Traced with equipment rather than guesswork, because on ground that steps down toward the water the wet patch and the fault are frequently in different places.
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A leak underground does not stay where it started. It leaves the pipe, meets ground that slopes, and travels along the fall until something stops it.
On a Como block that can be a long way. Properties here sit on ground that steps down toward the river, frequently below the road they front, and escaped water uses exactly the same fall the drainage was supposed to.
So the wet patch tells you where the water surfaced. It does not tell you where the pipe failed, and the two can be metres apart with retaining and paving in between.
Which is why we locate before we open anything. Meter test, acoustic listening and pressure isolation, worked uphill from the symptom rather than down, so one hole finds the fault instead of two holes finding nothing.
That is water going somewhere. On a sloping block it is worth finding quickly, because it is travelling rather than sitting.
Water leaves the pipe and follows the slope until it meets something that stops it, then surfaces there. On flat ground the two are close together. On a fall they are not.
So the wet patch and the failure are frequently in different parts of the property, and occasionally on different terraces.
That is the single most important thing to understand about leaks on this ground.
Digging under the wet patch on flat ground is often close enough. On a fall it is close enough almost never, and each hole on a stepped block is real work.
So the usual first instinct produces an excavation in the wrong place, and then another one.
Locating properly first is not a premium service on this ground. It is what makes the job affordable.
Where a property sits below the road, or where levels step across the block, water from uphill can be arriving at the building rather than escaping from its plumbing.
That looks like a leak and is not one, and a leak detection visit will find nothing because there is nothing to find.
The meter test separates the two cleanly and at no cost, which is why it comes first.
The meter, with everything off, to confirm water is genuinely moving. Acoustic listening for the sound a pressurised leak makes through soil and structure.
Thermal imaging for the heat signature of a hot water leak. Pressure isolation to shut off sections until the one losing water gives itself away.
In that order, because each step narrows the problem before the next one starts, and skipping to locating on an unconfirmed loss wastes a visit.
Close every tap, the machine and the dishwasher, and turn any irrigation controller off entirely rather than to a rest day. Watch the smallest dial for two minutes.
Movement means water is genuinely leaving on your side. A dial sitting perfectly still points at usage, or at water arriving from uphill.
It costs nothing and it is the most useful thing you can tell us before anybody sets out for a property that may be a walk from the road.
Shut the supply into the hot water system and read the meter again. Whatever the dial does next is the most useful thing you can hand a plumber.
Still creeping means the cold side and the unit is not involved. Stopped means the unit or the hot distribution beyond it.
One caveat before that becomes bad news: a relief valve weeping rather than releasing occasionally gives exactly the hot-side result and is a minor repair.
On a block that steps down from the road, the meter can be a genuine walk uphill from the house, in the dark, in the rain, at two in the morning.
Find it on a dry afternoon, check the tap turns, and leave a torch somewhere you will remember.
Learn the isolating valves indoors as well, because closing one of those handles a specific failure without the walk.
Water follows the fall of a joist, the back of a stud or the top of a slab and emerges at the weakest point, and on a house built into a slope downhill is always available.
So a stain on a lower level can originate two levels up with nothing visible in between.
Cutting into it is quick, satisfying and quite often reveals nothing but wet.
The braided hoses under vanities and behind cisterns last around five years and fail all at once, at mains pressure, frequently while nobody is home.
On a multi-level house water released upstairs travels through everything below it, which makes the consequence worse here than on a single level.
They are cheap and quick to replace, and doing them as a set makes sense because they are all the same age.
On a long service line running down a slope through garden, escaping water goes into the ground and produces nothing anybody would notice.
The quarterly account is frequently the only symptom, and by the time a second bill confirms it the loss has been running for months.
The order of work is the meter test, then the hot water isolation, then the run between the meter and the house.
A reticulation system on a stepped block can move more water than the household does, and a failed solenoid or a split line does it continuously, into ground where water belongs.
It also defeats the meter test if the controller runs during it, which is why it gets turned off entirely rather than to a rest day.
If the dial stops when the irrigation is isolated, that is the answer and it is a cheap one.
A written account of the fault, its location and the repair is straightforward to produce while somebody is still on site and effectively impossible later.
It supports an application to Sydney Water for a concealed leak allowance, where the circumstances meet their criteria, and it supports a claim if one follows.
Whether you qualify for anything is not ours to say. Having the evidence is.
Quoted at a fixed price before anyone starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges, and the location work is priced separately so you are not paying to dig speculatively.
Meter, acoustic and pressure testing, worked uphill from the symptom.
Once exposed, depending on depth, material and what sits above it.
Including checking the others, because they are all the same age.
Water off, the leak isolated and the property stabilised, at any hour.
What failed and where, in a form Sydney Water will accept with an allowance request.
If it is a burst, we tell you how to stop it at the meter before we leave, so the damage stops while we are on the way.
Meter, acoustic listening and pressure testing, worked uphill from where the water showed.
One access point at the fault rather than a trial hole under the wet patch.
What failed and where, with the licence number and ABN Sydney Water asks for if you apply for an allowance.
Turn it off at the meter and call. A licensed plumber can be on the way, 24/7, and we will talk you through stopping it while we drive.
Call 1300 381 569Often not, and on a block with any fall you should assume it is not until somebody has checked. Water leaves the pipe, meets ground that slopes, and follows the fall until something stops it. So the visible wet patch marks where the water surfaced, not where it escaped, and those can be a long way apart. Digging under the wet patch is how people end up with two holes and the same leak.
By narrowing it before opening anything. The meter tells us whether water is moving with everything off. Acoustic listening picks the pipe up under hard surfaces. Pressure testing isolates which line is losing. On a sloping block we also work uphill from the symptom rather than down, because the fault is almost always above where the water shows.
Turn the water off at the meter, before anything else. Then keep water away from anything electrical and do not go paddling near power. On a block that steps down, move what you can out of the lowest room in the house, because that is where the water is heading.
Because the ground decides, not the pipe. Where a property sits below the road, or where levels step across the block, escaped water travels along the fall and can arrive at the building rather than leaving it. It is one of the reasons a leak on ground like this gets expensive quickly, and it is why we treat one as urgent even when the volume seems small.
Possibly. Sydney Water may grant a hidden leak allowance once a licensed plumber has repaired one, and it is worth asking about. It applies to leaks that were genuinely hidden, so a visible wet patch or consistently damp ground would usually not qualify. Either way we put the licence number and ABN on the invoice, which is what they ask for.
Yes, and sooner on this ground than on flat ground. A small continuous leak on a slope has somewhere to travel, and water moving through fill and around retaining is doing something you cannot see. The repair is small. What the water is quietly doing to the ground around it is the part that is not.
Detection and location is $250 to $550, which includes narrowing it down properly rather than guessing. A burst repaired once it is exposed is $350 to $900 depending on where it sits. A failed flexi hose replaced is $180 to $350. We give the figure before we start.
Tell us where the water is showing and which way your block falls. On this ground those two things together are most of the diagnosis.
Located before anything is opened, fixed price agreed first, and written findings you can use with Sydney Water.
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