The three jobs
People book "leak detection" and assume it means their leak stops. It often means the first of three things.
- Detection. Locate the leak precisely enough to open one place rather than several. Pressure test, acoustic, thermal, moisture mapping, tracer gas.
- Access and repair. Open the floor, wall or ceiling at that point, and repair or re-run the pipe.
- Reinstatement. Screed, floor covering, plasterboard, skim, tiling, decoration. Put it back so it does not look like there was ever a hole.
On a pinhole under a tiled screed floor, the third job is frequently the largest of the three. It is also the one nobody asks about on the phone. We set out what each of the three typically costs in how much it costs to fix a leak.
What the London market publishes about scope
| Firm | Detects | Repairs | Reinstates |
|---|
| ADI Leak Detection | Yes, including roof and structural | Plumbing, central heating, mains and pools. Publishes that it does not repair roof or structural leaks, and does not do general plumbing or heating installation | No. Publishes that drying and reinstatement are separate work and that it can recommend a national company for it |
| 0800 Homefix | Yes | Publishes find-and-repair in one visit. Its trace and access page separately lists the repair of the leak itself among the things that product does not include | Publishes restoring the area disturbed during access, as part of trace and access |
| Aspect | Yes | Yes | Publishes full reinstatement of water-damaged areas |
| Metro Rod | Leak detection is not mentioned on its domestic drainage page; it is presented as a capability of sister brand Metro Plumb | Drainage-led | Not published on the pages checked |
| HomeServe | No standalone detection product found; leaks appear as a covered peril under insurance or as a repair job | Yes, under policy or membership | Not found on the pages checked |
| Leak Fix London | Yes | Yes | Yes, in house |
All of the above was read from each company's own pages on 19 September 2026.
Two things worth reading twice
Aspect is a genuine full-chain competitor. Their leak detection page describes trace and access investigation, support for home insurance claims, water leak repairs and full reinstatement of water-damaged areas. If somebody tells you no national firm does the whole chain, that is not accurate, and we are not going to pretend it is.
0800 Homefix publishes two statements that sit oddly together. Their leak detection page says they find the leak and carry out the repair, one call, one visit, one invoice. Their trace and access page lists the repair of the leak itself among the things typically not covered by that product. Both are their own words on their own site, and the reconciliation is presumably that trace and access is one product and the repair is another. Ask them which one you are being quoted for. That is a sensible question to ask any firm, including us.
What the handover actually costs you
Detection-only is a legitimate model and plenty of excellent engineers work that way. The costs of the handover are not hidden; they are just not on the invoice.
- A second mobilisation. Someone else's travel, minimum charge and first hour, paid again.
- A gap with the hole open. The floor stays up while you find a plumber. In a flat with a family in it, that gap has a cost that is not financial.
- A translation problem. The report says the leak is on a 15mm cold feed under the hall at 1.8 metres from the door. The plumber who arrives did not do the tracing and will re-establish it their own way, on your time.
- A third trade for the making good. Screed, tiling and decoration are not a plumber's work. This is where the largest single line frequently lands.
- Nobody owning the outcome. If the leak persists, the detection firm found it, the plumber fixed what they were shown, and neither is wrong.
The fourth job nobody mentions: drying
Between the repair and the making good there is usually a wait. Screed holds water, plaster holds water, and putting a floor back over a wet substrate produces a second problem in six months. That gap is dehumidifiers and days, and it belongs to somebody.
ADI publishes that drying and reinstatement are separate work and that it can recommend a national company for it, which is a clear statement of where its scope ends. Aspect lists Damp & Mould among its trades alongside leak detection and publishes full reinstatement of water-damaged areas. Most buildings policies will fund drying as part of an escape of water claim, but they fund it on evidence, which is another reason the detection report matters more than people expect. Ask who is arranging the drying and who is paying for the hire.
If you are buying for a block or a portfolio
The calculation changes when you are a managing agent, a landlord or a freeholder rather than the person standing in the wet room. You are optimising for the number of suppliers, the paperwork and the ability to recharge, not for the hourly rate. A single contractor who detects, repairs, reinstates and produces a report the freeholder's insurer will accept removes three handovers from your week. Equally, a national with a contract, a portal and national coverage may be the only sensible answer across sites in six counties, and no amount of local craft substitutes for that. Our own version is commercial leak repair.
When detection-only is the right thing to buy
- You already have a plumber you trust. If a good local plumber is coming anyway and just cannot find it, buying the trace alone is efficient and cheap.
- The insurer has instructed the repair. Where a claim has been accepted and a contractor appointed, an independent trace report is sometimes precisely the piece that is missing.
- You are a landlord or a managing agent with contractors on the books. You have the repair and the making good covered already; you need the diagnosis and the paperwork.
- It is a roof or a structural leak. These are frequently a detection job followed by a roofer, because the repair is not plumbing at all. ADI publishes exactly this split and it is an honest description of the work.
Three questions that settle it on the phone
- If you find it today, can you repair it today? The answer is often "depending on access and parts", which is fair. What you are listening for is whether repair is in scope at all.
- Who puts the floor back, and is that your invoice or someone else's? Ask it in those words.
- Is the report written for a trace and access claim? Most buildings policies pay for finding and exposing a hidden leak and for making the damage good, on evidence. ADI publishes that every investigation ends with a written report supported by photographs and video, formatted for trace and access and escape of water claims, and 0800 Homefix publishes the contents of theirs down to the engineer's name and qualifications. A one-line invoice reading "leak detection" is not that. What a loss adjuster looks for is set out in insurance claims and trace and access.
Where we sit, and where we do not
We do all three, which is the reason this firm exists in the shape it does: detection at £150 per hour with no find, no fee, repair on copper, MDPE, push-fit and lead, and in-house reinstatement covering flooring, screed, plaster, ceilings, tiling and decoration.
What we are not is a national with a contact centre staffed at 4am and a van in every county. If your leak is an emergency in the middle of the night, or you need one supplier across a portfolio in six counties, that is a real reason to call one of the larger operators instead, and we would rather say so than waste your evening.
