The Price of Finding It

No price appears here

AcousticLeak routes calls to independent contractors who set their own prices. Any figure we printed would be invented, and we have a page about why we will not invent one.

What moves a survey price

How much pipe has to be covered, and whether it is accessible. Whether the line is metal or plastic, because that decides whether listening alone is viable or a correlator or tracer gas has to come out. Whether the run is under a slab, a driveway or a lawn. Whether the water is hot or cold, because a hot line gives a thermal camera something to see.

And whether the visit is a survey alone, or a survey that turns into a repair while the crew is still there.

The cost most people leave out

The excavation that a bad locate causes. Opening a floor or a driveway twice is usually more expensive than the survey that would have got it right once, which is why the question about a wrong locate is worth asking before anybody is booked.

And the cost that runs in your favor

Against all of the above sits the part of the water bill that a leak adjustment may return, which on a long-running leak can be substantial. It is conditional and it is not guaranteed anywhere, but it belongs in the arithmetic, and it expires.

Next

• Your bill
• Before you book
• What listening finds