What Does an Emergency Plumber Cost?

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Posted September 19, 2025

There are currently more than 129,000 plumbers in the United States alone. Plumbers are essential for fixing all sorts of home problems, such as broken pipes, toilets, sinks, and other aspects. While some plumbing problems around your house might be able to wait for a few days before being repaired, there are some problems that need to be fixed right away.

In such a case, you would need to call an emergency plumber. An emergency plumber is equipped with all the right tools and expertise to hurry to your home as fast as possible and fix whatever plumbing emergency might be at hand. But how much does an emergency plumber cost, you might ask?

What kind of factors might affect the cost of an emergency plumber, and how do you know if you need one or not? More than that, what is an emergency plumber exactly, and what does one do that’s any different from an ordinary plumber? Keep reading and learn more about the details of emergency plumbers and the total cost of hiring one.

What You Need to Know About Emergency Plumbers

As the name suggests, an emergency plumber is meant to fix emergencies related to your plumbing. This is the main difference between an emergency plumber and a general plumber. When it comes to general plumbers, you might need to schedule a time later on in the week for them to come and take a look at your problem.

But with emergency plumbers, they should be at your door as soon as possible after you call for their services. Emergency plumbers are also very good at working quickly so that certain plumbing problems don’t get any worse. This is very important for severe plumbing problems that may risk ruining parts of your house if you don’t act fast.

But what exactly is a plumbing emergency, and when should you hire an emergency plumber? Of course, simple problems like a clogged drain or rusty pipes aren’t plumbing emergencies. You can treat these problems whenever you feel like it and they shouldn’t become too serious too quickly.

However, this is a different story if you’re dealing with a problem like a gas leak or damaged pipes. For example, suppose a pipe in your bathroom breaks, causing water to spray everywhere in the room. You will be unable to stop the spray of water on your own.

The Details

If you don’t act fast, the large quantities of water will end up soaking the bathroom and may end up ruining the walls, ceilings, floors, and so on. This, of course, would constitute a plumbing emergency. It would be necessary to call the best plumber in your area to fix the problem right away so that it doesn’t get any worse.

Leaky pipes, in some cases, may also be considered a plumbing emergency. This is because leaky pipes may burst at any moment. More than that, leaky pipes can drastically increase your water bill. Also, any plumbing problem that may be dangerous to a person’s life is also considered a plumbing emergency.

Whatever the problem may be, an emergency plumber will need to have certain characteristics to properly conquer the problem. For one, the plumber should be able to act fast, no matter what the problem may be. Acting fast is key because otherwise, the plumbing problem may get much worse in only a short period of time.

An emergency plumber should also be able to perform high-quality work when under pressure. This is why it is so important to find a reputable and professional emergency plumber so that the results are as good as they’re supposed to be. Also, you should have the number of an emergency plumber on hand before a plumbing emergency ever happens in your home.

That way, when a plumbing emergency does happen, you won’t be scrambling to find a good plumber to fix your problem. Instead, you’ll already have the number of a good plumber on hand. Finding a good plumber can be difficult, and finding a plumber that fits your budget can be even more difficult.

After all, how much does an emergency plumber cost, and what factors affect the cost?

Understanding the Cost of Emergency Plumbers

The cost of hiring an emergency plumber will always differ according to a variety of factors. On average, an emergency plumber tends to cost around $80 per hour. However, one of the main factors that determine the exact cost is your location.

For example, if you live in a big city such as New York City or Miami, you will find that the cost per hour for an emergency plumber will be quite expensive in comparison to an emergency plumber from a more rural area. This is also true in particular states such as New York or California where the majority of services cost more compared to the rest of the country. Of course, it isn’t realistic to go to another area to save money on an emergency plumber if you happen to need one.

However, it is important to consider your geographic location when considering all the different factors that could affect the total cost of hiring an emergency plumber. Depending on your location, you may need to pay several dollars extra per hour for a plumber. Some areas may require you to pay $20 extra or even more, while other areas might be considerably cheaper.

While it isn’t common, in some expensive areas, you may need to pay as much as $150 per hour for a plumber of this type. In other areas, you may only need to pay $50 per hour. Of course, your geographic location isn’t the only important factor you should think about when going over the cost of an emergency plumber.

Another important factor has to do with what kind of problem the plumber needs to deal with. As mentioned before, there are many different kinds of plumbing emergencies a plumber may need to deal with.

What You Need to Know

Many people believe that plumbers only take care of basic problems such as clogged drains or burst pipes and so on.

However, emergency plumbers may occasionally tackle more unusual problems such as sewer system backups, gas leaks, garbage disposal problems, and so on. The cost of hiring an emergency plumber will often depend on the complexity of the problem at hand, the effort and time it takes to fix the problem, and so on.

Consider that you have the problem of an overflowing or clogged toilet. This is certainly a plumbing emergency since if you can’t stop the toilet from overflowing right away, the floors and walls in your bathroom could be ruined. Fortunately, a good emergency plumber should be able to fix this problem in no time.

When a project doesn’t take very long, you shouldn’t have to pay very much for the plumber’s services. Of course, when a plumber needs to work on a problem for several hours, you will need to end up paying a fixed amount per hour for that plumber’s services. A problem like a gas leak or a burst pipe hidden somewhere in a wall will often take a plumber a lot more time to solve, so these problems will naturally be more expensive.

Usually, most plumbing problems shouldn’t take more than an hour or so to fix. On rare occasions, however, there are more complex problems that may take an entire day to fix. This often is due to the need to replace particular parts or to find the source of the problem.

Keep in mind that the amount of labor required along with the time required is also important when considering the cost of hiring an emergency plumber. In general, more laborious jobs are also those that require more time to complete.

Other Factors That Affect the Cost of Emergency Plumbers

There are a few other factors that affect the total cost of emergency plumbers that you should know about. The next most important factor has to do with the quality of the emergency plumbing service itself. Not many people realize that the quality of a plumbing service can vary greatly depending on what service one hires.

For example, you might find an emergency plumbing service that seems quite affordable. Due to the cheap price, you might be tempted to hire such a service to fix your plumbing emergency. However, if you do so, you may find that the plumbing service may not do as good of a job as you might have hoped.

This is because plumbing services that seem unusually cheap are often not very high-quality when it comes to their services. A cheap plumbing service may do only the bare minimum to fix your problem. Doing this, of course, will only fix the problem at hand only temporarily.

If the problem is not fixed in the right fashion, the problem will likely happen again and it may end up being even worse than before. So, it is best to avoid plumbing services that seem a bit too cheap. While you might save money upfront, you will likely need to spend even more money down the line because the problem wasn’t really fixed in the first place.

What to Know

On the other hand, more expensive plumbing services tend to be of higher quality. This is because it costs more to hire and manage plumbers with a lot of professional experience compared to plumbers with very little experience. Also, more expensive plumbing services tend to take better care of their customers because they are paying a higher price.

Of course, this does not necessarily mean you have to go out and hire the most expensive emergency plumber you can find. Rather, you should aim to find a plumbing service that is somewhere in the middle ground in terms of price. If you find a plumbing service with a relatively average price, you should find that the quality of the service should still be quite good.

It is only plumbing services with unusually cheap prices that you should worry about as they may not be as professional as they seem. When picking a plumbing service based on cost, you should always remember to keep your budget in mind. While it is best to hire a high-quality plumbing service, your budget may not allow you to hire the best of the best.

Even so, you should still try to hire a service that is as good as you can afford. That way, you can rest easy knowing that the plumber you hired will do a good job fixing your plumbing emergency.

Consider the Type of Emergency Plumbing Service

One final factor that can affect the cost is the type of emergency plumbing service you hire. Some plumbers are exclusively emergency plumbers. On the other hand, some plumbers are general plumbers but may agree to fix emergency problems on occasion.

In the latter case, you will often need to spend more money. This is because the plumber will often need to work hours that he does not usually work. So, keep this in mind when choosing a plumbing service and calculating the cost of the service.

All About the Cost of an Emergency Plumber

The cost of an emergency plumber can depend on a variety of things. Some plumbers may charge $50 per hour, while others may charge as much as $150 per hour. The factors that affect the total cost include your geographic location, the type of emergency plumber you get, the quality of the service, the problem that needs to be fixed, and so on.

To learn more about emergency plumbing and plumbing in general, contact us here.

Daily Promotion

$99 Electrical Inspection

Get Your Electrical Inspection for just $99!

Get Promotion