Yes, we are!

We are confident enough to have a ‘no find-no fee’* policy for most leak detection work.

This does not mean we avoid the hard jobs. We have a broad range of equipment available, and (unlike some of our competitors) each engineer carries all of this equipment to each job, including trace gas detection equipment, thermal imaging, acoustic detection and moisture mapping equipment.

Where leaks are not covered by our ‘no find-no fee’* policy, we do not just book works where we feel that leak detection is either not viable or prior works are recommended, such as power flushing a heating system.

* – ‘no find – no fee’ is offered for water leaks from hot/cold feeds within your home; it excludes heating leaks and multiple properties.

Please read T&Cs for complete details.

None!

We were fed up with seeing other companies’ poor quality leak detection works treat customers as cash cows, booking any old job in even when they knew it would be impossible. It gave the industry a bad reputation, so we decided to put our money where our mouth is!

We will test your property and tell you what the issue is, or we can prove you do not have an issue after a high water bill or water leak notice from your local water company.

There are things we do not cover as ‘no find-no fee’, such as damp and heating, as there are too many variables…It is not a free survey to ‘see’ if you have a leak but from a known issue. All our T&Cs are available on our website in plain English, not written to confuse but more common sense.

We can prove if you have a water leak when an insurer has tried to say it is damp and not an insured loss.

For clarity, we are inspecting a known issue for you. We cannot select just the tests to keep an inspection “free” and need access to all affected areas/properties.

Once a leak is located, our ‘no find – no fee’ policy is only active if we undertake intrusive access works for internal leaks. Since we do not undertake external excavations, you are protected by our ‘No find – No fee’ for these leaks where applicable.

Each piece of equipment adds to the overall survey, and our surveyors carry an extensive range of equipment to carry out:

• Thermal Imaging
• Acoustic Detection
• Moisture Mapping
• Trace Gas Detection
• Chemical Analysis
• Borescope

Importantly, we carry trace gas equipment to every job, something that some others do not do or want to charge more to use. Our tools are of the highest quality; not all equipment is created equal!

Each job is different, and our surveyor will apply the correct ones for your situation, we have other equipment specifically for other issues such as leak noise correlation.

There is more information on our technology pages with videos of how each works and is applied to finding your leak.

Contemporary leak detection strives to identify leaks while minimizing potential harm or damage.

On certain occasions, a minor level of access may be necessary to inspect or verify an issue. Typically, this involves the removal of a bath panel, and in rare instances (typically beneath shower trays), we may need to create a small hole approximately the size of a pencil to insert a small camera into concealed areas.

Maintaining minimal damage is crucial when making an insurance claim, as “speculative” damage is typically not covered!

When it comes to heating leaks, it’s pretty unlikely that we’ll need to turn off the water. But for any other leak detection tasks, our engineer will likely have to shut off the water for a little while.

When our engineer is doing pressure tests, we’ll need to have the water turned off, and it’s important that nobody uses water during this time, including toilets and appliances.

Likewise, if we’re using trace gas to detect leaks, using water or not being able to shut off all the stopcocks can let that trace gas escape and mess up the test.

So, it’s super important that we can find and use the stopcocks, both inside your place and out on the street if they’re there.

And remember, this applies to all kinds of inspections, whether it’s for your home, a business, or even big buildings like schools. It’s important, especially when a leak can affect more than one place.

That really is the ‘how long is a piece of string’ question!

We would always ask that we have access for the full day.

Heating takes the longest on average; most visits take at least half a day, but there are times that an issue is found much sooner.

A hot/cold water leak will take about half a day to locate and provide a report on.

Sometimes what we think is ‘easy’ turns into a real head-scratching ‘hard’ leak and vice-versa.

Leak detection is usually carried out on a single visit.

There are times when further visits are required, which are chargeable at the same rate; however this is rare, and there is usually an underlying reason. Lack of access (particularly in flats) and blockages in heating systems are the typical issues. When undertaking insured works, there is normally an amount set for this of £5,000 by the insurer, and they will cover unavoidable re-visits.

Once the leak is located, we offer intrusive access to the leak at the same cost as leak detection. Again, this is covered if you have trace and access on your building insurance, and when deferred payments are used, it should not be an issue.

Once accessed, we recommend an independent plumber repair the leak to avoid issues with insurance and cover costs (such as the repair) classed as maintenance.

This is the destructive access of an area with a suspected leak, carried out after our initial leak detection visit…the messy bit!

Leak Detection (trace) and these destructive works (access) are the parts usually refunded to you by the insurer under the “Trace & Access” portion of building insurance.

Where only minor access is needed, we may carry this out simultaneously. Otherwise, this is charged at the same rate as leak detection, a full report is also made for this access, to show how works have progressed.

We must carry out the access works to keep the protection of our ‘No find – No fee’ policy, if we do not do the access works, our “no find – no fee” is not in operation.

In general, we do not carry out repairs as standard for a few reasons:

Insurance claims are 90% of our work, and insurers will generally pay for the Trace (Leak Detection) and Access (Digging it up); they will not pay for the repair, as the insurer classes this as maintenance.

When the repair is simple (often a £5 fitting), the cost is in finding and getting to the leak and the restoration works required. If we repair, there is an element not covered by the insurer. They have argued with our customers about the ratio of repair costs and tried to deduct hundreds of pounds for a £20 repair.

By not carrying out the permanent repair, this is avoided.

Also, there is a conflict of interest; if we are not doing the work, our recommendations are not just to produce work for ourselves…

While we are not plumbers, we will, where possible, make a temporary repair. We recommend you have a local plumber repair, as they can monitor any issues.

Very simply, the cost of locating and accessing a leak, it is a vital part of ANY buildings insurance policy. If your policy does not have it, either add it or change insurers ASAP. The cover is normally £5000 of works or damage.

However, once an area is already water damaged the full policy covers this.

We are not builders, keeping our scope and skillset to leak detection.

Repairing will require drying machines, decorators, carpenters, tilers, and flooring specialists. In our experience, even builders struggle to accurately quote to restore water-damaged properties.

If an insurance claim is made, we recommend using a claims management company. They will carry out all required work and are paid directly by the insurer. The profit from this work allows them the scope to deal with an often argumentative insurer and the hours spent on the phone with them!

In short, we are not builders, and you will require a certificate of dryness and a host of other trades, something not in our scope of work.

We can put you in touch with one of the panel of companies we have confidence in and have a proven track record with us.

You must get a certificate of dryness, normally drying machines will remove the moisture over a few weeks. Although the surface will dry quickly, there is moisture trapped deep in sub-floor areas that will cause mould and rot.

We recommend using a company that specializes in repairing water damage and dealing with insurance companies to handle your claim. You may well have your favourite builders, but dealing with insurers takes special skill…and the patience of a saint!

Drying is normally carried out with several industrial dehumidifier machines running to bring down the moisture levels. This is all covered under your insurance, even the electricity to run them!

If you have trace and access cover on your building insurance policy, then effectively it will cost you nothing!

Often there will be an excess of a few hundred pounds on most policies, but this is all it should cost to locate, access and restore the affected area.

However, any repairs to pipework are maintenance of your property, and you must pay for these to be carried out. However, with the cost of finding and getting to the leak covered, this is often a fitting costing about £1 and the labour to fit.

Due to repairs not being covered under insurance, we do not offer a repair service as it becomes a conflict of interest with the insurance claim. Better to have an independent plumber repair, a bit annoying but better than risking problems on the whole claim.

Access to an area is a common problem, particularly in flats or shared mains; this causes 90% of the issues that can affect the inspection.

Blockages of heating systems from rust can cause issues that will require more works such as a power flush to get the system clean enough for leak detection to be carried out.

Ultimately given the access, we will get to the bottom of any leak…

Yes, in fact, boiler faults are responsible for about 20% of heating issues. Our detection methods allow us to test parts on-site that even the manufacturer’s service technicians cannot test properly without taking them away!

Obviously, we are looking for boiler faults causing leaks, and we are not able to diagnose electrical faults etc.

Absolutely…

A great deal of care is needed to get a claim presented properly; sadly we find insurers are all too keen to stop a legitimate claim for whatever point they think they can apply, even when the cover is clearly in place and documented.

We work with several independent claims handling companies, who ensure the insurer does not give you a raw deal. They do not charge you but use the profit margin on the works to pay for the management of the claim.

Like all trades there are good and bad, we have found a number that consistently provides excellent service to our customers and can recommend.

These companies do not inflate the claim cost as there are chargeable rates for claims, so it will not make your premium any higher than dealing with the claim yourself. They make sure that all works, including drying your property, are carried out and have all the aggravation of the meetings and scores of calls to make to the insurer, loss adjuster etc.

Repairs after a water leak are complex, with specialist drying and certification, it is not just a builders job, and there are many trades to organise.

Your home is probably your greatest asset, and you cannot risk being stuck with the costs of repairing a £10,000 bathroom for a 20p pipe fitting failing!

With insurance, the initial call to them can be fine, but at this point, they have not had to pay anything; you are calling a basic call centre with little authority to make financial decisions.

Be careful of what you are being asked and make sure you have your documents to hand to check you have cover, rather than trust the call centre is being 100% accurate. They will be running several differently worded policies, and mistakes are often made at this point.

Plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised rather than hope for the best and be disappointed.

Your property is likely your largest investment or asset, take advice and do not let the insurer dictate how this is managed!

We understand that everything does not always go to plan and that at times you may need to cancel or move an appointment.

We are fair and adopt a system common across other sectors such as dentists, clinics and lessons/tutors in dealing with cancelling an appointment.

Unfortunately, we have had appointments where people have decided it is not convenient; this is not fair to ourselves or other customers who have had to wait for their appointment. Therefore, bookings cancelled or moved within 1 working day/24-hours will need to be subject to the full charge. For example, a Wednesday booking would need to be cancelled on Monday for no charge to be applied and a Monday booking cancelled on Thursday.

In short, there needs to be at least one working day between cancelling and the appointment date…

A booking made on the phone with our staff is in the diary and considered a formal booking and is not subject to any further confirmation.

We will endeavour to fill your cancelled or moved appointment, and in these cases, there would be no charge for the late cancellation.