Commercial Leak Detection in London
Business water leak detection, also called a commercial leak survey, is planned around the building, not the leak: which pipework can be isolated, who is affected and when the water can be off. One property is £580; larger or shared sites are charged by the hour. Pick your building type below. No VAT is charged.
What the visit covers
- Agreeing the survey area and the access window before anyone arrives
- Isolating pipework section by section so the rest of the building keeps running
- Locating the leak with the method the pipe and floor construction allow
- A written report of what was found and where, for the building manager or landlord
Published prices
What it costs
- Fixed-price leak location package
- The package gives one fixed price, known before the visit, to locate a leak in one property using whichever methods the leak needs.
- £580Fixed price
Or by the hour
- Standard leak detection
- General water leak detection in a property.
- £180an hour
- Mains water leak detection
- Leaks on the mains water supply to a property.
- £180an hour
No VAT is charged
A fixed hourly rate that cannot rise on the day
No find, no fee applies when a live leak inside your own property cannot be located. No find, no fee in full
Order of work
Describe the building
Building type, floors, occupants, where the stop taps and isolation valves are, and the hours the premises can be reached.
Plan the isolation
The pipework is split into zones that can be shut off one at a time, so the survey can work through them without stopping the whole site.
Locate the leak
Pressure testing narrows it to a zone, then acoustic listening, thermal imaging or tracer gas places it, depending on the pipe.
Report
A written report of what was found and where, with photographs, so the person who owns the pipe can act on it.
Which page matches my building?
Each building type has its own constraint, and that constraint decides how the survey is sequenced. The table points to the page that deals with it.
| Building | What shapes the survey | Read |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant or commercial kitchen | Equipment that cannot be switched off and a service window that closes the day | Kitchens |
| Office | Occupied floors above and below, and risers shared with other tenants | Offices |
| Shop unit | Shopfittings that hide the pipe, and trading hours | Shop units |
| Care home | Residents who cannot be moved, and a quiet-hours window | Care homes |
| School or nursery | Term time against holidays, and which tests can run with children present | Schools and nurseries |
| Hotel or hostel | Rooms that must be taken out of service floor by floor | Hotels and hostels |
| Warehouse or industrial unit | A large footprint, long pipe runs and a supply that may be metered separately | Warehouses |
| Gym or leisure centre | Showers and changing rooms in near-constant use, where wet floors hide a slow leak | Gyms and changing rooms |
| Medical or dental clinic | Treatment rooms that cannot be disturbed while patients are booked in | Clinics and surgeries |
| Community hall or place of worship | Irregular use, long quiet spells and often an older building | Halls and places of worship |
| Rented homes and shared houses | Access notice, tenants present and a report for repairs | Landlords and HMOs |
How is a commercial survey different from a house visit?
In a house there is usually one stop tap and one set of pipes. In a business there may be a dozen isolation valves, a tank room, a plant room and several tenants, and the first job is to find out which of them serves the damp area. Zone-by-zone isolation is what makes that possible without closing the site.
Three limits apply. A zone with no working valve cannot be tested on its own, so the survey widens to the next valve up. A supply that is shared with another tenant needs that tenant's consent before it is shut. And a pipe in constant use, such as a kitchen's hot feed, can only be tested in the gap the business allows. Say at the start which of these apply.
What does a commercial leak survey cost?
A single shop unit or small office can be one property, and then the £580 leak detection package gives the total before the visit. No VAT is charged.
Larger or shared buildings are charged by the hour: standard detection at £180 an hour, mains water at £180 an hour. A fixed hourly rate that cannot rise on the day. No VAT is charged. The commercial cost guide explains what drives the hours.
Who owns the pipe, and can the lost water be claimed back?
Finding a leak and deciding who deals with it are separate questions. Business water is supplied through a retailer, and the water company that owns the network (the wholesaler) publishes its own policy on where its pipes end and the customer's begin. Those policies differ between companies, so the wholesaler or retailer named on the bill is the place to check.
Inside a leased building the lease usually decides the rest: a landlord may own shared risers while a tenant owns the pipes serving the unit. The survey can show which side of a boundary the leak sits on, and the report says so. A leak on a landlord's or water company's pipe is still a located leak and is charged. No find, no fee applies when a live leak inside your own property cannot be located
Can a business get money back for water lost to a leak? Possibly in part. Business customers claim a leak allowance through their water retailer, and the rules belong to the water company that supplies the site, so they differ. United Utilities, for one, asks for the leak to be repaired within 30 days of discovery. A report showing where the leak was found supports a claim. The survey locates the leak; it does not make the claim.
What this service does not cover
The team locates leaks first. 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. A larger repair is quoted before any work starts, and the leak is stopped in the meantime. Opening up and making good are separate, and the report is written to be handed to whoever does the work. A leak that is outside the premises, on a public road or inside a neighbour's unit can be located only as far as it can be reached from your side.
Sources
Wholesaler and retailer roles and the supply-pipe boundary in non-household policies: Affinity Water, non-household leak allowance policy (retailer guidance), read October 2026. It states that the supply pipe is usually the customer's up to the property boundary and that policies vary by company, which is why this page sends you to your own wholesaler. The leak allowance route and the 30-day repair condition: United Utilities, leakage advice for business customers, read October 2026. It says claims go through the retailer, which passes them to the water company.
Questions customers ask
What is business water leak detection?
It is locating a leak on the water pipework of a shop, office, kitchen or other business premises without closing the site. Pipework is isolated zone by zone and tested until the leak is placed, then a written report says where it is. One property is £580. No VAT is charged.
Do you survey buildings that cannot close?
Yes. The survey is planned zone by zone around the hours the building can be reached, and the access window is agreed first.
Is there a fixed price for a commercial site?
For a leak in one property the £580 package applies, and the total is known in advance. Larger and shared sites are charged at a fixed hourly rate that cannot rise on the day. No VAT is charged.
Can the report go to my landlord or managing agent?
Yes. It is a written report of what was found and where, with photographs, and it can be addressed to whoever instructs the work, or sent to a business insurer. Cover depends on the policy and the insurer decides; see leak detection report for insurers.
Does the survey include the repair?
Partly. 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. A larger repair is quoted before any work starts, and the leak is stopped in the meantime. The report is written so a contractor can use it. See leak repair after detection.
What if the leak is on a shared pipe?
It is still located and reported. No find, no fee applies when a live leak inside your own property cannot be located
Who is responsible for a leak on a business water supply?
It depends on where the leak sits. Your wholesaler publishes where its pipe ends and the customer pipe begins, and a lease may place shared risers with the landlord. The survey shows which side of that boundary the leak is on, and the report states it, so you know who to contact.