A leak you can't see is still costing you water, and under a slab it's undermining something. Finding it precisely is cheaper than looking for it destructively.
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 leak detection. 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.
Turn off every tap and water-using appliance in the property. Go to the meter and note the reading, including the small dial. Wait an hour without using any water, then check it again.
If it's moved, you have a leak on your side of the meter. That's a genuinely useful piece of information to hand a plumber, and it costs nothing.
A water bill noticeably up with no change in usage. A damp patch on a floor or a wall that doesn't dry. An area of the garden greener than the rest. The sound of running water with everything off. A warm spot on a floor, which suggests the hot line under a slab.
In older Geelong housing, deteriorating galvanised supply pipe produces exactly this pattern — pinhole leaks that never announce themselves.
Acoustic listening equipment picks up the sound of pressurised water escaping, through concrete and soil. Thermal imaging finds temperature differences from a hot water leak. Pressure testing isolates which section of the system is losing water.
$250 to $600, and it's money well spent — it converts an unknown into a specific location before anybody opens a wall or a slab.
Once located, a slab leak can usually either be accessed directly by cutting the slab, or the affected line can be re-routed and abandoned.
Re-routing is often cheaper and less disruptive than people assume. Ask for both options and both prices — a plumber who only offers one may only do one.
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.
Something has gone wrong now — water running, gas smell, or sewage inside.
Water escaping and not stopping. The one where minutes genuinely count.
Slow, gurgling or backing up — and why the same drain keeps doing it.
No hot water, not enough, or a unit leaking — and repair versus replace.
A gas smell is a life-safety situation, not a plumbing inconvenience.
Rising, not flushing, or overflowing — and whether it's the pan or the sewer.
Tell us the suburb and what's happening and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0483 963 438