A plumber in Herndon.
Herndon plumbing, Town or county side: leaks, slow drains, sewer laterals and water heaters, with a price from our published list before work starts.
Drain cleaning for one fixture is $200 to $800 and toilet repair is $250 to $900, from our published price list.
- Prices in writing, first
- Camera before any dig
- Dedicated plumbing team
Get your plumbing job priced
Inside Herndon’s town line, the Town shares your sewer lateral with you.
A Herndon mailing address covers two sets of plumbing rules. Inside the Town of Herndon, the Town runs the water and the sewer, sells you water it buys from Fairfax Water, and splits the sewer lateral with you at the right-of-way line. On the Fairfax County side there’s no split: the whole lateral is the homeowner’s, out to the main under the street.
That’s why a camera comes before a shovel here. A sewer camera inspection, $89 added to a visit, shows whether the trouble is a root or a sag on your side of the line or a break past it, and inside the town that answer decides who pays for the dig.
Most homes in the town went up in the 1970s and 80s, and the late 1970s through the mid 1990s were the polybutylene years, so grey plastic supply pipe is worth checking for under a sink or at the water heater. On the street side, the Town’s service line inventory, filed with the state in October 2024, found no lead service lines.
Inside the town, keep the plumber’s invoice after a leak. The Town’s courtesy adjustment, open to owners once in five years, wants the repair made within 10 days of discovery and a contractor invoice that describes it, with dates that line up with the leak. It then takes 66 percent of the excess off for an indoor leak and all of it for one in the ground. Ours describe the repair and carry the date.
What’s in the walls across Herndon.
Census figures for each place, and the pipe that usually goes with houses that age. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | The pipe you usually find |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Farm | 1985 | single-family houses, about 9 in 10 | electricity, about 5 in 10 | The polybutylene years: check the supply pipe; PVC drains. |
| Herndon | 1981 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | The polybutylene years: check the supply pipe; PVC drains. |
| Dranesville | 1984 | single-family houses, nearly all | electricity, about 6 in 10 | The polybutylene years: check the supply pipe; PVC drains. |
| McNair | 2003 | condo and apartment buildings, about 6 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Condo buildings: shared risers, your own supply lines and fixtures. |
| Floris | 1990 | single-family houses, about 8 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | The polybutylene years: check the supply pipe; PVC drains. |
| Hutchison | 1979 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 7 in 10 | Copper supply, cast iron drains. |
| Sully Square | 2015 | condo and apartment buildings, about 6 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | Condo buildings: shared risers, your own supply lines and fixtures. |
Herndon houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
The Town of Herndon
Inside the town limits. Floris, Franklin Farm, McNair and Dranesville, on the Fairfax County side, are counted by the Census as places of their own.
- Median home built1981 Census
- Built before 1980about 4 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 4 in 10 Census
- Heated withelectricity, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 4 in 10 Census
- A lot of houses here went up while polybutylene supply pipe was in use, about 1978 to 1995, and it fails at the fittings.
What a plumber costs in Herndon.
The same list as our plumbing page, every line a range because the house decides where it lands. You get the number before the work starts.
- Drain cleaning, one fixture$200 to $800
- Main sewer line cleaning$550 to $1,650
- Sewer camera inspection, added to a visit$89
- Leak detection$200 to $500
- Toilet repair$250 to $900
- Pressure reducing valve replacement$500 to $1,000
- Water heater replacement$2,757 to $10,486
A sewer camera inspection is $89 added to a visit we’re already making. It’s the cheapest way to know what a drain is doing before anybody talks about digging.
With Comfort+ membership, any service is 15% off, and a water heater flush with a sewer camera inspection and a plumbing safety inspection comes every year.
What a plumbing problem in Herndon usually looks like.
The meter keeps moving with every tap off
That’s a leak somewhere past the meter, and inside the town everything past the meter is yours. Move fast: the Town’s leak credit stops counting water lost more than 10 days after you find the leak.
Grey plastic pipe near the water heater
Polybutylene, often stamped PB, went into houses from about 1978 to 1995. It tends to let go at the fittings with no warning, so it’s worth knowing whether you have it.
Water where it shouldn’t be
A damp patch on a ceiling, a warm spot on the floor, a meter that keeps ticking with every tap off. A slow leak inside a wall does most of its damage before it ever shows itself.
A drain that keeps coming back
One slow sink is a sink. Two slow drains on different floors are sharing the pipe out to the street, and a basement drain that gurgles while you run water upstairs is the main line talking.
After a storm in Herndon, check the basement drains.
Heavy rain finds the weak spots in a house’s plumbing. Four checks you can make yourself, then call us and we’ll look at the rest.
Water coming up a floor drain?
Clear water with no smell is usually groundwater. Gray water, or a sewer smell, means the main line is backing up: stop running water in the house and call us.
Drains slow or gurgling since the rain?
A main line with a cracked joint or roots in it can take in groundwater during a storm and slow down. A sewer camera inspection, $89 added to a visit, shows where.
Is the sump pump running?
If the house has one, watch it once: it should start as the pit fills, empty it and shut off. Our sump pump replacement page has the rest of the checks.
Did water reach the water heater?
If floodwater got to a gas water heater’s burner or controls, leave it off. Don’t relight it until a plumber has checked it.
Call us after a storm and we’ll check it all: the floor drains, the main line, the sump pump and the water heater. Any repair gets its price in writing before the work starts.
Who owns what under the street in Herndon.
Town of Herndon
In the Town, a house, duplex or townhouse owner keeps the sewer lateral structurally sound from the house to the right-of-way or easement line, and the Town takes it from there to the main. Clearing a clog anywhere along it is still the owner’s job, and a condo or commercial building owns its whole lateral. Source.
Town Code keeps the Town’s side of the water line on the street side of the meter, never past its outlet. From the meter in, the service line and everything on it, a pressure reducing valve included, is the owner’s to keep up. Source.
The Town enforces the state’s cross-connection rules and can shut off water to a property where a required backflow preventer is missing, removed or bypassed. Source.
Town Code bans any sump pump, downspout or areaway drain from emptying into the sanitary sewer, directly or not, and gives the owner 30 days from written notice to disconnect one. Source.
Fairfax County
In Fairfax County the homeowner owns the whole sewer lateral, from the house to the county main, including the stretch under the street. Replacing it takes a county plumbing permit, plus a VDOT permit under a state road. Source.
Fairfax Water promises 20 psi at the main and no uniform pressure, and the pressure reducing valve on your side of the meter is yours to buy and keep up. Over 80 psi, the Virginia Residential Code calls for one, and an expansion tank with it. Source.
How to pick the best plumber in Herndon.
Questions worth asking anybody who comes out, us included.
Does the invoice say what was fixed, and when?
Inside the town it has to, if you want the Town’s leak credit: the Town asks for a contractor invoice that describes the repair and matches the dates of the leak. A card receipt or a bank statement doesn’t count.
Is the plumber licensed in Virginia?
Anyone can check on the state’s license lookup in about a minute. It’s the one question that takes the guesswork out of the rest.
Will they put a camera in before they talk about digging?
A sewer camera inspection is cheap next to any dig, and it shows whether the problem is a root, a sag or a break. A quote to dig without one is a guess.
Do you get the price before the work?
Every plumbing job on our list has a range. A plumber who won’t say where yours lands until the wall’s open is asking for a blank check.
What our customers say.
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Plumbing questions from Herndon.
Who pays to fix a broken sewer lateral in the Town of Herndon?
It depends where the break is. For a house, duplex or townhouse, the owner has the stretch from the house to the right-of-way or easement line and the Town handles structural failures from there to its main. A clog is the owner’s to clear anywhere along it. Main sewer line cleaning runs $550 to $1,650.
How do I tell if my supply pipe is polybutylene?
Look under a sink or beside the water heater for grey plastic pipe, often stamped PB. It went into houses from about 1978 to 1995, which takes in a lot of the town’s 1980s houses and much of Franklin Farm, built mostly in that decade. Replacing it runs $1,000 to $12,000, depending on how much of the house it is.
Does the Town of Herndon require a backflow preventer?
Where the state’s cross-connection rules call for one, yes, and the Town enforces them: it can shut off water to a property where a required backflow preventer is missing, removed or bypassed. At a house, a lawn irrigation system is the usual place it comes up.
How much does a plumber cost in Herndon?
It depends on the job, and every one has a published range: drain cleaning for one fixture $200 to $800, main sewer line cleaning $550 to $1,650, leak detection $200 to $500, a pressure reducing valve replacement $500 to $1,000, toilet repair $250 to $900. A sewer camera inspection added to a visit is $89.
Plumbers in the towns next door.
- Plumbing in Reston
- Plumbing in Sterling
- Plumbing in Great Falls
- Plumbing in Oakton
- Plumbing in Chantilly
More from SwiftPro in Herndon
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SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Herndon and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
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