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As home repairs go, plumbing leaks can range widely. A typical small leak can cost $250 to $500 on average in 2024, not counting cleanup. But hidden pipe failures that take longer to discover and more major issues that send H2O spraying everywhere can easily lead to thousands of dollars in water damage.

The best way to minimize plumbing repair costs is to stay vigilant to potential problems and to fix even little trickles quickly. Here, you’ll learn more about the different levels of plumbing leaks and the typical cost of cleanup and repairs.

Common Types of Plumbing Problems

Water leaks can happen anywhere in the home — not just the bathroom or kitchen. That’s because plumbing systems can be as complex as a spider’s web. Plumbing leaks can cause damage ranging from the trivial to the catastrophic, with repair costs to match. Supply chain issues and inflation can drive the cost up even further.

Smaller Plumbing Leaks

Leaking sinks and toilets are the most obvious and least damaging kind of plumbing issue. If you’re lucky, a trickling noise will alert you before the flood waters rise. While there’s no exact plumbing repair cost calculator, the leak itself typically can be fixed for $125 to $350.

However, hidden leaks can spread quickly and easily erode your cabinetry. Leaks that occur around the base of your faucet can also damage your countertop. Surface or cabinet repairs can cost a few hundred dollars — not including the price of new materials.

Garbage disposals can spring a leak in a number of places. Depending on the scale of the issue, it might be possible to DIY the repair. But if the garbage disposal needs to be replaced, you’ll pay about $225 including parts and labor.

Larger Plumbing Leaks

Leaks behind the walls can go undetected for some time. Contrary to what homeowners like to believe, many leaks don’t cause any change in water pressure or visible wall stains. (Plumbing issues are just one reason why the cost of a home inspection is worth it.)

Leaks stemming from water-using fixtures can also travel through walls to any room in the house. Eventual signs may include a lingering musty smell, mold, and dampness of the surrounding flooring or drywall.

The real doozy with repairing this kind of leak is that you usually have to cut into your wall to fix it, with wall incision and repair amounting to most of the cost. While the actual leak repair will often run to several hundred dollars, when you add in the diagnosis (made after carving into your wall) and wall repair, it can all add up to $1,000 or considerably more.

Water heater leaks can damage the foundation of a house and ruin any property kept in the lowest level of your home. Beyond the damage that the leak itself may cause, the problem triggering the leak can also prove costly. If your water heater is damaged, often through sediment buildup in the tank, it may need to be replaced. A new water heater can cost around $1,300 for a tank-based unit and labor.

Disaster Plumbing Leaks

Some plumbing leaks can be a lot worse than others, and slab leaks can be among the very worst. This type of leak occurs when the pipes under the foundation start to leak. Repairs for a slab leak can be costly if you have to remove flooring and jack-hammer through the foundation.

Homeowners should keep an eye out for a decrease in water pressure, warped hardwood floors, warm flooring, and moist patches. Slab leaks can be pricey to diagnose and pricier to fix, costing an average of $2,200 according to Angi.com.

Washer leaks are another common yet costly water problem. The water leading to your washing machine is constantly running, so any leaks will continually push water into your walls and flooring and flood your home fast.

To appreciate the total cost of a major basement flood, another significant issue, you’ll want to consider water removal, cleanup, ventilation, and decontamination, as well as any building and structural repairs. There may also be costs associated with the replacement or cleaning of personal property and mechanical equipment. Final price tags vary greatly but can be as much as $16,000.

Repair Costs by Type of Leak

Another way to look at the cost of plumbing leak repairs is by the type of leak. Here are some numbers for first-time homebuyers and homeowners to consider.

Water Line Leak

Water line leaks can have a wide range of price tags, from $500 to $5,000, depending on the degree and location of the problem.

Waste Line Leak

The cost of this kind of repair can depend on the length of the pipe needing repair, as well as how much damage the sewage leak caused. That said, the average price is currently around $4,000, though small repairs might be only about $650.

Heating Line Leak

Not all systems can experience this kind of plumbing leak. You will usually find this issue with boilers vs. furnaces. If your home does have a boiler and a pipe fails, you could pay anywhere from $150 for the repair of a small, accessible leak to a few thousand or more for a difficult-to-access or major leak.

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Fixing the Leak

While minor leaks in accessible areas can be fixed by a competent homeowner, it can pay to call in the pros for an assessment and for assistance with larger problems. When it comes to how to find a contractor, consider the following:

•   Ask trusted friends or neighbors for references. Good word-of-mouth can be important.

•   Read online reviews. There are trusted sites with robust listings of local professionals.

•   Make sure that any plumbers you are considering are licensed (plumbing is a highly regulated field of work) and carry adequate liability insurance.

•   Get a few quotes, compare them, and check references.

While there are no guarantees, homeowners can help avert plumbing disasters by staying on top of regular maintenance, being alert to the signs of hidden leaks, and responding rapidly if they suspect a problem. As mentioned above, a gradual decrease in water pressure can indicate a leak or buildup in the pipes. Another red flag is a sudden increase in your water bill.

Not letting minor problems progress can help you avoid a major plumbing repair bill (and as a general policy, can help you avoid other common home repair costs, too).

Financing a Plumbing Leak

Homeowners dread plumbing problems due to the widespread damage they can inflict. Caught early, a simple under-the-sink leak can set you back just a couple of hundred dollars. But major leaks and floods can end up costing tens of thousands of dollars in professional water removal, cleanup, decontamination and mold remediation, wall and floor restoration, and property replacement. That can leave a person scrambling to pay for emergency home repairs.

If you do wind up with a big-ticket plumbing repair, consider these sources of funding:

•   Emergency fund: If you’ve followed the advice about setting aside three to six months’ worth of living expenses in an emergency fund, then this could be the time to dip in and finance a repair.

•   Personal loan: A personal loan can provide a source of cash for almost any purpose, from a plumbing repair to a vacation. This kind of unsecured loan can often be quickly obtained and at interest rates below that of credit cards.

•   Home equity: Tapping into a home equity loan or line of credit could unlock funds for a major plumbing repair. With these options, you are using your home as collateral (meaning the lender could seize it if you default) and may be able to access money at a competitive rate. However, the process can take a few or several weeks, as it requires a home appraisal.

•   Credit card: Charging a plumbing repair can be a quick and simple solution, but keep in mind that credit cards typically charge high rates of interest that can lead to credit card debt.

•   Friend or family loans: Borrowing from a friend or relative could be how to pay for plumbing repairs. Just be sure you can repay your debt to avoid causing issues with the relationship while getting your emergency plumbing assistance.

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The Takeaway

Plumbing repairs can cost from a couple of hundred dollars to tens of thousands, depending on how big and complex the leak is and what kind of damage it has done to a home. To pay for a major plumbing repair, you might access your emergency fund, a personal loan, or home equity options, among other sources. Tackling small repairs (before they grow in scope) can be a smart way to avoid major plumbing problems.

Thinking a personal loan might be a good option for a home repair? See what SoFi offers.

Think twice before turning to high-interest credit cards. Consider a SoFi personal loan instead. SoFi offers competitive fixed rates and same-day funding. Checking your rate takes just a minute.

FAQ

What is the most common plumbing leak?

Bathroom plumbing fixtures, perhaps because they are used so often, tend to be the most common source of residential plumbing leaks. Toilets and their tanks in particular can frequently require the help of a plumber to repair a leak.

How much does the average plumbing leak repair cost?

The average pipe leak repair can cost between $250 to $500, although major leaks, with resulting damage, can cost considerably more.

How much do most plumbers charge an hour?

Depending on your location and other factors, a plumber can charge on average $45 to $150 per hour. There may be a minimum charge for a plumber to visit and assess a leak. This is often a flat fee between $50 and $200.

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What Is ESG?

ESG, which stands for environmental, social, and governance factors, refers to non-financial criteria that investors can use to determine whether companies are socially and environmentally responsible.

ESG investing is considered a form of sustainable or impact investing, but the term itself is more specific to emphasize that companies must focus on positive results in these three areas.

There is, however, no universally shared set of ESG criteria used by all investors or financial firms to evaluate a company’s soundness or risk along these lines. Rather, investors must learn which standards a certain fund or stock adheres to before choosing to invest.

Even so, there has been growing interest in ESG strategies in the last decade, as many of these funds have shown themselves to offer competitive returns vs. traditional strategies.

What Is ESG Investing?

As discussed, investors use ESG criteria to screen potential investments; if a business’s operations don’t follow ESG standards, investors may avoid putting money into the company. In that sense, ESG investing can be seen as a type of socially responsible investing.

But, as mentioned above, there is no universal set of standards for what makes a company ESG friendly. Companies committed to ESG operations may publish sustainability reports to give investors some insights into the firm. Additionally, third-party organizations have stepped in to create ESG scores for companies and funds based on their adherence to various ESG factors.

The following are some of the common factors that investors consider when evaluating the three different ESG areas.

Environmental

The environmental component of ESG criteria might include metrics on a company’s energy emissions, waste, and water usage. Investors may also focus on the risks and opportunities associated with the impacts of climate change on the company and its industry.

Some company information that environmentally conscious investors may evaluate include:

•   Pollution and carbon footprint

•   Water usage and conservation

•   Renewable energy integration (such as solar and wind)

•   Climate change policies

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Social

The social component of ESG generally describes the impact of a company’s relationships with people and society. Factors as varied as corporate culture, commitment to diversity, and how much a company invests in local organizations or communities can impact socially conscious investors’ decisions on buying into a specific corporation.

Some other social factors can include:

•   Employee pay, benefits, and perks

•   Diversity, equity, and inclusion

•   Commitment to social justice causes

•   Ethical supply chains (e.g., no sweatshops, conflict-free minerals, etc.)

Governance

The governance component of ESG generally focuses on how the company is run. Investors want to know how the board of directors, company, and shareholders relate to one another.

Some additional governance factors that investors evaluate include:

•   Executive compensation, bonuses, and perks

•   Diversity of the board of directors and management team

•   Transparency in communications with shareholders

•   Rights and roles guaranteed to shareholders

How ESG Scores Work

ESG scores — sometimes called ESG ratings — are designed to measure a company’s performance based on specific environmental, social, and governance criteria. Investors can use them to assess a company’s success, risks, and opportunities concerning these three areas.

An ESG score is typically calculated by analyzing a company’s available data on environmental, social, and governance policies and practices using various sources, like SEC filings, government databases, and media reports.

A high ESG score means a company manages ESG risks better than its peers, while a low ESG score means the company has more unmanaged ESG risks. Evaluating a company’s ESG score, along with financial analysis, can give investors a better idea of the company’s long-term prospects.

Some of the most prominent ESG score providers are MSCI, Morningstar Sustainalytics, and S&P Global. But some financial firms conduct their own ESG evaluations and provide proprietary scores. Transparency into how the scores are calculated can vary.

ESG vs SRI vs Impact Investing

ESG investing is sometimes called sustainable investing, impact investing, or socially responsible investing (SRI). However, impact investing and socially responsible investing are often viewed differently than ESG investing.

Some of the differences between the three investment strategies are:

•   ESG investing focuses on a company or fund’s environmental, social, and governance practices and traditional financial analysis.

•   Socially responsible investing eliminates or selects investments according to specific ethical guidelines. Investors following an SRI strategy may avoid investing in companies related to gambling and other sin stocks, or they may avoid companies that cause damage to the natural environment — or both.

•   Impact investing is generally done by institutional investors and foundations. Impact investing focuses on making investments in companies or projects specifically designed to generate positive social or environmental impact.

In addition there is another designation investors may want to know, green investing refers to strategies that are purely focused on benefiting the environment.

Last, corporate social responsibility initiatives, or CSR refers to programs and initiatives that organizations may establish on their own. Often, these business decisions support socially responsible movements, like environmental sustainability, ethical labor practices, and social justice initiatives.

Why Is ESG Investing Important?

ESG investing is important because it offers investors a way of putting their money into causes that are significant to them, with the hope of having a genuine impact via their investments in certain companies or funds. This is why ESG is often called impact investing, although true impact investing is a broader term, and refers to a range of companies that may or may not be focused on sustainable issues.

Whether or not companies or funds that embrace ESG strategies deliver on the promised goals is a matter for investors to decide via due diligence. As noted above, without a commonly agreed-upon set of standards and some form of accountability, it’s difficult to ascertain which companies are truly having an impact.

Are ESG Strategies Profitable?

Nonetheless, investors have continued to be interested in ESG strategies. In 2021, socially responsible U.S. mutual funds saw record inflows of some $70 billion — a 36% increase over 2020. ESG funds saw substantial outflows through 2021 and most of 2022. But sustainable funds still managed to outperform non-sustainable funds through Q3 of 2022, despite challenging market conditions, according to Morningstar research as of September 30, 2022.

During the third quarter of 2022, sustainable large-cap funds netted $525 million, versus their unsustainable equity peers, who lost $25 billion that period.

Two other studies from Morningstar added to the evidence that funds which embrace socially responsible investing strategies tend to outperform conventional mutual funds.

Their “Sustainable Funds U.S. Landscape Report” from February 2022 found that “two thirds of sustainable offerings in the large-blend category topped the U.S. market index last year compared with 54% of all funds in the category.”

According to the report: “There are 5 times as many sustainable funds in the U.S. today than a decade ago, and 3 times more than five years ago.”

Types of ESG Investments

Investors can make ESG investments in the stocks and bonds of companies that adhere to ESG criteria or have high ESG scores. Other potential investment vehicles are mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an ESG strategy.

Stocks

Buying stocks of companies with environmental, social, and governance commitments can be one way to start ESG investing. However, investors will often need to research companies that have ESG credibility or rely on third-party agencies that release ESG scores.

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Bonds

The bonds of corporations involved in ESG-friendly business practices can be a good option for investors interested in fixed-income securities. Green and climate bonds are bonds issued by companies to finance various environmentally-friendly projects and business operations.

Additionally, government bonds used to fund green energy projects can be an option for fixed-income investors. These bonds may come with tax incentives, making them a more attractive investment than traditional bonds.

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Mutual Funds and ETFs

Investors who don’t want to pick individual stocks to invest in can always look to mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that provide exposure to ESG companies and investments.

A growing number of index funds invest in a basket of sustainable stocks and bonds. These funds allow investors to diversify their holdings by investing in one security.

However, not all ESG funds follow the same criteria and may focus on different aspects of environmental, social, and governance issues. Interested investors would do well to look under the hood of specific funds to evaluate their holdings and other criteria.

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Identifying ESG Companies

What is the best way to find an ESG company? There are a number of resources available for ESG investors, including proprietary tools that allow investors to search and/or evaluate different stocks based on specific criteria.

There are also a number of lists published by financial media companies that evaluate companies and funds according to ESG criteria.

Financial ratings firms like Morningstar publish regular research reports on different aspects of the ESG sector.

In addition, many industry firms and fund-providers have their own proprietary evaluation methods that investors might consider. Here are five of the biggest companies that provide ESG ratings, according to Fortune.com.

•   FTSE Russell: Publishes ESG ratings on 7,200 securities

•   ISS ESG: Provides ratings on 11,800 issuers and 25,000 funds

•   MSCI: Publishes ESG ratings for over 8,000 companies worldwide

•   Refinitiv: Calculates ESG scores on 11,800 companies

•   Sustainalytics: Publishes ESG ratings on more than 13,000 companies

Benefits of ESG Investing

ESG investing has several benefits, including:

•   Improving long-term financial performance: A growing body of evidence suggests that companies with solid ESG ratings may be good investments. They tend to outperform those with weaker ratings, both in share price performance and earnings growth.

•   Mitigating risk: ESG factors can help identify companies with poor governance practices or exposure to environmental and social risks, leading to financial losses.

•   Creating social and environmental impact: By investing in companies that are leading the way on environmental, social, and governance issues, investors can help drive positive change and make a positive impact on society.

These potential benefits are increasing the popularity of ESG investing. According to Bloomberg, global ESG assets may surpass $41 trillion by the end of 2022 and reach $50 trillion by 2025, up from $22.8 trillion in 2016.

Risks of ESG Investing

The main disadvantage of ESG strategies is that they limit the number of investments that people can consider. Thus, some investors may end up trading potential returns for the ability to invest according to their values.

In addition, ESG investments can sometimes come with higher costs, for example an ESG fund may have a higher expense ration vs. a traditional counterpart.

While there is a growing body of data regarding the performance of ESG indices and securities, it’s still a relatively new sector relative to more traditional investments.

Starting an ESG Investment Portfolio

If you’re interested in creating an ESG portfolio, you can start by contacting a financial advisor who can help you shape your investment strategy.

However, if you are ready to start investing and want to build a portfolio on your own, you can follow these steps:

•   Open a brokerage account: You will need to open a brokerage account and deposit money into it. Once your account is funded, you will be able to buy and sell stocks, mutual funds, and other securities.

•   Pick your assets: Decide what type of investment you want to make, whether in a stock of a company, an ESG-focused ETF or mutual fund, or bonds.

•   Do your research: It’s important to research the different companies and funds and find a diversified selection that fits your desires and priorities.

•   Invest: Once you’re ready, make your investment and then monitor your portfolio to ensure that the assets in your portfolio have a positive social and financial impact.

It is important to remember that you should diversify your portfolio by investing in various asset classes. Diversification will help to reduce your risk and maximize your returns.

ESG Investing Strategies

ESG investing can be different based on values and financial goals. It’s therefore essential to start with your investment goals and objectives when crafting an ESG investing strategy. Consider how ESG factors can help you achieve these goals.

It’s also crucial to understand the data and information available on ESG factors; this will vary by company and industry. When researching potential ESG investments, you want to make sure a company has a clear and publicly-available ESG policy and regularly discloses its ESG performance. Additionally, it can be helpful to look at third-party scores to determine a company’s ESG performance.

The Takeaway

In recent years, investor interest in sustainable investing strategies like ESG has grown. In addition, there is some data that suggests that ESG strategies may be just as effective as traditional strategies in terms of performance.

This is despite the fact that ESG criteria are inconsistent throughout the industry. There are a myriad different ways that companies can provide ESG-centered investments, but there aren’t industry-wide benchmarks for different criteria or success metrics.

Thus, it’s fair to say that there is no “right” way to invest in ESG companies. What matters most is that you have done your own research; you are comfortable with the companies you are investing in; and you believe in their ability to create long-term value.

Investors interested in making ESG investments can use the SoFi app to help. When you open an Active Invest account with SoFi Invest®, you can trade stocks and ETFs to build an ESG portfolio. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions (although operating expense ratios and other fees may apply to exchange-traded funds), and SoFi members have access to complimentary advice from financial professionals.

FAQ

What are the three pillars of ESG?

ESG stands for three areas that some companies strive to embrace by being proactive about the environment, supportive of social structures, and transparent and ethical in corporate leadership.

What are some examples of ESG investing?

There are countless ways to add ESG strategies to your portfolio: You can consider investing in green bonds, in companies that focus on environmentally supportive technologies, in funds that invest in a multitude of renewable energy companies, clean water initiatives, carbon sequestration, and more.

What is the difference between ESG and sustainability?

Sustainability is a broader term. Environmental, social, and governance factors may support sustainability in different ways: by limiting air or water pollution, by supporting fair labor practices, by insisting on transparency in corporate governance.

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