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Whole-Home Softener + Reverse Osmosis
Soft, filtered water from every faucet — plus bottled-quality drinking water at the kitchen tap.
The short answer
- Installed price: The build is $2,850 installed, all-in with equipment, professional installation, lifetime parts warranty and taxes, and it is the system most homes on city water end up with.
- Three pieces: One tank pairs USA-made ResinTech ion-exchange resin with NSF/ANSI 42 certified Jacobi coconut-shell activated carbon, joined by a lifetime-rated ceramic-disc control valve and a 7-stage reverse osmosis system.
- What the standard requires: NSF/ANSI 58, the U.S. standard for RO systems, requires at least 75 percent reduction in total dissolved solids.
- Sizing options: The standard build covers most one- to six-person homes, while eight or more residents, or four or more bathrooms, take the Whole Home XL at $3,150.
- Full-flow plumbing: Everything is plumbed with full 1-inch lines rated to 28 GPM, so running two showers and the dishwasher at once does not cost you pressure.
- Honest limits: The RO faucet is for drinking and cooking, is not plumbed to the shower or the laundry, and reverse osmosis is not a bacteria barrier on its own.
Who this system is for
This is the system most homes on city water end up with, and it's the one we install more than any other. If your dishes come out spotty, soap won't lather, your skin feels tight after a shower, and you're still buying bottled water for the kitchen, this build handles all of it at once: soft, filtered water at every tap in the house, plus a separate drinking-water tap at the kitchen sink. Across Eastern Iowa that combination is the default for a reason — Marion runs 18 to 20 grains per gallon, and even Cedar Rapids' lime-softened supply leaves the plant at 6.5 to 7 grains.
What's actually in it
Three pieces of equipment, plumbed as one system.
1. Whole-home softening and carbon filtration
One tank, two jobs. USA-made ResinTech ion-exchange resin removes the calcium and magnesium behind scale, and NSF/ANSI 42 certified Jacobi coconut-shell activated carbon strips chlorine, chemicals, taste and odor before the water reaches a single fixture. More on how whole-home softening works.
2. A lifetime-rated ceramic-disc control valve
The valve is the brain of the system — it tracks your water use and runs the automatic regeneration cycle that cleans the resin. Ceramic discs are sealed and smooth, which is why we can put a lifetime parts warranty on it. It is also the part that fails first in big-box systems.
3. A 7-stage reverse osmosis drinking-water system
Under the kitchen sink, on its own dedicated faucet, with an alkaline stage that adds healthy minerals back at the end. NSF/ANSI 58, the U.S. standard for RO systems, requires at least 75 percent reduction in total dissolved solids. Full detail on our reverse osmosis systems.
Everything is plumbed with full 1-inch lines rated to 28 GPM, so running two showers and the dishwasher at once does not cost you pressure.
What changes in the house
Soap and shampoo lather with far less product. Glassware and shower doors stop filming over. Skin and hair feel softer inside of a week. Your water heater and dishwasher stop fighting a constant mineral buildup, which is where the long-term savings actually come from. And coffee, ice, soup and rice all taste different, because the water you cook with changed.
What it doesn't do
We would rather tell you now. The RO faucet is for drinking and cooking — it makes water slowly into a small tank, so it is not plumbed to the shower or the laundry. Reverse osmosis is also not a bacteria barrier on its own; if a test shows coliform, the answer is disinfecting the source and adding UV, not RO. And no drinking-water system removes 100 percent of everything. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling.
Sizing and options
The standard build covers most one- to six-person homes. For eight or more residents, or four or more bathrooms, we install the Whole Home XL at $3,150. A dual-tank city build, which delivers soft water around the clock and extends the system's working life, is $800 more. On chloraminated supplies — Cedar Rapids, Robins, and anything fed by Cedar Rapids water — we recommend the catalytic carbon upgrade at $150, because plain activated carbon reduces chloramine but not to the level we want. Get your exact installed price.
Installation, warranty and financing
Every install is handled by licensed, insured local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind. The quoted price is the price: equipment, professional installation, warranty and taxes are all included. Coverage is lifetime on parts, five years on media, and one year on labor, and 0% financing is available.
Start with a free water test
We would rather size this from your actual numbers than from a guess. Book a free in-home water test, or get an instant quote in about two minutes. Not sure this is the right fit? Compare it against our other systems, or see where we work on the service areas map.
- ✓Equipment included
- ✓Professional installation
- ✓Lifetime parts warranty
- ✓Taxes included
0% financing available. The in-home water test is free, with no obligation.
Straight answers.
Why do I need reverse osmosis if I already have a softener?
They do different jobs. A softener removes the hardness minerals that cause scale, protecting your pipes, water heater and appliances throughout the house. Reverse osmosis works on the small amount of water you actually drink and cook with, reducing total dissolved solids at one tap. Softening alone will not give you the crisp, neutral drinking water most people are after, and RO alone will not stop scale. That is why this combination is our most popular install.
Will softened water taste salty?
No. Ion exchange trades calcium and magnesium for a very small amount of sodium — the salt in the brine tank cleans the resin, it does not end up in your glass as salt water. If you are watching sodium closely, the RO system in this build reduces it at the drinking tap anyway, and we can talk through a potassium-chloride option at your water test.
How much maintenance is this?
Very little. Add salt roughly every two to three months, a five-minute job with a bag from any hardware store, and swap the RO filters about once a year. The system runs its own regeneration cycles automatically. We will show you both jobs at install, or you can leave them to us on the annual service visit.
Will it slow down my water pressure?
It should not, and ours do not. Pressure loss almost always comes from an undersized system or narrow plumbing. We install with full 1-inch lines and a 28 GPM flow rate, so several showers and appliances can run at once without you noticing the system is there.
Other systems we install.
Same warranty, same install standard — a different build for a different home.
Not sure which system you need?
Start with a free in-home water test. We'll test your water and recommend exactly the right fit — no pressure, no obligation.
Book my free water test