Frequently Asked Questions

Anything that is damaging your home right now, making it unsafe, or leaving you without an essential service. In Auckland that usually means a burst pipe or split flexi hose flooding a floor or the apartment below, sewage coming up through the gully trap or a shower, no water at all, a hot water cylinder leaking from the base, a gas smell, or a blocked toilet in a home with only one. If water is running and you cannot stop it, turn it off at the toby and ring. If you are not sure it is urgent, ring anyway and you will be told honestly whether it can wait until the morning.

It depends on where you are, the time of day and what other jobs are already on. Auckland is a spread-out city, and a trip over the Harbour Bridge, through the Waterview Tunnel or down the Southern Motorway at peak hour can take much longer than the same trip late at night. When you ring, you are given an honest arrival time based on where the plumber is and what the roads are doing, before anyone is dispatched. You will not be promised a fixed number of minutes, because traffic and storms make that kind of promise unreliable.

The toby is the small box at your front boundary, usually set into the berm or footpath, with a plastic or metal lid. Inside is the Watercare meter and a stop valve. Turn the valve a quarter turn so the handle sits across the pipe, and the water to the property stops. On some older properties the toby is shared with a neighbour, buried under grass, or the valve has seized. Do not force a stuck valve, as it can break. Apartments and townhouses often have an isolation valve inside the unit, under the kitchen sink, in a cupboard or near the cylinder.

The service covers the Auckland urban area: West Auckland from Henderson and Te Atatū to Titirangi and Hobsonville, the North Shore from Devonport and Takapuna up to Albany and Browns Bay, East Auckland from St Heliers and Mount Wellington across to Howick, Botany and Flat Bush, South Auckland from Ōtāhuhu and Māngere down to Manurewa, Takanini and Papakura, and Central Auckland including the CBD, Ponsonby, Mt Eden, Remuera, Epsom and Onehunga. If you are on the edge of those areas, ring and ask; you will be told honestly whether the plumber can get to you and roughly when.

Emergency plumbing is usually charged as a call-out plus time and materials, and the figures depend on the time of day, the day of the week and the job. Rather than publish numbers that may not fit your situation, the call-out and hourly rate are explained on the phone before anyone is dispatched. Once the plumber has found the cause, the repair is quoted before work starts, so you can decide whether to go ahead, stop the damage now and book the rest, or get another opinion. There are no hidden extras added after the job.

Generally, yes. After-hours, weekend and public holiday work costs more than a weekday booking, because the plumber is working outside normal hours. You are told the after-hours rate when you ring, before anyone is sent. If the problem can safely wait, such as a dripping tap, a slow basin or a toilet that runs on when you have a second toilet, you will be told that honestly, so you can choose a daytime visit instead. If water is causing damage or sewage is coming up, it is usually cheaper to stop it tonight than to deal with the damage later.

Yes. The first step on site is to make the property safe and find out what has actually gone wrong. The plumber then explains the problem in plain language and quotes the repair before starting it. If there is more than one way to fix it, for example a patch repair on a burst pipe tonight versus replacing a whole run of old pipe later, you are given the options. For bigger jobs, the emergency is stopped first and the permanent work is quoted and booked in, so you are never committed to something you have not agreed to.

The plumber cannot tell you what your policy covers, but can give you what insurers usually ask for. Before you start cleaning up, take photos of the damage, the wet floors or ceilings and anything that failed, such as a split flexi hose or a leaking cylinder. The plumber can then provide a written report describing the cause of the leak, what was repaired and any photos taken on site. Keep the failed part if you can. Photos and a written report help with an insurance claim, but check with your insurer about excesses and what they will pay for.

Watercare, Auckland Council's water organisation, owns the public water network, the water meter and the public wastewater network. The property owner is responsible for the pipes on the property side of the meter, from the point of supply, normally at or near the front boundary, up to the house, and for the private drains up to where they join the public sewer. So a leak in the street or at the meter itself is reported to Watercare, while a leak between the meter and the house, or inside the house, is the owner's to fix. The plumber can tell you which side of the meter the leak is on.

Grey polybutylene was widely used in New Zealand homes from the 1980s into the early 2000s, and many Auckland houses of that era still have it. Its known weakness is the fittings and joints, which can fail suddenly and without much warning, often inside a wall, under a floor or in the ceiling. Not every grey pipe system is about to fail, but it is sensible to know where your toby is and to plan for replacement. If a fitting has burst, the plumber repairs it and can then quote to replace the grey pipe in stages or all at once.

If water is flooding your unit or leaking into the one below, stop it first: turn off the isolation valve inside your unit if you can find it, or the fixture's own valve under the sink or toilet. Then contact your body corporate or building manager, because shared pipes, risers and the building's main valves are usually their responsibility, and they may have rules about which contractors can work in the building. If the leak is from something in your unit, such as a failed flexi hose or a leaking cylinder, the plumber can repair it and give a written report for the body corporate.

Stop using water in the house straight away, including toilets, showers, the washing machine and the dishwasher, because everything you drain adds to the overflow. Keep children and pets away from the gully trap and do not try to clear it by hand. The usual cause is a blockage in your private drain, often roots in an earthenware joint, or fat and wipes. In very heavy rain it can also be the public wastewater network overloading, which is Watercare's responsibility. The plumber can clear the drain and use a camera to find out which it is.

Many older Auckland homes, from villas and bungalows to 1950s state houses, still have earthenware drains laid in short lengths with joints every metre or so. Over the years the ground moves, the joints crack, and roots from pōhutukawa, pūriri, oaks, palms and other trees find the moisture and grow into the pipe. Clearing them restores the flow, but the roots come back if the joint stays open. A camera inspection shows where the damage is, and from there you can choose regular maintenance, relining the pipe, or replacing the damaged section. Each option is quoted before work starts.

On many Auckland sections that have been subdivided, the back house or units connect into the front house's private drain before it reaches the public sewer. Responsibility for a shared private drain usually depends on the property titles, any easements and agreements between owners, so it is not something the plumber can decide for you. What the plumber can do is clear the blockage so everyone can use their bathrooms, then show on a camera where the problem is and what caused it. That written report makes it much easier to agree on the cost with your neighbours.

Not necessarily, but it needs looking at. The pipe on the roof, or on the outside wall, is usually the overflow from the cylinder's pressure relief valve or, in older homes, the vent pipe from a low-pressure cylinder. A constant flow can mean the relief valve has failed, the pressure-reducing valve is letting too much pressure through, or the thermostat is letting the water overheat. It wastes hot water and power, and it can point to a bigger fault. Switch the cylinder off at the switchboard if the water is very hot or the flow is heavy, and ring.

First check the switchboard: the cylinder usually has its own switch or circuit breaker, and it may have tripped. Some homes are on a controlled or night rate, so hot water can run low late in the day. If you have a gas continuous-flow unit, check that the gas is on, the LPG bottles are not empty and the unit is showing no error code. If those are fine, the likely cause is a burnt-out element, a failed thermostat, a faulty valve or, with gas units, an ignition fault. If the cylinder is leaking from the base, turn it off at the switchboard and ring.

Do not use any light switches, appliances or phones inside the house, and do not light anything. Open the doors and windows. If it is safe, turn the gas off at the meter for reticulated natural gas, or at the bottles if you use LPG. Get everyone out of the house. If the smell is strong, ring 111 from outside. Once the area is safe, a licensed gasfitter needs to find and repair the leak before the gas is turned back on. Do not turn the gas back on yourself, even if the smell has gone.

Yes, a gasfitter can look at it. Many Auckland homes use gas continuous-flow water heating, either on reticulated natural gas or on 45 kg LPG bottles. Before you ring, check that the bottles are not empty and that the changeover valve has switched across, that the gas is on at the meter, and that the unit has power. If the unit shows an error code, write it down. Gasfitting is restricted work in New Zealand, and some gas work requires a certifying gasfitter and a gas safety certificate, so this is not something to open up yourself.

Safety comes first: stay out of floodwater, keep away from electrical equipment that may be wet, and ring 111 if anyone is in danger. If water is coming into the house, turn off the power at the switchboard if you can do so safely. The storms of January and May 2023 showed how quickly gully traps, downpipes and stormwater lines can be overwhelmed in Auckland. Once the rain eases, the plumber can clear blocked drains and stormwater pipes, check whether sewage has backed up, and inspect cylinders and gas appliances that were affected. Take photos before cleaning up.

Auckland Council's Healthy Waters looks after the public stormwater network, including the pipes and drains in the street. The private stormwater pipes, downpipes, sumps and soakholes on your section are the owner's responsibility. In heavy rain, a blocked downpipe or a collapsed private stormwater line can send water under the house or against the walls, and in some older central suburbs the wastewater and stormwater are in a combined network that can overflow. The plumber can clear and inspect your private lines and tell you if the problem is on the public side instead.

Yes. Under the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 2006, plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying are restricted work. Only people authorised by the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board (PGDB) may do it, apart from a few limited exemptions for homeowners. Using an authorised tradesperson matters for safety, for your insurance and for the building consent and sign-off on bigger jobs. Some gasfitting also needs a certifying gasfitter and a gas safety certificate. The plumber you are connected with through this service is a licensed plumber, and you are welcome to check.

Authorised plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers carry a PGDB photo ID card showing their name and what they are authorised to do. You are entitled to ask to see it when the plumber arrives. You can also search the tradesperson's name on the PGDB public register online, which shows whether their authorisation is current. Check the register before work starts if you want peace of mind. A legitimate plumber will not mind being asked, and if someone refuses to show their card or their name is not on the register, do not let them start the work.