Made safe first, located with equipment second, and written up properly, because what happens after a burst frequently depends on what somebody wrote down at the time.
Online Now!·--:--
The order matters and it is not the order most people follow. First, get the water off at the meter. Everything about how much a burst costs is decided in the minutes between the failure and the tap being closed, and no amount of anything afterwards changes that.
Second, and this takes thirty seconds, photograph it. The water, the rooms affected, anything damaged, before anybody begins drying or moving furniture. That is the state of things at the moment it happened, and once the cleanup starts it cannot be recreated.
Then ring, and we will get there. What we do beyond the repair is write it up: what failed, where it was, what we think caused it and what we did about it. A repair invoice tells you what was done and almost nothing about what happened, and those are different documents serving different purposes.
We are not going to tell you what your policy covers, because that is between you and your insurer and we have not read it. What we can say is that where any of this ends up in front of somebody months later, the written account is the thing that does the work, and it costs nothing to have one.
Shut the supply off before anything else, then ring. We will stay on the line while you find it.
Between the failure and the tap closing is where the damage happens. The repair afterwards is ordinary work. Those five minutes are flooring, cabinetry and ceilings.
In a period house that matters more than usual, because what gets wet is frequently not replaceable from a warehouse. Original boards, plaster and joinery are not stock items.
So everything on this page is really about shortening those five minutes.
Not on the night, in the dark, in the rain, with water rising. Now, on a dry afternoon, with nothing happening.
Find the meter, find its tap, and check the tap actually turns. On properties of this age they seize, and that is much better discovered today.
Then make sure somebody else in the household knows, because the person who reads this is not always the person who is home.
Under the sink, behind the toilet, at the hot water unit. Closing one of those stops a specific problem without taking water off the whole house.
On a house with a tenant or a household of several people, that is the difference between one bathroom out of use and everybody without water.
They are small taps and they are easy to miss. Worth having somebody point them out while they are on the property.
Thirty seconds of phone camera, and it cannot be recreated afterwards. The fitting that failed, the extent of the water, the affected finishes, and something that shows the date.
That order matters. Water off first, then photographs, then cleanup, then repair. Once a wall is opened and a carpet dried, the evidence has gone with it.
Nothing on this page is about delaying the make-safe. It is about spending half a minute while you are already there.
One says what was done. The other says what happened, what failed, when, and what the consequence was.
An invoice is a record of a transaction. A written report is a record of an event, and they are not interchangeable when somebody else needs to understand it later.
We will write one if you ask, and it is worth asking at the time rather than a month afterwards.
The date and time, what was found, the apparent cause, what was done to make it safe, and what remains to be done. Plus the photographs.
It does not contain an opinion about who is responsible or what anybody is entitled to. That is not ours to say and a report that strays into it is worth less, not more.
We are plumbers rather than assessors. What we can do is describe accurately what a plumber saw.
Water is genuinely leaving on your side, and it may never surface. Close every tap, the machine and the dishwasher, and watch the smallest dial for two minutes.
Then close the valve on the inlet to the hot water unit and watch again. Still moving means the cold side. Stopped means the unit or the hot line past it.
Two minutes of that halves the search area before anybody arrives, and it is the single most useful thing a householder can do.
Water follows the fall of a joist, the back of a stud or the top of a slab and appears wherever it finally escapes. A ceiling stain can be metres from the fitting that failed.
In a house with a subfloor and lath or fibrous plaster, the travel can be considerable, and the visible damage is frequently in a different room entirely.
So the wet spot is a clue rather than an address, and cutting into it is frequently the wrong first move.
Acoustic listening picks up the noise a pressurised leak makes through structure and soil. Thermal imaging finds the heat signature of a hot water leak behind a surface.
Pressure testing isolates sections until the one losing water gives itself away. Between the three, most leaks get located to a small area before anything is cut.
On a house with original finishes, that is the difference between a repair and a restoration.
Flexible connectors under vanities and behind cisterns have a service life of roughly five years, and their failure mode is sudden rather than gradual.
That combination, hidden location and instant failure, is why they cause more destructive indoor water damage than anything else we attend.
If nobody can remember replacing them, they are old enough to replace. Doing them all at once makes sense, because they are all the same age.
Fixed price agreed before anything starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges.
Water stopped and the situation stabilised, at any hour.
Acoustic, pressure and thermal, with nothing opened to find it.
Depending on the pipe, the material and how it has to be reached.
Fittings included rather than billed separately.
What failed, where, why, and what we did. Not an extra.
We stay on the line while you find the meter, because that is the part that actually reduces the bill.
Whatever it takes to stop it getting worse, before anybody starts discussing a permanent repair.
Acoustic listening, pressure testing and thermal imaging until it is a point rather than an area.
The repair, plus a plain written account of what failed and why, handed over rather than filed away.
Shut it off at the meter and ring. A licensed plumber can be heading toward you while you are still on the call.
Call 1300 381 569Turn the water off at the meter before anything else, then ring. How much a burst costs is almost entirely decided by how long the supply stayed on, and nothing else you do in the first five minutes matters as much.
Yes, and it takes thirty seconds. Photograph the water, the affected rooms and anything damaged, before anybody starts drying or moving things. That is the state of affairs at the moment it happened, and it is the one record nobody can reconstruct afterwards.
Because a repair invoice says what was done and very little about what happened. A written report says what failed, where, why we think it failed and what we did about it. If any of this ends up in front of an insurer or a strata manager, that document does the work. We will not tell you what your policy covers, because that is between you and your insurer.
It certainly affects the repair bill, because every minute of running water adds to it. It is also the sensible thing to do regardless of what any policy says: stop the damage, then sort out the paperwork.
Frequently yes, and it can be underground where it never surfaces. Close every tap and appliance and watch the smallest dial on the meter. If it creeps, water is genuinely leaving on your side.
Acoustic listening, pressure testing and thermal imaging, chosen to suit what is leaking and where it runs. None of them require opening a wall to have a look first.
Emergency isolation and make-safe is $200 to $450. Locating a concealed leak is $250 to $600. A burst repair is $300 to $900. The written report is included rather than extra.
Tell us whether the water is still running and whether you have found the meter. Everything else can wait ninety seconds.
Made safe, located, repaired, and written up so somebody months from now can follow it.
Online Now!·--:--
