Our Process
How a job runs in El Mirage, step by step: free quote, written scope, written quote, sign-off - and the cheaper option named when there is one.
Sequence
Four steps, start to finish
Wear parts ruled out first, the leak marked, and any repair quoted as a separate job.
Run the meter test before the visit
Shut every fixture, set the sprinkler controller to off and pause any pool autofill. If the meter's small leak dial creeps, something is drawing water. If it sits dead still at two checks an hour apart, the odds swing toward the bill or the reading rather than a pipe.
Tell us the year and the plan
When the house was built, roughly how big it is, and whether it has a pool or a drip system. In a city built this quickly, the build year is a fair guide to how old the original valves and connections are.
We isolate one system at a time
House, irrigation, pool and the buried supply are separated with valves and gauges, one by one, so the search is confined to the system that is losing water before any listening or thermal work begins.
The spot is marked and written up
You get the location marked, the readings and the method that found it, and what the repair is likely to involve. The repair is a separate quote, and the written finding is yours to take to any plumber you choose.
What it costs
The prices, in one place
Estimated figures for Maricopa County. Nothing here is a quote until we have seen the job.
Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $400
Priced by how many systems need ruling out.
Slab Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $450
The repair is a separate quote.
Water Line Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $450
Pressure test first, then listening.
Pool Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $500
Fittings, shell and lines all tested.
Irrigation Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $400
Isolated valve by valve.
Emergency Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $400 plus after-hours
The after-hours charge is the hour, not the job.
On the visit
Four tests, in the order they are run
Each one takes a whole system out of the search.
Confirm the loss on the meter
With everything off, the meter's leak dial is watched and timed. That gives a rate, and a rate says roughly how large the loss is before anything else is touched.
Split inside from outside
The house shutoff is closed with the meter left on. If the dial keeps moving, the water is leaving between the meter and the house; if it stops, the loss is inside, in the fixtures or the lines under the floor.
Separate hot from cold
Closing the cold supply into the water heater takes the hot side out. A loss that stops is on the hot lines, which is where a warm patch on tile comes from and where a thermal camera earns its place.
Listen, then mark
Only now do the ground microphone and the other instruments come out, on the one line still losing water. The spot is marked on the surface and the reading is written down.
Why the build year
A city plumbed in one burst
What the age of El Mirage's housing means when a meter starts moving.
Nearly every named subdivision on the city's neighborhood map went up within a few years either side of 2000. The water heaters, shutoff valves, toilet fill valves and irrigation valves that came with those houses were installed within months of each other, and they are reaching the same age together, on one city water supply of moderately hard groundwater.
That is why a visit here clears the wear parts before it goes looking under the floor, and why a leak on your street is a reason to run the free meter test rather than to book a search. The exceptions get a different first question: Sunnyvale's 1960s houses, the mixed ages of Dysart Ranchettes, and the decade-long build-outs of Thompson Ranch and Montecito.
- Build year asked before anything else
- Wear parts cleared before the slab is suspected
- A neighbor's leak treated as a prompt, not a diagnosis
- Repair priced separately from the finding
Want a number on it?
Call (623) 284-0838, say what you are seeing, and leave the call with a written quote and a time for El Mirage.
Talk to us
Talk to us about leak detection in El Mirage
Call now
(623) 284-0838Wear parts ruled out first, the leak marked, and any repair quoted as a separate job.
Before you call
- Wear parts ruled out before the slab is blamed
- Hot and cold split at the water heater
Where we work
Every area we cover