Well to City Water in Davie, FL: Cost and Process

Every few weeks a buyer under contract on a Davie acreage home asks me a version of the same question. The house is on a well and a septic tank, the lender or the inspection made them nervous, and they want to know what it takes to hook up to city water instead. The honest answer has two parts, and most people only think about the second one. First, can you even connect where the home sits. Second, what does it cost. Get those in the wrong order and you can budget for a conversion that is not physically available.

What a well to city water conversion actually costs in Davie

Start with the number, then break it down. A full conversion from well and septic to municipal water and sewer in the Davie and Broward market generally lands between 8,000 and 20,000 dollars. The spread is wide because most of the cost is not the utility fee, it is the digging and plumbing on your specific lot.

Here is where the money goes.

• Town of Davie connection fees: roughly 3,050 dollars per residential unit for water and about 2,920 dollars for sewer, so close to 5,970 dollars combined, plus a 30 dollar new account charge. These are the fees the Town charges to tie into the system, published on the Town of Davie connection fee schedule.
• Lateral connection to the main: about 3,000 to 12,000 dollars. This is the trench and pipe that runs from your home to the water and sewer main in the street. Distance to the main, depth, and whether the crew has to cut a driveway or road drive this number more than anything else.
• Septic tank abandonment: about 500 to 1,500 dollars. Florida rules do not require you to dig the tank out. A licensed contractor pumps it, then fills it with sand or gravel or collapses it in place under permit.
• Permits and inspections: about 150 to 400 dollars for the environmental health and abandonment permits, with multiple inspection stages.

A licensed Florida plumber has to pull the permits and do the work under Florida Statute Chapter 489, so this is not a do it yourself weekend. The physical work usually takes two to five days once it starts, but permitting can add weeks, which matters a lot if you are trying to solve this before a closing.

The first question: does the Town of Davie even serve your address

This is the step that trips people up, so do it before anything else. Davie is not served by a single utility. Water and sewer service is split between the Town of Davie, the City of Sunrise, and Broward County Water and Wastewater Services, depending on where the property sits.

The western acreage corridor, especially the 33330 ZIP code around Long Lake Ranches and the horse country parcels, is exactly where private wells and septic systems are most common, and it is also where a city main may simply not run down your street yet. If there is no main near your lot, connection is not a fee question, it is a construction project that may not be feasible at all. On larger acreage parcels covered in our Davie acreage homes guide, well and septic is often the only practical setup, which is part of what makes those lots what they are.

Before you spend a dollar, do three things. Pull up the Town of Davie utility service area map, call the Town of Davie Utilities Customer Service line to confirm your specific address, and check whether Broward County Water and Wastewater is the actual provider for your parcel instead. Ten minutes on the phone can tell you whether you are looking at a 6,000 dollar tie in or a project that is not on the table.

The step by step process to convert

Once you confirm service is available, the conversion follows a predictable order. Run it in this sequence and you will not get surprised.

1. Confirm service availability. Verify with the Town of Davie or Broward County that a water and sewer main serves your street and get the connection fees in writing for your parcel.

2. Hire a licensed Florida plumber or utility contractor. Chapter 489 requires a licensed professional to pull the permits and perform the work. Get at least two bids, because the lateral run is where quotes vary most.

3. Pull the permits. Your contractor files for the connection permit and the septic abandonment permit through Broward County environmental health. Budget weeks, not days, for approvals.

4. Trench and connect the water and sewer laterals. The crew digs from the home to the main, ties in the new lines, and sets the meter. This is the two to five day physical work window.

5. Abandon the septic tank and cap the well. The tank is pumped and filled or collapsed in place under permit, and the old well is either capped or, if you keep it, permitted for irrigation only.

6. Pass final inspection and open your account. The county and Town inspect the work, the meter goes live, and you set up your monthly Davie water and sewer utility account.

Keep the well or convert: the decision that saves or costs you

Not every well needs to go. Before you spend 15,000 dollars, weigh what the well is actually costing you against what the conversion buys you.

A private well is close to free on a monthly basis. City water in Davie averages around 42 dollars a month, so a well saves you that. But a well is not truly free. A well pump runs about 800 to 1,500 dollars to replace every ten to fifteen years, drilling a new well runs 5,300 to 9,200 dollars if the old one fails, and you carry the testing and maintenance yourself. Our Davie well water buyer guide walks through the due diligence side of keeping one.

The financing angle is where the decision often gets made for you. Lenders generally prefer city water, and government loans add specific rules. FHA guidelines, for example, require a septic tank to sit at least 50 feet from any well and the well to sit at least 75 to 100 feet from the drain field, and an FHA appraiser will run the fixtures and a pump test, with a new well needing to produce at least 5 gallons per minute. If your well or septic layout does not meet those distances, the FHA property requirements can force a repair or a conversion before the loan closes, so the buyer sometimes has no real choice.

My rule of thumb for a Davie acreage buyer is simple. If the well and septic are healthy, meet lender distance rules, and city service is not even available, keep them and budget for maintenance. If service is available and you are financing with a loan that flags the setup, price the conversion during your due diligence, folded into the larger picture in our Davie buyer guide, so the number is real before your money is at risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to convert from well to city water in Davie?

A full well and septic to city water and sewer conversion in Davie generally runs about 8,000 to 20,000 dollars. The Town of Davie connection fees are roughly 3,050 dollars for water and 2,920 dollars for sewer, and the rest is the lateral trench to the main, plumbing, permits, and septic abandonment. The lateral distance to the main is the single biggest swing in the total.

Does the Town of Davie provide city water to acreage homes?

Sometimes, but not everywhere. Davie water and sewer service is split between the Town of Davie, the City of Sunrise, and Broward County, and much of the western acreage in ZIP code 33330 sits on private well and septic because no city main reaches those streets. Always confirm service availability for your specific address by calling the Town of Davie Utilities Customer Service line before you plan a conversion.

Do I have to remove the septic tank and well when I connect to city water?

No. Florida rules let a licensed contractor abandon the septic tank in place by pumping it and filling it with sand or gravel or collapsing it under permit, which costs about 500 to 1,500 dollars. The old well can be capped, or you can keep it permitted for irrigation only rather than drinking water.

Will a well and septic system hurt my mortgage or appraisal in Davie?

It can. Lenders generally prefer city water, and government loans add distance rules. FHA guidelines require the septic to sit at least 50 feet from any well and the well at least 75 to 100 feet from the drain field, and the appraiser runs a pump test that a new well must pass at 5 gallons per minute. If the layout fails those rules, you may face a required repair or conversion before closing.

Is well water in Davie safe to drink?

Well water can be perfectly safe, but it is your responsibility to test and treat it since it is not monitored by a municipal utility. Buyers on Davie acreage should test for bacteria, nitrates, and common contaminants during the inspection period and factor any treatment system into the budget. A conversion to city water shifts that testing and treatment responsibility to the utility.

Talk to a Davie Real Estate Expert

If you are buying a Davie home on a well and septic system, the water question is where acreage deals quietly get complicated, and it does not have to. I will help you confirm whether city service even reaches the parcel, get real conversion quotes during your inspection period, and make sure the setup will pass your lender before your deadlines hit. Book a Davie strategy call at https://bit.ly/daviestrategycall or call (954) 235-5783 and we will figure out the right move for the specific property.

Contact

Anthony Spitaleri

Coldwell Banker, Weston office serving Davie, Florida

Phone: (954) 235-5783

Web: livingindavieflorida.com

About the Author

Anthony Spitaleri is a Broker Associate with Coldwell Banker, one of the most established residential real estate brands, with approximately 2,700 offices globally, founded in 1906. A Davie native who returned home in 2025 after 13 years in Miami Beach, Anthony specializes in luxury homes and estates above $1 million, acreage and equestrian properties with no HOA, and relocation buyers moving to Davie from out of state. He created livingindavieflorida.com, the most in-depth independent Davie real estate resource available, with in-depth coverage of Davie’s gated communities, acreage and equestrian properties, and luxury estates, plus original weekly market data, interactive tools, Town Council recaps, and a 24/7 AI concierge. Anthony has been licensed in real estate since 2013 (BK3281907), is a Certified Strategic Coach through Coaching Services International (CSI), an active member of the Davie Cooper City Chamber of Commerce, and a weekly volunteer at Bit by Bit Therapeutic Riding Center in Davie. Learn more about Anthony.