How to choose a leak detection company in six questions
To choose a leak detection company, ring two or three and put the same six questions to each. How will you find my leak and prove it is there? What does the price pay for? What will the report show, and how soon will it reach me? Do you repair? What does your promise cover? What do you need from me? Then lay the answers side by side.
Good answers are specific: which pipe they would test first, which method they would start with, and what happens if that method finds nothing clear. Have any water company letter and a couple of meter readings in front of you when you ring, because the answers depend on what you can tell them. Note each firm's answers as you go, so you compare like with like.
Which methods, and how is a find confirmed?
Ask which methods they would use on your leak, and why those. Each suits a different job. A ground microphone, placed on the surface above a buried pipe, catches the hiss where pressurised water is getting out. Tracer gas, a hydrogen and nitrogen mix, is fed into a pipe and picked up where it seeps through the surface. A thermal camera shows the warm patch where a heating pipe is leaking, after the heating has been running for a while.
Moisture meters show how far damp has crept from a bathroom, and a pressure test tells you whether a closed-off length of pipe holds or loses pressure. Next, ask how a find is proved. We back every find with a second, different method, then mark the spot and photograph it, so there is one clear place to start opening up.
What does the price cover?
Ask what you are buying. How long will they be on site? Is the figure fixed, or does it change if the leak turns up early? What can be added on the day? We agree our price with you over the phone or by email, ahead of any booking. It pays for a booked spell on site, either a half day or a full day as the job needs, and finding the leak quickly does not shrink it.
On top of that, materials, parking fees and tolls are added at cost. Ask about the repair as a separate question, because finding a leak and mending it are two jobs with two prices. Count the disruption too. Rooms, the loft and the meter all need to be reachable, and the water may be off at times while pipes are tested.
What is in the report, and when does it arrive?
If you plan to claim on insurance, the report matters as much as the find. Ask what it will contain and when you can expect it. Ours records the location, methods, readings and photographs, and it is written to travel with a trace and access claim. Payment for the visit comes first and the report follows, so settling up on the day keeps things moving.
Phone your insurer before you book anybody. Some want to give their approval before the work goes ahead, and they can tell you what they expect to see in writing. Whatever any report says, the decision to pay a claim belongs to the insurer. Bear in mind too that the mark only tells a builder or plumber where to open up first. Until the pipe is in view, the leak is not proven.
Do they repair, and what is guaranteed?
Some people want one visit to find the leak and fix it. Others would rather their own plumber did the repair. Whichever suits you, ask whether the firm repairs, how that work is priced and what any guarantee covers. We can usually repair leaks on pipework. Repairs carry their own quote. If we give you a repair price ahead of time, it only holds if the repair is made on the day of the detection.
Each repair we make is guaranteed for 3 months from the day of the repair. The cover extends to the pipes and fittings we fit ourselves; the rest of your system sits outside it. Ask too what happens if old pipe gives way somewhere else. A pressure test or a repair on tired pipe can expose further weak points along its length, and on our visits those are quoted separately.
What exactly does the promise cover?
A no find, no fee offer is worth having only when your job fits inside it. Read its conditions in the terms and test them against what you already know: whether the leak is on the heating or the water supply, how long the supply pipe is, and how many litres an hour any water company letter mentions. Then ask what the visit costs if the promise does not apply, so you know the price either way.
Ours is no find, no fee on home water leaks, and full conditions are on our terms page. No find, no fee on home water leaks covers one leak on a water main up to 30 m or the hot and cold supply pipes, at least half a litre a minute, where we also carry out the access and repair. It does not cover central heating, shared mains, businesses or leaks that come and go.
What do they need from you on the day?
Expect a few questions before you are given a price; the answers decide which tests are needed and what the visit will cost. We will want to know how fast the boiler pressure drops, about how many metres the supply pipe covers, whether a leak sealer has been poured into the heating, and if the booking is for a home or a business. The sealer question matters, because sealant can stop testing working.
On the day we need to reach rooms, the loft, outside areas and the meters, plus a stop tap and valves in working order. We need somewhere to park within 100 m at no charge. Say so if you do not own the property, if somebody else is footing the bill, or if any pipe passes into or beneath the house next door. Card details hold the booking, and payment, by card or bank transfer, is taken as we finish.