When people buy a home, they notice countertops, flooring, paint colors, and fancy appliances.

What they almost never notice is the plumbing hidden behind the walls and beneath the slab, and that’s the part of the house most capable of causing a five-figure repair bill.

As a plumber, I see the same story play out over and over again. Builders save tens of thousands of dollars during construction by using lower-grade valves, fixtures, fittings, and installation practices. The homeowner gets to spend the next decade or two paying for these “cost saving measures.”

• Each faucet and toilet has a shutoff valve. Their entire purpose is simple: when something leaks, or they need to be maintained, you turn off the water to the fixture, not the whole house.
• Unfortunately, many production homes are equipped with inexpensive multi-turn stop valves made with plastic stems, rubber washers, or light-duty internal parts. Or worse, integrated plastic push/pull stops.
• These valves often go untouched for years, until the day you need them. You go to turn the handle, or pull the stop, and it won’t close. Or it starts leaking around the stem, or the handle breaks off in your hand.
• Now what should have been a simple faucet replacement suddenly requires shutting off water to the entire house. If the main valve also fails—which isn’t uncommon—you may need the utility company or a plumber before the original repair can even begin.
• A quality quarter-turn brass valve costs more upfront, but it can save hundreds of dollars in emergency labor and a tremendous amount of frustration years later. Additionally, they ensure no debris from a disintegrating rubber washer gets moved to the internals of the faucet or toilet above it, causing flow restrictions or leaks.
• Not all plumbing fixtures are created equal. Lower-cost faucets often use thinner castings, cheaper cartridges, lower-quality seals, and finishes that deteriorate much faster than premium products. They are mostly plastic and rubber.
• As a result, handles become loose, cartridges fail, or the finish peels off. Parts often become unavailable as soon as the cheap faucet stops “trending” and the entire faucet gets replaced instead of repaired.
• Buying the least expensive fixture, like the ones found at the Big Box stores frequently means paying for installation twice. A better fixture may cost a little more today but often lasts decades with nothing more than an occasional cartridge replacement.