A pipe that has let go, a tap that will not stop, or a bill that has doubled with nothing to see. We work out where the water is actually going, make it safe, and repair it without opening up half the house to find it.
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A burst is almost never random. Something has been working on that pipe for years, and around here it is usually one of three things: the ground, the metal, or the pressure.
Much of the district sits on Wianamatta shale, a reactive clay that swells when it is wet and shrinks when it is not. Everything buried in it moves with the seasons, and a joint that has been flexed through a few thousand of those cycles eventually opens. It is the same ground movement that cracks drains, working on the pressurised side of the plumbing instead.
Then there is the pipe itself. The older streets of Harris Park, North Parramatta and Granville still run galvanised steel that rusts from the inside out, so the first sign is usually falling pressure or brown water rather than a puddle. The copper that replaced it through the sixties and seventies fails differently, in pinholes that weep quietly behind a wall for months before anyone notices the bill.
Licensed plumbers across Parramatta for burst pipes and hidden leaks, day or night, because water damage compounds every hour it is left running.
Shut it off at the main before anything else. The tap is usually at the front boundary near the meter, and turning it clockwise stops the supply to the whole property. If water is anywhere near a powerpoint, a light fitting or the switchboard, kill the power at the board too and stay out of the wet area.
Then ring us. Our burst pipe guide walks through the full ten minutes, including photographing everything before you mop up, which is the step people skip and insurers ask for.
If you suspect a leak but cannot see one, this is the check that tells you. Turn off every tap and appliance that uses water, then go and look at the water meter. Most have a small red or black dial, or a star wheel, that spins on the tiniest flow. Watch it for two minutes.
If it is completely still, the water is not moving and any problem is somewhere else. If it creeps at all with everything shut off, water is escaping on your side of the meter, and that is a leak worth finding before the next quarter's bill arrives.
Wianamatta shale is the reason so many Parramatta repairs are joints rather than pipe. The clay swells through a wet stretch and shrinks back through a dry one, and everything buried in it rides that movement. A rigid joint has only so many cycles in it.
It is why bursts here cluster after the weather breaks. A long dry spell shrinks the ground away from the pipe, the first heavy rain swells it back, and the joint that had been holding on gives out. If your street has had a few in the same season, that is usually what happened rather than coincidence.
Plenty of the pre-war housing around Harris Park, North Parramatta and Granville is still on galvanised steel supply pipe. It corrodes from the inside, so the bore narrows for years before anything leaks. The symptoms arrive in that order: pressure that has quietly got worse, then rusty water on first draw, then a pinhole.
If that describes your place, patching one hole rarely ends it. The rest of the run is the same age and the same condition, and we will tell you honestly when replacing a section is the cheaper decision over a couple of years.
Copper from the sixties and seventies fails in small perforations rather than splits. The first one often shows up as a stain on a ceiling or a patch of carpet that never quite dries, not as running water. Because the whole run shares the same water chemistry, velocity and installation age, a second and third tend to follow within a year or two.
That pattern matters for the decision. One pinhole in an otherwise sound run is a repair. The third in eighteen months is telling you the run is done.
A concealed leak is the expensive kind, because the water goes somewhere before you ever find out. Under a slab it can track along the footing for metres. Behind a wall it soaks plasterboard and framing. In the yard it simply disappears into that reactive clay, which is why a green patch in a dry January is worth a look.
We locate these acoustically, listening for the pressure escaping, and with thermal imaging where a hot water line is involved. The point of that gear is to open one spot rather than five, so the repair is the repair and not a search.
Mains pressure across parts of Sydney runs higher than domestic fittings are designed for, and constant high pressure is hard on everything downstream: flexible hoses under vanities, mixer cartridges, the hot water unit, and the joints already flexing in the shale.
A pressure limiting valve at the meter brings it back to a sane figure and is one of the few genuinely preventative jobs in plumbing. If your flexi hoses have failed before, or taps hammer when you shut them quickly, it is worth asking about while we are there.
In the towers around the CBD and the Westmead precinct, the pipe inside your walls is usually yours and the riser feeding it is usually the building's. A leak appearing in your ceiling frequently starts in the apartment above, and a leak in the common riser is the owners corporation's problem rather than yours.
Working out which side of that line the water is coming from before anyone starts cutting is what saves the argument later. We will tell you what we can see and put it in writing if strata needs it.
This is the part most people never hear about. If a licensed plumber finds and repairs a concealed leak, Sydney Water will credit 50% of the water usage charge on your most affected quarter as a goodwill allowance. Each property can claim it once every five years.
For a business with wastewater charges the treatment is better again: 100% of the increase in wastewater usage charges, with no five year limit. Either way the repair has to be done by a licensed plumber and you apply to Sydney Water afterwards, so keep the invoice. Current terms are on the Sydney Water hidden leak allowance page, and that is the version to trust over anything on a plumber's site, this one included.
Leaks are the one job where the honest answer is that we cannot price the repair until we know where it is. So detection is priced on its own below, and the repair figure follows once we can see what failed. These are 2026 Sydney ranges rather than a quote from us.
Acoustic and thermal detection so we open one spot instead of five. Rolled into the repair if you proceed.
Isolated, cut out and rejoined. The range is access: an exposed run is a very different job to one under a slab.
Washers, seats and cartridges. The cheapest plumbing you will ever buy relative to what a slow drip costs you.
Where galvanised has narrowed or copper has started perforating and patching it again would be throwing money at it.
Fitted at the meter. The one genuinely preventative job on this page.
Access is what moves the figure most. An exposed run under the house is a straightforward repair; the same failure under a slab or behind tiled wall is not. If the leak is slow enough to hold until morning we would rather tell you that than charge a night rate. Leaks are also one line on a longer list, and the same crews work as general and emergency plumbers servicing Parramatta, so a burst that turns out to be a hot water connection or a cracked drain does not need a second trade booked.
Where the water is showing, whether the meter is still turning with the taps off, and how long it has been going on. That is usually enough to know whether we are chasing a burst or a slow one.
Acoustic listening across the line, and thermal imaging where hot water is involved. The aim is to open one spot rather than five, so the repair is a repair and not a search.
Once we know where it is and what the pipe is, you get the number before anything is cut. You see what we found, so the next decision is yours rather than ours.
Repaired at the price you approved, with a written report if you need one for strata, an insurer, or a Sydney Water leak allowance claim.
Shut the main at the front boundary, keep clear of anything electrical, and call. If it is a slow leak rather than a burst, say so and we will tell you honestly whether it can wait for daylight.
Call 1300 381 569What Parramatta locals ask us when water is going somewhere it should not.
Ask us yours
Turn off every tap and water-using appliance, then watch the water meter for two minutes. If the small dial or star wheel still creeps, water is escaping on your side of the meter. That test costs nothing and is the one we ask people to run before we come out, because it tells us what we are looking for.
That is the classic concealed leak: under a slab, behind a wall, or out in the yard where the clay swallows it. Run the meter test first. If the meter is moving, it is worth locating properly rather than guessing, and you may be able to claim part of the bill back through Sydney Water's hidden leak allowance once it is repaired.
That is the whole point of the detection gear. We listen for the pressure escaping and use thermal imaging on hot water lines, then open the one spot the water is actually coming from. Digging a trench to go looking is the old way and it costs you twice, once to dig and once to reinstate.
Most policies cover the water damage rather than the pipe itself, and almost all of them want evidence. Photograph everything before you clean up, keep the plumber's invoice, and do not throw out the failed section. We are happy to write up what failed and why if your insurer asks.
Anything before the meter is Sydney Water's, and anything after it is yours. Leaks near the boundary are the ones that get argued about, which is why we establish where it sits before any work starts rather than after.
Usually galvanised steel supply pipe corroding from the inside. The bore narrows for years before it ever leaks, so falling pressure and rusty water on first draw are the early warnings. Patching one spot rarely fixes it, because the rest of the run is the same age and the same condition.
We cannot lodge it on your behalf, but the repair has to be done by a licensed plumber for you to qualify, and we give you the invoice and the detail you need to apply. It is a goodwill credit of 50% of the water usage charge on your worst quarter, once every five years per property.
Leave your details and a licensed plumber calls you back. A burst pipe, a bill that has jumped, or a damp patch that will not dry, you get a fixed price before anything is cut.
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