Frequently asked questions

Weekday surveys start at £54.00 + VAT with a half-hour minimum charge, and there is no call-out fee. Evenings and weekends start at £69.75 + VAT and late nights at £90.00 + VAT. Longer jobs are discounted: 5% off from four hours and 10% off from eight. Most domestic leaks are found within one to three hours.

Usually, yes. Almost every UK buildings policy includes trace and access cover, which pays for finding the source of an escape of water and for the damage caused by getting to it. Our reports are written to the standard loss adjusters work to, and we invoice so the cost can be submitted with your claim.

We answer the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and target a 1 hour response across Sussex, Surrey and London. There is no surcharge for an emergency, though the hourly rate does vary by time of day.

No. Thermal imaging, acoustic correlation, tracer gas and moisture mapping are all non-invasive, and we use them first as a matter of course. An opening is only made once the evidence points at one specific place, and it is normally small enough to fill and touch in.

The reliable test is your water meter. Turn off every tap and appliance, note the reading, and check it again after two hours with nothing used. If it has moved, water is escaping somewhere. Other common signs are a rising bill with no change in usage, a boiler that keeps losing pressure, a warm or cold patch on a floor, a musty smell, or the sound of running water when everything is off.

Yes. Our engineers carry repair materials, so most leaks are fixed on the same visit as the survey and then pressure tested before we leave. Workmanship is guaranteed for 12 months, and any larger works are quoted at a fixed price before starting.

We cover the whole of Sussex from Littlehampton to Eastbourne and inland through Mid Sussex, all of east and mid Surrey from our Dorking coverage, and every one of the 32 London boroughs plus the City. If you are not sure, call and ask — we will tell you straight away.

A leak is clean water escaping from a pipe or the building envelope. Rising damp is ground moisture drawn up through the fabric, and condensation is airborne moisture settling on a cold surface. They look almost identical on a wall, but only escape of water is normally covered by insurance, and each needs a completely different remedy. A salts test on a plaster sample tells them apart in one visit.

Someone over 18 needs to give us access and be there while we work, and it helps enormously if that person knows the history — when it started, what has been done already, and where the stop tap is. For managed blocks and commercial sites we can work with a key holder or agent instead.

Turn the water off at the internal stop tap, and turn off the electricity at the consumer unit if water is anywhere near lights or sockets. Keep out from under a bulging ceiling. Photograph everything before you move it, because your insurer will ask. Then call us.

Turn off the water at the internal stop tap, which is usually under the kitchen sink or in a downstairs cupboard. If water is anywhere near lights or sockets, turn the electricity off at the consumer unit. Do not stand under a bulging ceiling. Then take photographs of everything, because your insurer will ask for them.

We target one hour across our Sussex, Surrey and London coverage. Traffic and time of day affect that, so we give you a realistic arrival window on the call rather than an optimistic one.

There is no surcharge for the emergency itself. The hourly rate does vary by time of day, and all three tiers are published in full on our pricing page before you book.

No. That is exactly what the survey exists to prevent. We isolate the failed loop at the manifold and locate the fault along it, so the opening is normally a few tiles or a small patch of screed.

Yes. A pipe is cut back to sound material and joined with a proper underfloor-rated coupling, then pressure tested before the screed goes back. A full loop replacement is only needed where a pipe has failed in several places.

Most failures are mechanical rather than age: a screw or nail driven through the screed, a pipe damaged during the original pour, or a fitting that was never properly made. Corrosion is unusual in a properly inhibited system.

It points at the shower itself rather than the pipework, because supply pipes are pressurised all the time. Usually it is the tray seal, the waste connection under the tray, or failed grout letting water behind the tiles.

No. Dye testing and moisture mapping are done with the bathroom intact. If we need to see under a tray we usually go in through the ceiling below or through the bath panel.

We can survey both properties with the upstairs owner's agreement, which is the fastest way to settle it. Our report identifies the source and which property it sits in, which is what both insurers and managing agents need before anyone will act.

Yes, and it is a useful clue. Rain-dependent leaks point at the building envelope rather than plumbing, which narrows the search considerably before we even arrive.

Usually not. Most membrane failures are a single breach or a failed detail at an upstand or outlet. Locating it precisely is what makes a patch repair a legitimate option rather than a gamble.

Yes, and it is one of the more common questions we settle. A roof leak correlates with weather and carries dissolved salts from the building fabric; a plumbing leak runs continuously and does not. Moisture mapping and a salts test separate the two.

Evaporation alone can account for a few millimetres a day in warm weather, more if the pool is uncovered and exposed. A simple bucket test run alongside the pool separates evaporation from a genuine leak, and it is the first thing we do.

No. Pressure testing the pipework and dye testing the shell are both done with the pool full. Draining a liner pool without care can float the liner, so we avoid it.

Yes. Buried pool pipework is pressurised, which makes it a good candidate for acoustic detection, and we can pressure test each line separately to identify which one has failed before locating along it.

It is the section of a buildings policy that pays for locating the source of an escape of water and for the damage caused by getting to it, such as lifting a floor or opening a wall. It is separate from the cost of repairing the damaged property, and limits commonly sit between five and fifteen thousand pounds.

Notify your insurer as soon as you are aware of the damage, because most policies require prompt notification. You do not need their permission to instruct a detection specialist, and having a proper report ready usually speeds the claim up rather than slowing it down.

Our reports are written to the evidence standard loss adjusters work to: calibrated readings, dated photographs, a stated methodology and a clear causation finding. If a handler comes back with questions we will answer them directly rather than leaving you in the middle.

It can, and that is your decision to weigh. What we can tell you is the actual scale of the damage and the likely cost of putting it right, so you are choosing with real numbers rather than guessing.

No. Detection, and any repair done on the same visit, are charged by the half hour as set out on our pricing page. Drying and restoration are a separate piece of work with their own quote, given to you once the leak is fixed and we can measure how far the water has travelled.

We take moisture readings in the affected area and compare them against an unaffected part of the same construction. If the readings come back to normal on their own within a few days, you do not need us. We would far rather tell you that than sell you equipment you do not need.

A wet plasterboard ceiling is often a few days. Saturated screed with underfloor heating in it can be several weeks, because the moisture has to travel back up through the slab. We monitor with meters rather than guessing, and you get the readings.

Escape of water claims routinely cover drying and reinstatement, and this is the part of the claim that is usually worth far more than the detection. Our trace and access report documents what leaked and how it was proved, which is what the insurer needs before they will authorise the rest.

We make good the access we created, strip out material that cannot be saved, and dry the structure. Full reinstatement to a decorative finish, such as re-screeding, re-tiling and redecorating, is quoted separately and is normally recoverable under the same claim.

Yes. Tracing works by putting a signal on the pipe itself or by inserting a sonde, so it does not depend on flow. Non-metallic pipes need one of those two approaches rather than a simple metal detector.

Typically within about ten percent of the true depth in normal ground conditions. We mark the route on the surface and give you the depths at intervals so an excavation can be planned properly.

Usually, yes. Buried and paved-over stop taps are a routine call, and finding one is often a short job.