Gas Line Repair Services in Friendswood, TX — 2026 Pricing & What to Expect
Gas work in Friendswood is one of the few plumbing categories where getting it wrong can hurt someone — so the pricing conversation deserves to be straightforward. This is what we charge in 2026, what the city permit process looks like, and when CenterPoint has to be involved. If a contractor is quoting you dramatically less, ask them to show you the permit number on their last three Friendswood jobs.
The Three Gas-Line Jobs People Call About
In order of how often our phone rings:
- CenterPoint locked you out after a failed pressure test or suspected leak
- You smell gas or your bill spiked
- You are adding a generator, outdoor kitchen, pool heater, or tankless water heater and need a new run
CenterPoint Lockout — What It Costs to Get Gas Back On
CenterPoint will red-tag and lock your meter if their field tech detects a leak downstream of the meter. You cannot get gas restored until a licensed plumber (Texas RMP license required) locates the leak, repairs it, pulls a city permit, pressure-tests the system to code, and signs the CenterPoint release form.
In Friendswood, a typical lockout-to-restoration runs:
- Isolation testing to locate the leak: $185–$385
- Repair at a single accessible joint: $220–$650 on top of the isolation fee
- Full re-pipe of a corroded 1960s-70s black-iron run under the house: $1,650–$4,800
- City permit + inspection: $110–$180
- CenterPoint re-light visit (they do this free, we coordinate): $0
Our flat-rate quote covers everything through the CenterPoint re-light, so the number we hand you is the number you pay.
Suspected Gas Leak — Do Not Wait
If you smell gas (rotten-egg mercaptan), hear hissing near a line, see dead vegetation in a line of sorts, or your gas bill jumped with no change in usage — leave the house, call 911 or CenterPoint emergency (800-752-8036), then call us. We will not minimize this. A gas leak is the one plumbing problem where "wait and see" has killed people. Leak-location visits in Friendswood run $185–$385 and include a written report either way (leak found, or system clean).
New Gas Line Installation — Generator, Outdoor Kitchen, Pool Heater, Tankless
New runs are priced per foot of line, by diameter, with permit and tie-in included. Rough Friendswood ranges for 2026:
- 3/4" steel to a new tankless unit (20–40 ft): $650–$1,450
- 1" steel to a 22kW standby generator (40–80 ft): $1,850–$3,400
- 1" or 1-1/4" CSST underground to outdoor kitchen or pool heater (50–120 ft): $2,650–$5,800
- CenterPoint meter upsize (when the existing meter cannot support new load): $400–$1,100
We always do a gas load calculation before quoting. Adding a generator and a tankless simultaneously almost always triggers a meter upsize — a conversation most contractors skip until they are already on your roof.
Why the City of Friendswood Permits Every Gas Job
Natural gas is explosive. A failed joint vents into a wall cavity, migrates to an ignition source, and the result is on the evening news. The City of Friendswood requires a permit on every gas repair, re-pipe, or new installation inside city limits. The inspector verifies the pressure test (12 PSI held for 15 minutes, no drop) before gas is restored. Permit cost is $110–$180 and included in every quote we hand you. If a contractor offers to "skip the permit to save you money," they are offering to make you personally liable for a future gas explosion. That is the actual trade.
What Makes Us Different on Gas Work
Three things. One, every gas job is performed by a Texas Master Plumber (M-40217) — not a journeyman working unsupervised. Two, we are known at the Friendswood permit counter and at the CenterPoint field office, which means permit same-day and CenterPoint re-light same-day. Three, we flat-rate price everything in writing. No gas job we quote has ever grown by more than the quoted number.