What happens when you call
Ring us, or send the form, and a licensed plumber comes out at no charge.
He finds the leak first. That means isolating the property section by section, listening on the line, and working the fault back to a point rather than guessing at a stretch of pipe. Once it is located you get a written price to repair it, before anything is cut, lifted or dug. If you would rather not go ahead, you owe nothing and that is the end of it.
Why Bull Creek gets the leaks it does
Bull Creek is a 1970s suburb. The name was adopted by the City of Melville in 1968, and the streets filled in quickly once the Kwinana Freeway reached the area in 1976. That puts most of the housing stock somewhere between forty-five and fifty-five years old.
Pipework of that age has had five decades of ground movement, root pressure and pressure cycling to work on it. Nothing about it is defective. It is simply old, and old buried pipe eventually gives up at its weakest point — usually a joint, a bend, or the spot where a tree decided to grow.
The second half of it is block size. At the 2021 Census about 79% of occupied dwellings in Bull Creek were detached houses, with roughly 12% apartments. A detached house on its own block means a long private run from the meter at the front boundary to the house, then more pipe out again to garden taps, retic and whatever is at the back. Every metre of that is the owner's responsibility, and almost none of it is visible.
Then there is the sand. Perth's soils drain so well that a leak can run for months without producing a puddle. In heavier clay country you get a wet patch and a phone call in a fortnight. Here you get a water bill, and by then the leak has been running since the last one.
That is the honest reason most Bull Creek leak calls start with a bill rather than a mess.
The calls we get from Bull Creek
The bill that doubled
Nothing looks wrong. Nothing sounds wrong. The usage figure has gone up and nobody can explain it. This is the most common leak call in the suburb and it is very often a service line between the meter and the house. High water bill in Bull Creek
A patch that will not dry
Damp paving, a soft spot on the lawn, a section of garden that stays green when the rest has given up. Sometimes it is the retic. Sometimes it is the mains line running underneath it.
Warm floor, damp skirting
A leak under the slab shows itself as a warm patch of tile, a lifting edge of flooring, or a skirting board that is damp at the bottom and dry above. Slab leak detection
Water where there is no pipe
A wet corner of the yard after rain that never seems to drain, or paving that has started to sink. That is often storm water rather than pressure water. Storm water and soakwells
The smell of gas
Bull Creek is on mains gas, and gas leaks are the one thing on this list that will not wait. If you can smell gas, get everyone outside, do not touch switches or light anything, and ring us from outside the house. Gas work is done by the gas licence holder, licence 13098.
A meter that keeps ticking
Everything is off and the meter still turns. That is the clearest evidence there is that water is going somewhere. Hidden water leaks
How the leak is actually found
There is no single instrument that points at a leak. Finding one is a process of elimination, done in an order.
Isolating
The property gets split into sections — mains into the house, hot and cold internal, garden taps, retic, any outbuilding. Shutting them off one at a time tells us which section is losing water before anyone starts looking at a specific pipe.
Pressure testing
An isolated section is put under pressure and watched. A line that holds is ruled out. A line that drops is the one we stay on.
Listening
Water escaping a pressurised pipe makes a noise, and acoustic equipment picks that noise up through soil, slab and paving. Moving along the run and comparing what comes back narrows the leak toward the loudest point.
Correlating and marking
Between the pressure result and the acoustic trace, the leak gets marked on the ground as a spot, not a stretch. That is the whole point of the exercise — the difference between lifting one paver and lifting a driveway.
We do that before quoting the repair, and you get the repair price in writing once we know what we are actually repairing. More on how leak detection works
What we do in Bull Creek
Leak detection
Water and gas. Under slabs, under paving, under lawns, inside walls, and out along the service line to the meter. Leak detection
Burst and leaking pipes
A pipe that has let go is not a detection job, it is an emergency one. First thing is getting the water off, then getting it repaired. Emergency plumbing
Blocked and leaking drains
Drains crack and separate with age the same way pressure lines do, and an old drain leaking into sand is invisible until the ground above it moves. Blocked drains
Storm water and soakwells
Where the water in your yard is rain rather than mains. Failed or undersized soakwells are a common answer on blocks of this age. Storm water and soakwells
Commercial leaks
Shops along South Street, offices, strata and light industrial. Same licences, same written price first. Commercial plumbing
Why Bull Creek calls us
Licensed plumber and gas fitter
Plumbing licence 8396 and gas licence 13098, both held by Tim, who does the work. In a suburb on mains gas the second ticket matters — gas work is not subcontracted out.
$0 call-out fee
We do not charge to come and look. That is the offer, and it is the same whether the answer takes ten minutes or the job turns out to be nothing.
A free written quote before anything starts
You get the price in writing once the leak is located. Transparent pricing, no hidden costs. If you would rather think about it, think about it.
Next suburb over
We are based in Leeming, which shares a boundary with Bull Creek. Not a depot on the other side of the river.
Quick response
A leak gets worse and more expensive the longer it runs, so we treat it that way. Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 4:00pm.
Who pays for a leak in Bull Creek
Water Corporation's position is straightforward. Anything on your side of the meter is yours to fix, and for anything beyond a worn washer you need a licensed plumber to do it.
The part people miss is the allowance. If a hidden leak is found and repaired by a licensed plumber, Water Corporation customers may be eligible for an allowance of up to 50% of the estimated water lost. Eligibility is theirs to decide and there are conditions, so check with them directly — but it is worth knowing before you decide to live with a high bill for another quarter. How the leak allowance works
Where we work
Bull Creek sits in the middle of our patch. We also cover Bateman, Leeming, Winthrop, Murdoch, Rossmoyne, Willetton, Shelley, Riverton, Brentwood and Booragoon.
- BatemanWA
- LeemingWA
- WinthropWA
- MurdochWA
- RossmoyneWA
- WillettonWA
- ShelleyWA
- RivertonWA
- BrentwoodWA
- BooragoonWA
If you are just outside that ring, ring anyway. A few minutes either way rarely makes a difference to us. All service areas
Common questions
What is the average cost of leak detection?
We do not publish an average, because an average would be a guess about your property. What we can tell you is the structure: the call-out is $0, the leak is located first, and you get a written price for the repair before any work begins. Transparent pricing, no hidden costs.
How do plumbers find hidden leaks?
By elimination, not by intuition. The property is split into sections and isolated, the suspect section is pressure tested, and acoustic equipment is used along the run to narrow the noise of escaping water to a point. The leak is then marked on the ground before anything is opened up.
How can you tell if you have a water leak underground?
The usual signs are a jump in the water bill with no change in how you use water, a meter that keeps moving when everything is off, a patch of ground that stays damp or unusually green, or a drop in pressure. In Perth's sandy soil an underground leak often produces none of the visible signs at all, which is why the bill is so often the first clue.
Who is responsible for a water leak under a house?
The property owner. Water Corporation is responsible up to the meter, and everything on your side of it — including the service line running under the lawn, the driveway or the slab — is yours to arrange and pay for. A licensed plumber has to do the work.
My water meter is leaking. What should I do?
Ring the water authority rather than us. The meter itself and everything on the street side of it belongs to Water Corporation, and they repair it. If the water is coming from the fitting on your side of the meter, that one is ours.
How can I detect a water leak in my slab?
A slab leak usually shows as a warm patch of floor, damp skirting, lifting or drumming tiles, or a musty smell in one room. Confirming it is a job for pressure testing and acoustic gear rather than for the person living in the house — ring and we will locate it properly.
How long can a water leak go unnoticed?
Months, easily, on a Bull Creek block. Sandy soil disperses the water and there is nothing to see. Most people find out at the next bill, which is why a sudden jump in usage is worth acting on rather than waiting out.
Can I get money back for the water I lost?
Possibly. Water Corporation customers whose hidden leak is found and repaired by a licensed plumber may be eligible for an allowance of up to 50% of the estimated water lost. Water Corporation sets the rules and makes the decision, so confirm it with them — but get the leak repaired first, because the repair is the part that makes you eligible at all.
Do you do gas leaks as well as water?
Yes. Gas leak work is carried out under gas licence 13098. If you can smell gas, get everyone out of the house first, avoid switches and flames, and call from outside.
Get it found
Tell us what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a time. A licensed plumber comes out at no charge, finds the leak, and leaves you with a written price.