Before anything else: turn the water off at the meter. Almost every plumbing emergency gets smaller the moment the water stops.
No obligation. Takes 30 seconds.
Emergency Plumber Geelong connects Geelong and the Geelong and Bellarine region property owners with qualified, connects Geelong and Bellarine property owners with licensed local plumbers for emergency plumber. Tell us what's happening and whether water is still running, and we'll match it to a licensed plumber covering your suburb. Firm price before work starts.
**Water everywhere:** turn the mains off at the meter, usually at the front boundary, clockwise to close. Then open the lowest tap in the house to drain the pressure out of the pipework.
**Gas smell:** everyone outside. No light switches, no phones inside, no flames. Turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely, ring 000 if anyone is at risk, then AusNet Services on 13 67 07.
**Sewage inside the house:** stop using every fixture in the property, including upstairs. Every flush makes it worse.
Water still escaping and you can't stop it. Any gas smell at all. Sewage inside a building. No hot water in genuinely cold weather with elderly people, small children or anyone unwell in the house. Water anywhere near switchboards or power outlets.
A dripping tap, a slow drain, or one blocked toilet in a house with a second one is not one of these. Saying so honestly is what lets the real emergencies be seen first.
Anything on your side of the water meter is yours. A burst on the main in the street, or a sewer spilling in a public area, is Barwon Water's — ring them on 1300 656 007, staffed 24 hours.
That call is free and it is worth making before you engage anyone privately. People do pay plumbers to attend faults that were never theirs to fix.
$180 to $400 for the call-out outside business hours, against $120 to $250 within them. That premium is real and legitimate — someone is getting out of bed.
What isn't legitimate is discovering it on the invoice. Confirm the after-hours rate on the phone before anyone is dispatched, and confirm whether it comes off the repair.
Geelong.
Where this job typically sits. Access is usually a bigger cost driver than size.
| Job | Indicative price | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency call-out, business hours | $120 – $250 | Attending and diagnosing. Some credit it against the work; ask, because not all do. |
| After hours, weekend or public holiday | $180 – $400 | The call-out premium. Confirm it on the phone before anyone is dispatched. |
| Burst pipe — isolate and repair | $250 – $900 | Depends heavily on access. A pipe in a wall or under a slab costs multiples of one in a roof space. |
| Blocked drain — machine clear | $200 – $550 | Electric eel or high-pressure jet. Root-bound lines take longer. |
| CCTV drain camera inspection | $150 – $400 | Usually the sensible next step after a second blockage in the same line. |
| Blocked toilet | $150 – $400 | Cheaper if it's the pan, more if the blockage is out in the sewer line. |
| Hot water unit repair | $180 – $600 | Elements, thermostats, valves and thermocouples. Worth trying before replacement. |
| Hot water unit replacement | $1,200 – $3,500 | Electric storage at the lower end; continuous-flow gas and heat pump at the upper. |
| Leak detection, non-invasive | $250 – $600 | Acoustic and thermal tracing to find a leak without opening walls or slab. |
| Gas leak — make safe and repair | $250 – $800 | Gasfitting licence class. Never a job to defer or attempt. |
| Tap or mixer replacement | $150 – $400 | Per tap, plus the fitting. Often bundled if several are done at once. |
| Sewer or stormwater repair | from $900 | Excavation dependent. A camera inspection first tells you what you're actually buying. |
Prices are indicative only. What a job costs depends on the fault, how long it takes to find, whether parts are needed and whether it's after hours. You get a firm price before any work starts.
An emergency call-out in business hours is <strong>$120 to $250</strong>; after hours, weekends and public holidays run <strong>$180 to $400</strong>. The repair is charged on top — a burst pipe isolated and repaired is $250 to $900, a blocked drain machine-cleared is $200 to $550.
Turn the water off at the meter — usually at the front boundary, turning clockwise. For a suspected gas leak, turn the gas off at the meter, open windows, don't touch light switches, and get everyone outside. Stopping the damage matters more than diagnosing it.
Water you cannot stop, no water at all, sewage backing up inside, a suspected gas leak, or no hot water in a house with a baby or someone unwell. A dripping tap at 11pm is not, and you will pay after-hours rates for it — it will cost less on Monday.
Can't stop the water coming out of a pipe.
Read more →
Slow, gurgling or backing up — and why the same drain keeps doing it.
Read more →
No hot water, not enough, or a unit leaking — and repair versus replace.
Read more →
A gas smell is a life-safety situation, not a plumbing inconvenience.
Read more →Tell us the suburb and what's happening and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0483 963 438