Water in the basement after a hard rain
In Old Town that’s usually the sewer backing up, not groundwater, because the pipes there carry rain and sewage together. A backflow preventer on your sewer line is what stops it.
Alexandria, Virginia
A plumber in Alexandria.
Drain cleaning for one fixture is $200 to $800 and toilet repair is $250 to $900, from our published price list.
Get your price in writing
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Rather talk now? (703) 997-9757
Plumbers for the City of Alexandria and the Fairfax County side: leaks, drains, sewer lines and water heaters, priced before the work.
- Prices in writing, first
- Camera before any dig
- Dedicated plumbing team
5.0 stars across 1,132 reviews
Part of our plumbing team, with the drain machine, the sewer camera and the jetter they bring to the house.
Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceOften same-day, 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 a plumber costs in Alexandria.
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
or $46/mo at 0% APR for 60 months
Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms. How financing works
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’s different in Alexandria
Old Town’s sewer, and every pipe era on the county side.
Alexandria spans more plumbing eras than anywhere else we work. In the City, half the owner-occupied houses went up before 1970: galvanized supply on the oldest streets, cast iron drains, and 1960s copper. On the Fairfax County side, Rose Hill, Mount Vernon and Fort Hunt are 1960s houses with cast iron under them, while Kingstowne and Franconia went up later, some of it in the polybutylene years.
In Old Town, a basement that takes on water in a hard rain is usually the sewer, not the groundwater. The fix is a backflow preventer on the house’s sewer line, and the City’s program below pays back part of it.
Old Town is the exception, not the rule. More than 90 percent of the City runs separate sanitary and storm sewers, so outside the old combined area a basement backup is usually a blockage somewhere in the line, and the camera finds where. Flood-proofing an Old Town basement can mean two applications: the City’s Flood Mitigation Grant pays half of eligible flood-proofing costs up to $5,000, and the backflow preventer goes through the separate $2,000 program.
Neighborhood by neighborhood
What’s in the walls across Alexandria.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Alexandria | 1970 | condo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | Condo buildings: shared risers, your own supply lines and fixtures. |
| Rose Hill | 1969 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Copper supply, cast iron drains. |
| Franconia | 1986 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | The polybutylene years: check the supply pipe; PVC drains. |
| Fort Hunt | 1963 | single-family houses, nearly all | gas, about 8 in 10 | Galvanized supply on the oldest streets, cast iron drains. |
| Kingstowne | 1994 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | The polybutylene years: check the supply pipe; PVC drains. |
| Woodlawn | 1976 | townhouses, about 4 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Copper supply, cast iron drains. |
| Lincolnia | 1982 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | The polybutylene years: check the supply pipe; PVC drains. |
| Mount Vernon | 1967 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Copper supply, cast iron drains. |
By the numbers
Alexandria houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
The City of Alexandria
- Median home built1970 Census
- Built before 1980about 6 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes arecondo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 6 in 10 Census
- Houses from before 1960 were plumbed in galvanized steel, which narrows with rust from the inside until the pressure goes.
- Houses built before 1980 mostly drain through cast iron, which rusts through along the bottom of the pipe.
What you’d notice
What a plumbing problem in Alexandria usually looks like.
Pressure that drops a little every year
Galvanized steel supply pipe rusts from the inside, so the pressure falls slowly until a shower upstairs is a trickle. The fix is new pipe, not a new faucet.
A sewer smell you can’t place
Old cast iron drain pipe rusts through along the bottom where the water sits. A smell with no source, or a basement floor drain that backs up, is the usual sign, and the camera tells you for sure.
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.
After a heavy rain
After a storm in Alexandria, 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.
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
- 4
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.
Your pipes, your paperwork
Who owns what under the street in Alexandria.
City of Alexandria
The City pays back half the cost of a sewer backflow preventer, up to $2,000, when a State and City licensed plumber installs it in a house with a basement, under a permit that passes final inspection. Source.
About 540 acres of Old Town still run on a combined sewer from the 1800s. RiverRenew keeps the overflow out of the river but doesn’t stop basement backups. Source.
The City doesn’t allow a sump pump or downspout to drain into the sanitary sewer, and houses built before 1970 can have one tied in without the owner knowing. Source.
Fairfax County
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.
Our Virginia Class A contractor license, 2705192276, is on the side of the van.
Choosing a plumber
How to pick the best plumber in Alexandria.
Questions worth asking anybody who comes out, us included.
Is the plumber licensed by the City as well as the State?
For the City’s backflow preventer reimbursement, it has to be both, with a permit and a passed final inspection. Ask before the work starts, not after.
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.
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 1,132 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Hard to find service like this in Alexandria.
…we had swift and professional responses for multiple plumbing and HVAC needs in our Rosemont Alexandria condo
Idk why they told me on the phone it cost me 49 but whn he got here it cost me 260 for clogged toilet
Where we work
Plumbing in every Northern Virginia town we serve
Next door to Alexandria: Arlington, Springfield, Falls Church, Annandale and Fort Belvoir.
Fairfax County
Arlington County
Loudoun County
Prince William County
Fauquier County
Stafford County
Questions
Plumbing questions from Alexandria.
Does the City of Alexandria help pay for a sewer backflow preventer?
Yes: half the cost, up to $2,000, for a house with a basement, installed by a State and City licensed plumber under a permit that passes final inspection. The valve has to be closed through a sewer overload, which the City says typically lasts 2 to 6 hours.
Who owns the sewer line from my Alexandria house?
It depends on the side of the line. In Fairfax County the homeowner owns the whole lateral, out to the county main and under the street. In the City it depends on when the lateral went in; on laterals laid before July 1, 1955, the owner has the stretch from the curb to the house.
How much does a plumber cost in Alexandria?
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.
Ready when you are
Tell us what the water is doing.
Call, or send the form at the top. You get the price before the work, and if it can wait, we’ll tell you that too.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
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 Alexandria and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,132 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.