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SwiftPro tests and repairs backflow preventers in Lorton, 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 Lorton are rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews and work under Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276. Backflow testing in Lorton, from Laurel Hill to Lorton Station and Mason Neck: we test the device, fix it if it fails and get the report to Fairfax 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 Lorton
Lorton is the newest corner of southern Fairfax County. In Laurel Hill, the old prison land that passed to the County in 2002, about six homes in ten were built since 2000, and the typical home in the Lorton Census place dates to 2001. When a builder put sprinklers in on those streets, the backflow device needed a permit, a plumbing final and a test report at installation. That’s why a notice can arrive in the first year you own a new house: the device has been on the County’s books since it went in.
The same goes for anything added since. Swap a device, move it or repair it, and it gets tested again right then, with a fresh report, before the yearly cycle picks back up. So if your irrigation company replaced a cracked PVB last spring, ask for the report from that visit and keep it with the house papers.
Mason Neck is the other Lorton. It’s all detached homes, with a typical build year of 1973, and County health records show about 300 parcels in 22079 with an active well, most along Gunston Road, Harley Road and Old Colchester Road. Fairfax Water’s rules don’t allow a private well and the public line to be tied together anywhere, so on a lot with both, the well piping has to stay fully separate from the house water.
Test months run late here. Around Laurel Hill and South County High School the County’s tax map grid says December. Around Lorton Station it’s November. Down Gunston Road and out on Mason Neck it’s March. Our guide to winterizing a sprinkler backflow preventer helps you time the fall shutdown around a late test.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lorton | 2001 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Lawn sprinklers the builder put in, and their device. |
| Newington | 1981 | townhouses, about 6 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Mostly the association’s sprinklers, plus any yard system an owner added. |
| Laurel Hill | 2002 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 8 in 10 | Lawn sprinklers the builder put in, and their device. |
| Mason Neck | 1973 | single-family houses, nearly all | electricity, about 6 in 10 | A sprinkler system or pool added later, where there is one. |
By the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
ZIP 22079 as a whole: every Lorton address. Most of Newington, in the table, has Springfield mail.
When it’s time
A Laurel Hill test month lands after most people have shut their sprinklers down for the year. It’s usually easiest to have the test done before the irrigation company winterizes, or on the same visit, so the device isn’t pulled and put back twice.
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.
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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.
In Lorton’s newer neighborhoods, builders most often set a PVB by the foundation or an RPZ in a box near the meter. A tester who knows the common setups shows up with the right gauges and the right repair parts, and finishes on one trip.
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 Lorton: Springfield, Woodbridge, Fairfax Station, Burke and Alexandria.
Questions
No. Fort Belvoir buys its water wholesale from Fairfax Water, and Virginia American Water runs the backflow program on the post. Homes in Lorton itself, Laurel Hill, Lorton Station and Mason Neck, are on Fairfax County’s program.
If the house is also on Fairfax Water, any testable device on it, like one on a sprinkler line, gets the yearly test. The well itself can’t be connected to the public water at all. Fairfax Water’s rules prohibit that cross connection outright.
SwiftPro does, all over Lorton. 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 Lorton 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.