How much does Hose Bib Replacement cost in LA?

Washer or stem replacement: $80–$140

If your hose bib drips when shut off but the body of the spigot itself is still solid, the fix is almost always a washer or stem replacement. The rubber washer at the end of the valve stem flattens or hardens after 5–10 years and stops sealing against the seat. On a standard compression-style spigot, a pro pulls the packing nut, removes the stem, replaces the washer (and often the packing string), and reassembles. $80–$140 in LA, including the trip charge.

The lower end is a quick visit on an accessible spigot with no other corrosion. The higher end is a spigot where the stem itself is pitted and needs replacement (a stem assembly is $8–$25 in parts), or where the seat inside the spigot body is also worn and needs to be ground or replaced. Most pros carry the parts for the common Mueller B&K, Arrowhead Brass, and Woodford configurations and complete the job in a single visit.

What this fix doesn't cover: a spigot that leaks from the body itself rather than the spout, threads that are corroded enough that a hose won't seal on them, or any leak inside the wall behind the spigot. Each of those is a full spigot swap rather than a stem repair.

Full spigot swap on PEX or copper: $120–$220

Replacing the entire hose bib on a modern supply line — PEX or copper, typical of homes built or repiped after 1990 — is $120–$220. The work is straightforward: shut off the water at the main or at a branch valve, cut and remove the old spigot, install a new threaded adapter or sweat fitting, thread on the new spigot with the right thread sealant, and pressure-test the connection.

What pushes a PEX or copper swap to the higher end of the range: a spigot mounted through a stucco wall where the pro has to chip back the stucco to access the connection, a long pipe-extension run from inside the house where the connection point is hard to reach, or a frost-free style spigot upgrade (Woodford Model 17 or similar) where the new unit is significantly longer than the old one and needs careful interior access.

Most LA pros will recommend a quarter-turn ball-valve hose bib (Arrowhead Brass 455 series, Mueller B&K 108 series) over the older multi-turn compression style for new installs. Quarter-turn shuts cleanly, doesn't develop washer leaks, and operates with a single 90-degree handle motion. The price is similar to compression-style replacements within the same range.

Full spigot swap on galvanized: $180–$340

Older LA homes — Silver Lake bungalows from the 1920s, Hancock Park tudors from the 1930s, much of Highland Park, Echo Park, and West Adams pre-war stock — typically still have the original galvanized steel water supply lines feeding the exterior spigots. After 80–100 years, those galvanized threads at the spigot connection are corroded, scaled, and often partially closed off internally by mineral buildup that's narrowed the actual flow path.

Swapping a spigot on a galvanized line is $180–$340 because the work is genuinely different. The pro typically can't just unthread the old spigot — the threads are seized — so they cut back the galvanized line, install a transition fitting (galvanized to brass or to PEX, depending on what's behind the wall), and then attach the new spigot. If the line section that's exposed is heavily corroded, the pro may also recommend replacing a longer section of pipe back to a sound joint, which adds $40–$120.

An honest scoping note: if you've got galvanized supply lines and you've already had two spigot failures or a slow leak inside an exterior wall, the long-term answer is repiping that branch from the main with PEX or copper. A handyman can do the spigot replacement and transition fitting; a full repipe is licensed plumber scope (C-36 contractor) and we'd refer that out.

AVB / vacuum breaker upgrade: $60–$100

California Plumbing Code Section 608 (the backflow prevention chapter) requires a vacuum breaker on every hose bib — the small brass cap with the button on top that prevents back-siphonage of contaminated water (from a hose left in a pool, a chemical sprayer, or a livestock trough) into the household supply. Code has required this since the 1990s, but a lot of LA spigots installed before then either never had one or had one that failed and was removed.

Adding or upgrading an anti-siphon vacuum breaker (AVB) runs $60–$100. On a modern brass spigot, the pro threads a code-compliant vacuum breaker onto the existing spout. On an older spigot with a non-standard outlet, the pro may need to replace the spigot entirely to accept a code-current AVB — at which point the work is a full spigot swap at the prices in the previous sections, not the $60–$100 add-on price.

If you're selling the home or in escrow, the buyer's inspector will flag any hose bib without a working vacuum breaker. It's a low-cost fix and well worth doing prophylactically rather than under inspection-period time pressure.

Brand recommendations (and which to avoid)

Three brands LA pros consistently recommend for hose bib replacements:

Brands to avoid: any unbranded big-box generic brass spigot under $15, any plastic-bodied unit (they crack in UV and from hose torque), and the cheapest Chinese-import quarter-turn units that show up on Amazon — the internal seals fail in 1–2 years. The $40–$80 you save on the cheap option you'll pay back in another service call within a year or two.

• Mueller B&K — the workhorse. Solid brass, available everywhere (Home Depot, Ace, Lowe's), $25–$60 depending on the model. Quarter-turn 108 series is the typical pick for standard installs.
• Woodford — the freeze-resistant choice. Model 17 and Model 22 frost-free spigots run $50–$120, and while LA doesn't have hard freezes, the longer body of a frost-free unit also makes them more durable on stucco walls. Worth the upgrade if you're doing a full replacement anyway.
• Arrowhead Brass — California-specific, made in the US, slightly higher quality castings than the Mueller line. The 455 series quarter-turn is $35–$80 and is what most plumbing supply houses (rather than big-box stores) carry. If your pro suggests Arrowhead, it's a sign they're sourcing quality parts.

Pre-1950s LA homes: a corroded-brass note

If your home is in Silver Lake, Hancock Park, Larchmont, parts of West Adams, or any of the other 1920s–1950s LA neighborhoods, the original brass spigots are often visibly corroded — green-blue patina, rough surface, sometimes a slight bulge or pitting near the hose threads. Even if those spigots still work, they're at the end of their service life. Brass develops dezincification when it's been in contact with hard water for 70+ years, and the structural strength of the casting weakens.

The honest recommendation on a pre-1950s home with original brass spigots: budget for replacement of all of them in the next year or two, even if only one is currently leaking. Doing them in a single visit (typically 3–5 spigots on an average lot) drops the per-spigot price because the trip charge is amortized — a 4-spigot visit might run $480–$700 total versus $480–$1,000+ as four separate visits. Mention 'whole-house spigot refresh' when you book and the pro will scope all of them on arrival.

Three failure patterns to know before you call

Most LA hose bib calls fall into one of three patterns, and which one you have determines the right scope. Knowing the pattern up front saves diagnostic time and helps the pro arrive with the right parts:

• Slow drip from the spout when shut off. Almost always a worn washer or hardened stem — the cheapest fix in this category, $80–$140. The valve still works, it's just not sealing fully against the seat. Shows up most often on spigots that are 5–15 years old.
• Leak from the body of the spigot (where it meets the wall or pipe). The casting itself is cracked, the threads are corroded, or the pipe behind it is failing. This is a full swap — $120–$340 depending on whether the supply line is PEX, copper, or galvanized. If you see water staining on the wall under the spigot, this is the pattern you have.
• Spigot turns but no water comes out (or only a trickle). Either a buried clog inside an old galvanized line, a closed shutoff somewhere upstream, or a stem that's snapped off internally. Diagnosis runs $60–$120, and the actual fix depends on which of those it turns out to be.