The install is one part. The plan matters too.

Four things decide whether a job is simple

Whether the main shutoff valve still closes. Whether there is a drain within reach of the equipment. Whether there is an outlet on a circuit that will not trip. And whether anyone else has to approve the work before it starts.

Every one of those is knowable before a price is agreed, and every one of them is a common reason a quoted job turns into a larger one halfway through. We check all four at the survey. Where something is missing it changes the scope, and it is better for both sides that this appears in the quote rather than on the invoice.

The fourth is the one people underestimate. In a co-op or a condo, board approval commonly takes several weeks and some boards meet monthly. In a rental, anything that tees into the supply or drills the worktop needs the landlord's written agreement. Start that early, because it runs on a timetable nobody on site controls.

Testing and installation

These are the jobs that put equipment in. Each page covers what happens on the day, what we check beforehand, and where local rules vary.

• Free water testing. An on-site test of the things that change a recommendation, plus a reading of your utility report where you are on public water. Typically 45 to 60 minutes.
• Whole-house filter installation. Installation of a filter or treatment train at the point water enters the building, including a bypass so the house still has water when the unit is serviced. Typically 3 to 5 hours.
• Under-sink reverse osmosis installation. Installation of a reverse osmosis system in the sink cabinet, with a dedicated tap and a drain saddle or air gap connection as the local code requires. Typically 2 to 4 hours.
• Water softener installation. Installation of an ion exchange softener with a bypass valve, brine tank, and drain line, sized to your measured hardness and household demand rather than a standard package. Typically 3 to 5 hours.
• Well water treatment installation. Installation of a treatment train built around your current laboratory test, staged in the correct order so each piece protects the next. Typically 1 to 2 days depending on the number of stages.

Keeping it working afterwards

A filter is not a one-off purchase. Every type has a replacement interval and most of them fail quietly rather than obviously, which is why the schedule matters more than the brand.

• Maintenance and filter replacement. Scheduled cartridge and media replacement at the interval the equipment is rated for, with the dates recorded so the schedule survives a change of occupant.
• Repair, any brand. Diagnosis and repair of existing equipment, including systems we did not install and brands we do not sell.
• System relocation. Removal of a system from one property and reinstallation at another, including a check that the equipment still suits the water at the new address.
• Salt delivery. Scheduled delivery of softener salt, carried to the brine tank rather than left at the kerb.

Commercial work and equipment you already own

• Commercial installation. Filtration for offices, restaurants, medical and dental rooms, and schools, specified around throughput, equipment protection, and any documentation the site has to keep.
• Installing a filter you bought. Fitting equipment you already own.

How the property changes the job

The same equipment can be a half-day job in one building and impossible in another. What changes is rarely the water and usually the building.

• Brownstones and pre-war buildings. Older housing stock across the Northeast often predates the 1986 restriction on lead solder, and many of these buildings still have lead or unknown service lines recorded in municipal inventories.
• Co-ops and condos. In shared buildings the binding constraint is usually approval rather than plumbing.
• Rentals. Anything that does not alter the property is straightforward.
• Single-family homes on city water. The most flexible case.
• Homes on private wells. No utility tests this water and no report is published.
• New construction. The cheapest point to plan treatment, because the space, drain, and power can be designed in rather than retrofitted.

Permits, licensing, and who is allowed to do this

Plumbing work is regulated separately in each state we cover, and work on the main line is permitted in some municipalities and not others. Where a permit is required it generally has to be pulled by a licensed plumber, and we confirm the position with your local authority before scheduling rather than assuming it from a neighbouring town.

Our state registrations are published on the licensing page as each one is confirmed. We do not advertise services into a state before its registration details are on file there, which is why some service area pages are not yet live.

What a visit should leave behind

Written test results with the date and what each figure means. A recommendation you can read without us in the room, including what the equipment will not do. An agreed scope before work starts. A dated replacement schedule on the unit itself, with part numbers, so the information survives a change of occupant.

If you would rather change cartridges yourself, we will show you how and tell you where to buy them. A service plan should be a convenience rather than the only route to keeping your own equipment running.