What Is Included in a Leak Detection Survey, Line by Line

What the visit covers

These lines are part of the survey. On the package they are covered by £580, and no VAT is charged.

• Questions about the symptom, and a look at the affected area
• Isolation and pressure testing of the supplies that could be involved
• Moisture readings and thermal imaging of the surfaces
• Acoustic listening and tracer gas where the leak needs them
• An endoscope through a small opening when a joint has to be seen
• Marking the leak on the surface and photographing the finding
• A written report of what was found and where

What the visit does not cover

Each of these is a separate job, quoted before any work starts, working from the report.

• A larger repair to a pipe, a joint or a seal: it is quoted separately and the leak is stopped in the meantime. A small repair on the same visit is agreed first
• Access: opening a floor, wall or ceiling to reach the pipe
• Making good: plaster, tiles, flooring and decoration after an opening
• A leak outside the property: a neighbour, a communal pipe or the water company main
• A second property, or a second visit

A worked example: where the scope stops

Take a ceiling stain under a bathroom. The survey pressure tests the supplies, scans the ceiling and floor above, and finds a leaking shower waste. The leak is marked and the report says where. That is the end of the survey. The same kinds of finding are listed in what a plumbing leak survey finds.

Pulling the bath panel to reach the waste, a larger repair and redecorating the ceiling are the access, repair and making-good lines. A small repair, such as tightening a fitting or replacing a small part on the pipe, can be done on the same visit once the leak is found, agreed first, and damage to walls, ceilings and finishes is quoted by a partner team of builders and decorators, who give a price for each job; see leak repair after detection and leak damage repair and remediation. The shower waste case study shows this boundary: the cause was confirmed through one small ceiling opening, and the report recorded the position for the repair.

A second example: the leak is not yours

If the pressure test shows your supplies hold, and the water traces to a shared riser or a flat above, the leak has been located but sits outside your property. The package does not cover that source, so the survey is charged at the hourly rate for the methods used rather than at the package price. The report gives you the evidence to pass on. No VAT is charged.

A third outcome is that no leak exists. The damp behind a bed case study found none on the pipes and attributed the moisture to water entering from outside. The time is charged because ruling a leak out was the answer.

Where no find, no fee comes in

No find, no fee waives the detection fee when we attend a live leak inside your own property and cannot locate it. A leak that belongs to a neighbour, a communal pipe or the water company's main is a located leak and is charged, and so is a survey that establishes no leak exists, because ruling a leak out is the answer you paid for. The no find no fee page sets out the three outcomes in a table.