Roughly half what the big names charge And nobody has to come to your house to tell you what's in your water
Kitchen faucet running water

No salesman. No rental. No guesswork.

Know your water.
Own your system.

A national brand will quote you $6,500 after sending a salesman to your kitchen. Ours run $2,000–3,500, printed on this page — and we'll tell you what's in your water for free, online, before you speak to anyone.

7–13grains per gallon hardness,
typical GLWA municipal water
$0for the water test — or skip it
and book your install by phone.
Not a franchise — no brand markup on your invoice Locally owned — based in Plymouth, MI Flat pricing — published up front, before any work starts You own it — the system is yours, day one Real testing — coliform, hardness, iron, nitrates, arsenic
The free water test, without the sales visit

We don't send a salesman to your door to tell you what's in your water.

You can find out right here, right now, completely free. Your utility already tests your water and publishes the results by law — we just read them for you and tell you what they actually mean.

Free, and no visit. We see what you check so we can help if you want us to — no email or phone number required.

Finding who supplies water to that address…
Pulling the latest published test results…
Checking hardness, chlorine and lead risk…
Writing up what it means for your home…
What untreated water actually costs you

Hard water doesn't announce itself. Your water heater does.

−50%

Water heater lifespan

Scale buildup makes a water heater work harder and fail years earlier than it should — one of the most common "hidden" costs of untreated hard water.

Invisible

Well contamination

Coliform bacteria and nitrates have no taste or smell. The only way to know if your well has them is to actually test — not to wait for a symptom.

Every load

Soap & detergent waste

Hard water needs more soap to lather at all — you're paying extra for detergent and dish soap on every single wash, indefinitely, until it's fixed.

How it works

One diagram. Every question we get, answered.

1 City water main Plymouth & Canton · GLWA-sourced Private well Salem Township & well homes 2 Free water test Hardness, iron, coliform (well homes) 3 Softener / filtration — sized to your result Removes hardness, iron & manganese, sediment 4 Kitchen sink drinking & cooking water Rest of the house showers, laundry, dishwasher + Under-sink RO optional add-on, best-tasting water Treatment step Optional add-on Numbered stage, in order
What we actually do

Bringing honest pricing back to water treatment.

Four systems. Most homes need one. We test first, then tell you honestly which — if any — you actually need.

Most common

Water softener

Removes calcium and magnesium so it stops leaving scale on fixtures, glassware, and water heaters. Fixes the problem behind most calls we get.

$2,000–3,500installed, owned outright
Taste & smell

Whole-home filtration

Reduces chlorine taste and odor and sediment across every tap in the house. Doesn't soften — often paired with a softener.

$1,000–4,500avg. ~$2,000–2,500
Drinking water

Under-sink RO

Extra filtration at the kitchen faucet only, for the best-tasting water and lower trace contaminants. An add-on, not a replacement for a softener.

$300–2,500avg. ~$1,100–1,300
Salem Township & well homes

Well water treatment

Iron, sulfur, and bacteria don't get treated by anyone but you. We test first, then size a system around the actual result.

  • Iron / manganese staining
  • Sulfur (rotten-egg) odor
  • Coliform bacteria & nitrates
$6,500–8,000bundled system

Full pricing & details →

No van in your driveway.
No pitch at your table.
Just your water, explained.

The in-home water test is the oldest trick in this industry. It exists to get someone through your door. Your city already publishes the results — we'll just read them to you.

$0

To find out what's in your city water. No appointment, no email required, no follow-up call you didn't ask for.

1 in 8

Wells around Washtenaw County are estimated by the USGS to exceed the federal arsenic limit. You cannot taste it, smell it, or see it.

$3k+

What a decade of renting a softener can cost you beyond simply buying one — and you hand it back at the end.

What the problem actually is

Four real problems. Four real fixes. No scare tactics.

Your water isn't poison, and anyone telling you that is selling something. But "safe to drink" and "good water" are different standards, and a few things are genuinely worth fixing.

01The problem

Lead gets in after the testing stops

Your utility tests the water it sends down the street. It can't test the pipe running into your house, or the solder in your walls. If those are old, lead enters in the last few feet of the journey — and there's no level of lead considered safe for children, who absorb it far more readily than adults do.

The fix: Certified carbon filtration — at the kitchen tap, or whole-home if you want it everywhere. Neither requires repiping your house.
02The problem

Chlorine keeps water safe, then keeps going

Chlorine is why municipal water doesn't make you sick, so nobody should want it gone at the plant. But it stays in the water all the way to your glass, along with the byproducts that form when it reacts with organic matter. Those are regulated and monitored — and they're also why your water tastes like a swimming pool.

The fix: Carbon reduces chlorine, its byproducts, and the taste that comes with them — at the point where it stops doing its job and starts being a nuisance.
03The problem

Hard water is quietly expensive

At 7 to 13 grains per gallon, this region's water leaves scale on everything it touches. It coats the element in your water heater so it burns more energy for the same hot shower, shortens the life of every appliance plumbed into it, and makes you use noticeably more soap for the same result.

The fix: A properly sized softener. Not a health purchase — an appliance-life and utility-bill one that pays back slowly and permanently.
04The problem

Well water answers to nobody

No utility, no annual report, no requirement to test after the well is drilled. Arsenic occurs naturally in the bedrock under Washtenaw County — the USGS estimates roughly a one in eight chance a well here exceeds the federal limit, and it has no taste, smell or color. Coliform and nitrates are equally invisible, and nitrates matter most for infants.

The fix: Test first, always. Then a system sized to your actual results — not a package sold to every well in the county.
Why we cost less

Same softener. Half the invoice.

The big names run call centres, regional managers, television spots and a commissioned salesman who drives to your house hoping to leave with a signature. That all lands on your invoice. We're a local outfit with published prices and independent installers — the same tanks and media, without the overhead stacked on top.

A national brand $6,500

Top of the published range for a softener installed — quoted at your kitchen table, after the free test, by someone on commission.

vs
Clearwell $2,800

Typical softener installed and owned outright. Our range is $2,000–3,500 and it's printed on this page, before anyone speaks to you.

What this costs, honestly

The rental is the expensive option. It just doesn't feel like one.

Rented softeners run about $25 to $100 a month industry-wide. At $35 a month, five years is roughly $2,100 — more than buying a comparable system outright, and at the end you still own nothing.

 Rented systemTypical big-brand installClearwell
Softener, installed$25–100 / month, ongoing$1,800–6,500$2,000–3,500
Cost over 10 years$3,000–12,000$1,800–6,500$2,000–3,500
Who owns it at the endThey doYou doYou do
Contract requiredUsually multi-yearVariesNone
Price before anyone visitsQuoted in your kitchenQuoted in your kitchenPublished on this page
Finding out what's in your waterIn-home appointmentIn-home appointmentFree and online, above

Rental and big-brand figures are published industry ranges, not quotes from any particular company — what you're actually offered depends on your home and who you call. The Clearwell column is simply what we charge, printed here so you can compare it before anyone comes out.

Where you're getting your water

Two very different starting points.

Plymouth & Canton

Municipal water, GLWA-sourced

Your water is treated and safe to drink — the issue is hardness (7–13 grains per gallon) and chlorine taste, not safety. This is a comfort and appliance-longevity fix, not an emergency.

Salem Township & well-served areas

Private wells, untested by default

Nobody regulates or tests a private well but you. Some problems (iron, sulfur) you can smell. Others (coliform, nitrates, arsenic) you can't — which is exactly why we test before we ever recommend a system.

How a job actually runs

Test. Measure. Specify. Install.

01

Check

On city water we read your utility's published results free, online — no visit. On a well, there are no records, so we come out and test in person. Skip it entirely if you already know what you want.

02

Measure

Real numbers back to you in plain English — grains per gallon, parts per trillion, what it means.

03

Specify

A flat, written price for the system that fits your result. If you don't need one, we say so.

04

Install & stand behind it

Permitted, inspected install. You own the system. We service what we put in.

Where you'll find us

We stay close to home on purpose.

A small service area means we know the water before we arrive — which municipality treats it, which roads sit over well country, and what tends to be wrong in each.

  • Plymouth, MI
  • Canton, MI
  • Salem Township, MI
  • Northville, MI
  • Superior Township, MI
  • Ypsilanti, MI
  • Livonia — case by case
  • Novi — case by case
  • South Lyon — case by case

Well water inquiries west of Napier Road, and out through Superior Township, get priority scheduling.

Start here

Find out what's in your water first.

On city water, that costs you nothing and takes about a minute — no appointment, no salesman, no obligation. If you already know what you want, skip straight to booking it.

Call or text (734) 407-5571
Check my water free Get a free quote

Prefer email? team@clearwellwaterfiltration.com
Clearwell Water LLC · Plymouth, Michigan