Taking a water softener out is $200, putting it back in at the next address is $500, and if the system is not going with you we haul the old unit away for about $100. Those are the numbers an Eastern Iowa homeowner needs when a house sells, a house is bought, or a basement is finally getting finished.
Removal is one charge for disconnecting the system and taking it out of the house. Reinstallation is a second charge for setting it up and plumbing it in wherever it is going next. They are separate numbers because they are usually separate visits, often weeks apart, and plenty of people only ever need one of them — a seller who leaves the system behind pays neither, and a buyer who inherited one that had already been pulled pays only the reinstall.
The work is done by the licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind, held to the same standard on a move as on an installation. If we installed the system, the coverage moves with it. Lifetime on parts, five years on media and one year on labor attach to the equipment rather than to the address, so changing houses inside our service area does not end any of it, and first-year trip fees stay waived on a system we installed.
This is the part of a move that costs people money when nobody raises it early, so we raise it early. A softener that did fine at a house in town may be one stage of what a well address needs rather than the whole of it, because a well build puts iron treatment ahead of the softener. What belongs in front of yours depends entirely on what that particular well is doing, and well water and the layered dual-tank build set out the order the stages go in.
The drinking-water side is not interchangeable either. A tankless unit does not go to a well address at all, so a tankless system carried from town out to an acreage is equipment you should not pay to relocate. Moving the other direction, from a well into town, usually means the same thing in reverse: a UV lamp and a sediment pre-filter belong to well water, we do not install either one on a city supply, and there is no sense paying to move them across the county.
Every reinstall starts with the free in-home water test at the house the system is going into, before anything goes back on the wall. On a move that test settles one question and it has three possible answers: keep the system as it stands, add a stage in front of it, or leave it behind because the new house does not call for that much equipment. If it is the last of those, we would rather tell you than charge you to reinstall the lot. Iron and sulfur are the one thing we will not publish a price for, so if the test at the new address turns up either, that stage is quoted after the result rather than before it.
Almost every move we are called out for is one of a handful of situations, and which one you are in decides whether you pay both charges, one of them, or neither.
| Your situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Taking the system with you to a new address | $200 to remove, $500 to reinstall |
| Selling and leaving the system for the buyer | Neither charge |
| Buying a house where the system was already pulled | The reinstall only, $500 |
| Getting rid of the old unit instead of moving it | About $100 and we haul it away |
| Basement remodel, system goes back in the same spot | Both charges, no new plumbing |
| Basement remodel, system moves across the room | Both charges plus new plumbing, quoted first |
| New water the system does not suit | We say so before we reinstall it |
| Iron or sulfur found at the new address | Quoted after the test, never before |
Anything the new address itself adds to the job — rock, a trench, an overhead run, a tank that has to be buried — is its own line, and you get the number for it before you agree to the work rather than on the invoice afterward.
A finished basement is the second reason people call us about this, and it is a happier one than a move: nothing is going anywhere, the system just cannot be standing there while the room is built. A few things are worth settling before the drywall goes up.
Call before the drywall goes up rather than after, and the two visits can go where they belong in your schedule. Once the system is back on the wall it picks up the same yearly rhythm it had before, and the annual service visit is the thing to put on the calendar next.
The two visits come to $700 before anything the new address adds, and that number is worth setting against what is actually being moved. A whole-home softener is worth several times it, so taking the softener with you plainly costs less than buying another one. A drinking-water system is a much smaller piece of equipment, close enough to the price of the two visits that moving one on its own rarely pays for itself — ask us for the number on your unit before you decide, and we will tell you which side of the line you are on.
If the system is staying put but you want it gone rather than passed along, disposal is about $100 and we take the unit away. And if you are the one arriving at a house that already has somebody else’s softener in the basement, tell us the make and model and we will say what can and cannot be done with it — servicing another brand’s system is its own page.
Iowa doesn’t require a well water test when a house is sold. If the house has a private septic system, Iowa Code 455B.172 calls for a septic inspection before most sales, though some transfers are exempt, such as certain family, estate and foreclosure transfers, or a system installed within the past two years. The seller also lists any known wells on the groundwater hazard statement. Neither step tests the water, though your buyer’s lender or the purchase agreement may still call for a test, and the Iowa DNR recommends checking the well and water before any sale. We are telling you what the rules say, not advising you on how they apply to your sale. How any inspection or test is arranged and who signs off on it is between you, your county and the people handling your closing — it is not work Kind Water Co performs, and it is separate from anything we do with the equipment. Sale or no sale, the yearly bacteria and nitrate test on a private well is generally free through your county.
Whichever half of the job you need, you get the number before anyone drives anywhere. Call or text 319-319-6566, email ryan@kindwaterco.com, or start with an instant quote if you would rather see figures before you talk to a person. Kind Water Co is family-owned, founded in 2021 by Ryan Brunton, based in Marion, and reachable Monday through Friday 8 to 8 and weekends 8 to 5.
Usually it is part of the answer rather than all of it. A well address needs iron treatment ahead of the softener, so the softener you own may become one stage of a larger build instead of the whole system. The drinking-water side is the other catch: a tankless unit does not go on a well, so that piece is not worth relocating. We test the water at the new house first and tell you what carries over.
Sometimes, and it is a fair question to ask before you pay to move anything. Leaving it costs you neither charge, and it is a real selling point in a hard-water town. Against that, a whole-home softener is worth considerably more than the two visits it takes to move it, so most owners are better off taking it. If it is staying put but you would rather it went away, disposal is about $100 and we haul it off.
Yes, and that is the common request on a basement remodel. Removal is $200, the reinstall is $500, and they are booked as two separate visits so the system is not standing in the middle of a job site. Decide before the walls close where it will live permanently, and leave it reachable — a softener needs salt and a drinking-water system needs filters, and neither is fun behind finished drywall.
No. They are two separate visits priced separately, and weeks between them is normal when closings do not line up. Someone needs to let us in at each end, and it helps to tell us both addresses when you book, because the two ends of a move can sit in two different counties and we would rather confirm the drive with you up front than surprise you with it.
Whole-home water softening, filtration, and reverse-osmosis drinking water — professionally installed and built to last a lifetime.
Serving Marion, Cedar Rapids & surrounding Linn County communities
Kind Water Co is a d/b/a of Zero Cap Investments LLC · 2258 Bison St, Apt B, Marion, IA 52302
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