Hear from Our Customers
Your insurance company stops treating your property like a ticking time bomb. Premiums drop, deductibles normalize, and coverage restrictions disappear because you’ve eliminated the single biggest red flag in mountain home insurance.
Buyers and lenders stop walking away from your property. Kitec plumbing kills deals before they start, and mortgage companies know it. Replace those pipes and you’ve just removed the biggest obstacle between your home and a clean sale.
You sleep better knowing your Lake Tahoe investment isn’t one burst pipe away from tens of thousands in water damage. Kitec fails without warning—usually when you’re not there to catch it. New plumbing means you stop gambling with your property every time you leave town.
We’ve been building and repairing plumbing systems in mountain properties since before Kitec was even installed. We’ve seen what happens when these systems fail in Carnelian Bay homes—the flooding, the insurance nightmares, the emergency calls at 2 AM.
We’re not new to this. Our crews understand Lake Tahoe construction, from log cabins to lakefront estates. We know how to work in tight spaces, minimize wall damage, and get your water back on fast.
You’ll get the same transparent pricing and punctual service that earned us a 4.7-star Google rating. The quote we give you is what you pay. No diagnostic fees, no surprise charges, no inflated bills after the work is done.
We start with a full assessment of your existing Kitec system—where it runs, what access points we’ll need, and how we can minimize disruption to your walls and ceilings. You get a complete breakdown of costs before we touch a single pipe.
Day one, we shut off your water and start removing the old Kitec lines. Our crews work fast but careful, opening only the access points we need. We install new PEX or copper piping—your choice—and pressure test every connection before we close anything up.
Day two, we finish connections, restore water service, and walk you through the new system. You’ll know where every shutoff is, how everything works, and what to expect from your new plumbing. We clean up, haul away the old materials, and leave you with a lifetime warranty on the work.
Most homes are back to normal water service within 48 hours. Larger properties might take three days, but you’ll know the exact timeline before we start.
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You get full removal of every Kitec line in your home—hot water, cold water, supply lines, and all the brass fittings that fail along with the pipes. We don’t patch around the problem. We pull it all out and start fresh.
New piping goes in with modern materials built to last decades, not years. PEX is flexible, freeze-resistant, and perfect for mountain climates. Copper is traditional, durable, and preferred by some buyers. Either way, you’re getting a system that won’t degrade from the inside out like Kitec does.
In Carnelian Bay, where homes range from cozy cabins to multi-million dollar lakefront properties, we adjust our approach to match your home’s construction. Tight crawl spaces, vaulted ceilings, custom finishes—we’ve handled them all. You’ll get the same careful work whether your home is worth $800,000 or $7 million.
We include pressure testing, final inspections, and documentation for your insurance company and future buyers. Everything gets photographed, recorded, and handed over so you have proof the work was done right.
Most complete repipes in Carnelian Bay run between $8,000 and $18,000 depending on square footage, how many bathrooms you have, and how accessible your plumbing is. A 1,500 square foot cabin with two bathrooms sits on the lower end. A 3,500 square foot home with four bathrooms and limited crawl space access costs more.
The price includes complete removal of all Kitec piping, installation of new PEX or copper lines, pressure testing, and cleanup. If we need to open walls or ceilings for access, that’s included. If you want us to handle drywall repair and painting afterward, that’s a separate line item we’ll quote upfront.
Mountain properties sometimes cost more than valley homes because access is trickier and materials have to come up the hill. But you’ll know the exact number before we start, and that’s the number you’ll pay. We don’t believe in “discovering” extra work halfway through the job.
Most insurance policies won’t pay to replace Kitec pipes before they fail. They see it as preventive maintenance, not covered damage. But once Kitec bursts and floods your home, they’ll pay for water damage repairs—minus your deductible, which is often higher if you have Kitec plumbing.
Here’s the math that matters: your deductible on a Kitec-related claim might be $5,000 to $10,000. The cost to replace the pipes before they fail is $8,000 to $18,000. You’re paying either way, but replacing the pipes means you avoid the flooding, the emergency repairs, the ruined floors and furniture, and the months of restoration work.
Some insurers in the Lake Tahoe area are starting to non-renew policies on homes with Kitec, or they’re charging significantly higher premiums. Replacing the system now protects you from both the damage and the insurance headaches. Bring us your policy details and we’ll help you understand what documentation your carrier needs after the repipe is complete.
Most homes are done in one to two days. Smaller properties with straightforward layouts and good access can be finished in a single long day. Larger homes or properties with complex plumbing systems might stretch into day three, but that’s the exception.
You’ll be without water during the work, so plan accordingly. If you’re living in the home, you might want to stay elsewhere overnight or be prepared to use facilities elsewhere. If it’s a vacation property and you’re not occupying it, timing is easier.
We schedule the work when it fits your calendar, not ours. A lot of Carnelian Bay homeowners are seasonal or weekend residents, so we’re used to coordinating around your availability. Give us a window that works and we’ll lock it in. The job gets done in the timeframe we promise, and we don’t drag it out to pad hours.
You can, but it’s throwing money at a temporary fix. Kitec doesn’t fail in just one spot—the entire system is degrading at the same rate. The chemicals in the brass fittings leach into the pipe walls, weakening them from the inside. If one section failed, the rest is right behind it.
Replacing one burst pipe today means you’ll be replacing another one in six months, then another one after that. Each repair costs $500 to $1,500 depending on location and damage. After three or four repairs, you’ve spent as much as a complete repipe would have cost—and you still have Kitec in your walls.
Insurance companies know this, which is why they treat homes with Kitec differently even after partial repairs. Lenders know it too, which is why Kitec kills home sales. If you’re going to spend the money and deal with the disruption, do it once and be done. Rip it all out and install a system that won’t fail on you five years from now.
You come back to a disaster. Kitec failures aren’t slow drips—they’re full ruptures that dump gallons per minute into your home until someone shuts off the main. In a mountain property where you might be gone for weeks at a time, that’s catastrophic.
Water floods through floors, soaks into walls, ruins furniture and finishes, and creates mold conditions within 48 hours. The restoration process can take months and cost $50,000 or more depending on how long the water ran. Your insurance will cover some of it, but you’re still dealing with contractors, displacement, and a property you can’t use or rent while repairs happen.
This is why so many Carnelian Bay second-home owners replace Kitec even when it hasn’t failed yet. The risk isn’t worth it when you’re not there to catch a problem early. Spend two days repiping now, or spend months recovering from a flood later. The math is pretty clear.
You don’t legally have to, but you’ll pay for it one way or another. Buyers will either demand you replace it before closing, negotiate tens of thousands off your asking price, or walk away entirely. Lenders are increasingly reluctant to finance homes with Kitec plumbing because they know it’s a liability.
Even if you find a cash buyer willing to take on the risk, they’re going to factor replacement costs into their offer. You’ll lose $15,000 to $25,000 in negotiating power, which is more than the repipe would have cost if you’d handled it proactively.
Replace the Kitec before you list and you eliminate the biggest objection buyers will have. Your home shows better, appraises higher, and moves faster because buyers aren’t scared off by a plumbing system they know will fail. In a market like Carnelian Bay where buyers have options, you don’t want to give them a reason to choose someone else’s property over yours.
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