Faucet Replacement in Vancouver
Swapping a faucet is a fifteen-minute job once you can reach the nuts holding the old one on. Reaching them, in the dark, on your back, at the back of a fitted vanity, past a waste pipe, is the entire job.
Access under a fitted vanity
The mounting nuts sit directly under the spout, at the back of the sink, in the least accessible point of the cabinet. Bathroom vanities are worse than kitchens because the opening is smaller and the basin usually sits deeper in the cabinet.
The right tool changes everything: a basin wrench reaches up behind the bowl and turns the nut from below at an angle no ordinary wrench can achieve. Where the cabinet is genuinely too tight even for that, the sink itself may have to come out to reach the fittings — worth knowing in advance because it changes the time significantly.
Removing a seized old faucet
Twenty years of damp under a sink corrodes the mounting nuts and the supply connections together into one lump. Penetrating oil and time help; heat is not an option beside a plastic waste and a wooden cabinet floor.
Where a nut will not move, the answer is to cut it — a rotary tool or an oscillating multi-tool with the right blade, working carefully in a confined space with the basin and the cabinet both needing to survive. It is slower and it is the reason a "quick faucet swap" occasionally is not. We would rather tell you that possibility upfront than surprise you with it.
Matching finish to existing fixtures
Finishes vary far more between manufacturers than the names suggest. Two products both sold as brushed nickel can differ noticeably in warmth, and matte black ranges from a true black through to soft charcoal. If you are keeping existing hardware, buy the faucet from the same maker where you can.
The other thing to check before ordering is hole configuration. Sinks are drilled for one, three, or occasionally four fittings at a set spread, and a single-hole faucet on a three-hole sink needs a deck plate to cover the gaps. That plate has to be available in your finish, so confirm it exists before committing to the faucet.
Disposal of the old unit
Old faucets are mostly brass and stainless, which means they are worth recycling rather than binning. Metal recyclers across the Lower Mainland take them, and most municipal recycling depots will accept them in scrap metal.
We will leave the old unit with you unless you would rather it went in your own bin. Worth keeping the working cartridge from it if the faucet is a common brand — a spare cartridge for another faucet of the same make is worth having in a drawer.
What this costs
$370–$2,600 for most callouts
Performed by a licensed subcontractor at $185/hr with a two-hour minimum. Fixture swaps sit at the bottom of the range; re-piping a vanity or relocating a supply sits at the top. Permit-gated work is quoted separately.
Materials are always separate from labour and passed on at cost. Quotes are free and written, and the full rate card is published rather than given out on request.
Common questions
How long does a faucet swap take?
Typically under an hour where the fittings come apart cleanly, comfortably inside the minimum booking — which makes it a good job to pair with other tasks. What extends it is corrosion: seized nuts sometimes have to be cut off in a confined space, and that turns a quick swap into a careful hour or more.
Can you remove a corroded faucet without damage?
Almost always. Penetrating oil and a basin wrench handle most; where a nut will not move it gets cut with a rotary or oscillating tool, working carefully so the basin and the cabinet both survive. Heat is not an option beside a plastic waste pipe, so it is patience rather than force.
Do I buy the faucet or do you?
Better if you buy it — the choice is aesthetic and finishes vary between makers more than the names imply. Check the hole configuration of your sink first: a single-hole faucet on a three-hole sink needs a deck plate, and that plate must be available in your finish. Confirm it exists before ordering the faucet.