower repair in Great Falls.
For shower repair in Great Falls, 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 Great Falls are rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews and work under Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276. Shower repair in Great Falls, in large houses on Fairfax Water or a private well: we pull the handle, show you the worn part, then price it. 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
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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 Great Falls.
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 Great Falls
In Great Falls, a shower that surges or runs gritty may not be the valve.
A loose Great Falls shower handle starts the same way as anywhere: a screw under the cap that has backed out. If it’s snug and the lever spins, the grip on the stem is worn, and a new handle or cartridge is the answer.
Nearly a quarter of the private wells Fairfax County has mapped, 3,644 of 15,636, fall inside Great Falls, and the County says its map isn’t complete. In a house on a well, iron and sediment pass through the shower valve, and cartridges and screens clog long before the seals wear out.
A pressure tank that cycles can make a shower surge, strong, then weak, then strong. The shower gets blamed, but the tank may be the cause. We test the shower first and tell you if the trouble is upstream. If the tank’s switch or air charge is acting up, we can test it and say what we find.
The median house here has four full bathrooms and almost every home is detached, so there are a lot of showers to look after. The ones in the back bedrooms may run twice a month, and they are the ones that drip when someone finally uses them.
By the numbers
Great Falls houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
Great Falls
- Median home built1986 Census
- Built before 1980about 4 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, nearly all Census
- Heated withgas, about 5 in 10 Census
- Rentedhardly any Census
- Most homes here are detached houses, where the shower valve can often be reached from a closet or a panel behind the wall.
The signs
When a shower in Great Falls 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 Great Falls?
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 Great Falls.
Questions to ask anybody who pulls your shower handle off, us included.
Will they tell me when the problem is the water, not the shower?
A plumber who only sells valve work will blame the valve. Ask them to run another fixture and see if it surges too. If it does, the shower isn’t the problem.
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.
Prompt, courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. Job installation of kitchen sink faucet a little pricey but nowadays what isn’t.
- 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
Questions
Shower repair questions from Great Falls.
My Great Falls shower pressure surges. Is the valve bad?
Run another faucet. If it surges too, look at the pressure tank. If only the shower does, the cartridge may be partly blocked with sediment, and cleaning or replacing it at $250 to $450 ends it.
We have a water softener at our Great Falls house. Does it protect the shower valve?
It helps with scale, not with iron or sediment, and the County tells well owners to check regularly that treatment equipment is working. If the softener is down, cartridges age fast.
How much is shower repair in Great Falls?
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 Great Falls 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.