Faucets, showers and sinks are where most people meet their plumbing, and where our hard water does its most visible work. A shower cartridge that lasts fifteen years in Oregon has a much shorter career here. The reason is sitting right in the water.
The short version:
- Shower cartridge: $384 to $505. That fixes most drips and wandering temperatures.
- Shower valve and trim: $198 to $6,105. Big spread, because that covers a trim swap and opening a wall.
- Kitchen faucets: $202 to $3,840 supplied and fitted. The faucet you choose sets the number.
- Scale is the usual culprit. Sixteen grain water ends cartridges, aerators and seals early.
- Bringing your own fixture is fine. Just know you are buying labor, and the warranty splits.
Terms you will see on a quote
- Cartridge
- The replaceable core inside a single handle faucet or shower valve. Mixes hot and cold, controls flow, and it is the part that actually wears out.
- Trim
- The parts you can see. Handle, plate, spout. Swapping trim is surface work. Swapping the valve behind it is not.
- Shower valve
- The body inside the wall. Replacing it usually means opening the wall, which is why that range goes so high.
- Roman tub faucet
- Deck mounted filler on the tub surround instead of the wall. More parts, trickier access.
- Angle stop
- The shutoff under the sink. Seizes in hard water, so it often goes at the same time as a faucet.
- Aerator
- The little screen at the faucet tip. First thing to check for weak flow at one fixture, and usually just scaled up.
- Supplied and installed
- We bring the fixture and fit it, one price, one warranty.
- Customer provided
- You buy it, we fit it. The price is labor only and the fixture warranty stays with you.
Tub, shower and bath
| Service | Typical price in Las Vegas |
|---|---|
| Shower valve and trim, supplied and installed | $198 to $6,105 |
| Shower cartridge replacement | $384 to $505 |
| Roman tub valve and faucet | $1,785 to $3,168 |
| Bath faucet, supplied and installed | $630 to $718 |
| Bath faucet, customer provided (labor only) | $327 |
Kitchen and sink
| Service | Typical price in Las Vegas |
|---|---|
| Kitchen faucet, supplied and installed | $202 to $3,840 |
| Sink installation | $1,406 to $2,091 |
| Garbage disposal, supplied and installed | $606 to $1,635 |
| Disposal repair or rebuild | $234 to $317 |
Laundry
| Service | Typical price in Las Vegas |
|---|---|
| Laundry valve replacement | $353 to $801 |
| Laundry faucet, supplied and installed | $713 |
| Laundry water lines or drain | $2,245 to $3,256 |
Prices are typical ranges for work in the Las Vegas valley. Final pricing depends on home size, access, materials and site conditions. All prices include professional installation and a 1-year workmanship warranty unless otherwise noted. Prices shown reflect a 10% buffer above base pricing. Customer-provided item pricing reflects installation labor only. Emergency and after-hours rates may apply.
Watch for the labor only lines. Bath faucet customer provided at $327 and bath faucet supplied and installed at $630 to $718 are not two prices for the same thing. One includes a faucet and a warranty on it. The other is the fitting fee on a faucet you already bought.
Where national averages stop helping
| National | Las Vegas | |
|---|---|---|
| Faucet install, labor | Often $150 to $450 | $327 bath, labor only |
| Shower cartridge | Often $150 to $350 | $384 to $505 |
| Kitchen faucet, supplied | Depends entirely on the faucet | $202 to $3,840 |
| Garbage disposal, supplied | $250 to $950 | $606 to $1,635 |
Fixture work is where national averages help least, because the fixture is most of the price and fixtures range enormously. A $90 builder faucet and a $2,000 designer one take the same hour to fit.
Why fixtures wear out faster here
Scale on every moving part
Valley water runs about 280 ppm, roughly 16 grains per gallon. The USGS calls anything over 180 mg/L very hard, so we are comfortably past it. Inside a faucet or shower valve, that mineral load settles onto the ceramic discs and rubber seals that have to move and seal thousands of times. A cartridge does not really wear out. It scales up.
The pattern is always the same
First the handle gets stiff. Then the temperature starts wandering, hotter or colder than it was a second ago at the same setting. Then it drips. Most people call at the drip, which is act three.
Pressure
Over 80 psi, every seal in every fixture works harder. If you are replacing cartridges unusually often, water is only half the story. Our pressure guide covers the two minute test.
What a softener changes
It will not bring a scaled cartridge back, but it slows what happens to the next one, plus every other fixture, the water heater and your appliances. One upstream fix touching everything downstream. Our hard water guide has the whole story.
Fix it or replace it?
| What is happening | Fix it | Replace it |
|---|---|---|
| Single handle shower drips | Yes. Cartridge | No |
| Shower temperature wanders | Yes. Cartridge | No |
| Weak flow at one faucet | Yes. Often just the aerator | No |
| Faucet base leaking onto the counter | Sometimes. Seals | Often, on an older one |
| Finish flaking or corroded through | No | Yes |
| Parts no longer made | No | Yes |
| Disposal hums but will not turn | Yes. Usually a jam, $234 to $317 | No |
| Disposal leaking from the body | No | Yes |
That obsolete parts row is the quiet one. Plenty of ten year old faucets are mechanically fine and unfixable because the cartridge is discontinued. Real reason to replace, and easy to check before anyone commits.
Bringing your own fixture
Go for it, especially if you have your heart set on something specific. Three things to know first.
- The price becomes labor only. Our customer provided lines are the fitting, not the fixture.
- The warranty splits. We stand behind our work. The fixture warranty is between you and whoever sold it.
- Have it there and unboxed before we arrive. A missing part found halfway through turns one visit into two.
The laundry valves nobody thinks about
Laundry valves are on this list for reasons that have nothing to do with laundry. They sit behind a machine, nobody ever turns them, they seize in hard water, and the hoses on them are under pressure all day every day. A burst washer hose is one of the more common serious water damage claims anywhere, and the valve that should have stopped it is the one that will not budge.
Replacing one is $353 to $801. Sensible thing to do on a visit that is already happening, especially if your laundry is upstairs or over finished space.
Time on site
| Job | How long |
|---|---|
| Aerator clean or swap | 15 minutes |
| Shower cartridge | 1 to 2 hours |
| Bath or kitchen faucet swap | 1 to 2 hours |
| Garbage disposal | 1 to 2 hours |
| Sink installation | 2 to 4 hours |
| Shower valve, wall opened | Half a day to 2 days with patching |
| Roman tub valve and faucet | Half a day to a day |
| Laundry valve | 1 to 2 hours |
The wide one is the shower valve, and access is the variable. Panel behind the wall, it is a morning. Backing onto tile, the tile is part of the job and so is whoever fixes it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is a shower cartridge in Las Vegas?
$384 to $505. It is the right fix for a shower that drips or wanders, and a fraction of replacing the valve behind the wall.
Why does my shower valve keep failing?
Scale. About 16 grains per gallon, settling on the moving seals inside the cartridge. If replacements are failing fast, check your pressure too, because over 80 psi every seal in the house is working overtime.
What does a kitchen faucet cost installed?
$202 to $3,840 supplied and installed. Almost all of that spread is the faucet. Fitting a cheap one and an expensive one takes about the same time.
Can I buy my own and have you fit it?
Absolutely. The price is then labor only, which is why those lines are marked that way, and the fixture warranty stays with the retailer. Have it on site and unboxed before we come.
Why is a shower valve so much more than a cartridge?
The valve body lives inside the wall. A cartridge comes out through the trim. The valve means opening the wall, and on tile that means tile work and patching after. Hence the $6,105 at the top.
My disposal hums but will not turn. Dead?
Usually not. That is the classic jam, and a repair or rebuild is $234 to $317. The one that genuinely needs replacing is leaking from the body rather than the connections, at $606 to $1,635 supplied and fitted.
One faucet is weak, the rest are fine. What is it?
Almost always the aerator, scaled up. Cheapest thing on this page to check, often just a clean. Weak flow everywhere at once is a different problem and points at pressure or the main.
Would a softener stop all this?
It slows it down, across every fixture at once, plus the water heater and appliances. It will not revive a cartridge that has already scaled, but it changes how often you are buying the next one.
Let us have a look
Fixture work is the easiest place to overspend, because replacing is always on the table and repairing is usually right. A dripping single handle shower is a cartridge until proven otherwise.
Take a look at our faucet repair, shower repair and garbage disposal services, or book a visit and we will tell you which part is actually tired.
