Plumbing questions, answered
1000+ five-star reviews
The plumbing questions that come up again and again from Bilgola Plateau callers are collected here, grouped so the one you want isn't buried in a long list. Anything left uncovered, ring (02) 9072 0511 and ask a licensed plumber outright.
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Good questions, straight answers
Booking, payment and warranty basics
I don't need anyone urgently. How much lead time should I actually give for booking a routine job?
Roughly a week's notice gets you the widest pick of appointment times for something routine, while a job that genuinely can't wait still gets fitted in on the day, calendar or no calendar.
A repair from a while back has developed the same fault again. Does that mean paying for it a second time?
No. Our own workmanship is covered for life under the Lifetime Labour Warranty, so a genuine repeat of an original fault gets sorted without a fresh invoice landing on you.
How does payment actually work once a job's finished?
However you'd prefer, card, cash or a staged plan, and because the number was already locked in on paper beforehand, settling up on the day is simply confirming what you'd signed off on earlier.
The house I'm calling about is a rental and I'm the tenant, not the owner. Can work still go ahead?
Yes, provided the owner or property manager signs off on anything beyond a straightforward repair of what's already there, and we're glad to coordinate the quote directly with whoever manages the place.
If a part we've had fitted fails down the track, is that covered the same way as the labour?
Not quite. Our lifetime cover answers for the labour itself, while a fitted part sits under whatever terms its own manufacturer sets, and before any work starts we'll be clear about which one applies to your situation.
Good questions, straight answers
Once the plumber's on site
Halfway through a job, the plumber finds something else wrong. Does that just get added to the bill automatically?
Never automatically. It's priced separately and left entirely up to you, go ahead with it now, hold it for later, or skip it altogether, and the number already agreed for the original job stays exactly where it was.
Our water bill jumped noticeably with no obvious reason. Could that point to a leak we haven't spotted?
It's worth having checked, since a leak tucked under a slab or behind a wall lining can go unnoticed for a long stretch with nothing obvious showing on the surface, so we test rather than assume.
Does a plumbing repair on an older house ever trigger a council approval process?
Routine repairs and straightforward like-for-like swaps almost never need one, though a substantial underslab job or shifting the main drainage run sometimes does, and we'll flag that upfront if it looks like your situation.
Anything worth doing before the plumber physically turns up on the day?
A clear path to the fault speeds things along, and knowing where the stopcock sits is a bonus rather than a requirement, just talk us through what's wrong and the plumber will locate what's needed on arrival.
Nobody will be home while the work's happening. Can an outdoor job still go ahead without us there?
Generally, yes. Most jobs in the yard or on the exterior just need an open path rather than someone standing by, though we'll phone ahead if getting inside ends up being unavoidable.
Good questions, straight answers
Questions specific to Bilgola Plateau
Our block backs straight onto one of the bushland reserves up here. Does that change how root damage in the drain actually gets fixed?
Sometimes it shapes the method, yes. A section close to protected bushland is often relined rather than dug up, which avoids disturbing root systems while still clearing the blockage properly.
We're mid renovation, adding a second bathroom upstairs, and the plumber mentioned the waste stack. Is that a common finding on these older places?
Very common. A lot of the original stacks up here were sized for one bathroom, so adding a second one properly usually means upsizing that stack rather than simply tying into it.
Water pressure in our house feels weaker than at a friend's place further down toward the beaches. Is that just an elevation thing?
It can be, since a property up on the rim sits further from the main supply pressure than one closer to sea level, though old internal pipework narrowing the flow is just as common a cause.
Before we start a kitchen renovation, is it worth having the original pipework checked, even without an obvious problem?
Genuinely worth it. Confirming the condition of galvanised or early copper runs before cabinetry goes in avoids discovering a corroded section after the new kitchen's already been fitted around it.
Council's asked about stormwater management for a deck we're adding near the escarpment edge. Does a plumber handle that side of it?
Often, yes, since proper stormwater disposal is part of what gets signed off, and having that mapped out properly before the deck's built avoids a compliance issue after the fact.
Still got a question?
Whatever's still unclear, (02) 9072 0511 connects you straight to a licensed plumber, no form to fill out first. The call out itself is $0, the figure gets confirmed on paper ahead of any work, and the Lifetime Labour Warranty stands behind whatever gets done.