FAQ

For a typical house, an estimated $150 to $400, set out in a written quote before the visit and separate from any repair. Where it lands depends on how much has to be ruled out and how hard the pipe is to reach: a line under a driveway or a finished floor can run toward an estimated $300 to $800, and you hear that on the phone. No verified Petersburg average exists, so none is printed here.

Often because the reading or the meter is the problem and not a pipe. Compare the number on the bill with the register on your meter first. If they differ, or the meter itself is leaking, that is for the City: its Department of Public Utilities repairs City water meters, meter leaks included, and Utility Billing at (804) 733-2349 is the office to call. If the numbers match, turn every fixture off and watch the low-flow indicator; movement means water is leaving the pipes somewhere, and a toilet that keeps refilling is the usual indoor suspect.

By narrowing, then listening. Meter readings and shutoffs split the plumbing into sections, a pressure test shows which section is losing water, and then the equipment that suits that section takes over: a microphone for the sound of water escaping, a line locator for the route of a buried pipe, a thermal camera and a moisture meter for a wall, and tracer gas where the sound is faint. Most of the skill is in the order.

Confirm it with the City before you spend anything, because we do not state the rule for you. What is documented is that the City's Department of Public Utilities repairs City water meters, including meter leaks, and Utility Billing at (804) 733-2349 can confirm who owns the line to your house. What we can do independently is show which stretch the water is escaping from, so that conversation is about a located leak and not a guess.

For the repair, yes; for a leak you cannot see, a leak detection visit comes first. A plumber fixes a known problem, and locating it is a separate job quoted apart, with a written finding you can hand to whichever licensed plumber you choose. A break in the street is neither: it belongs to the City's Department of Public Utilities.

It depends on what the locating shows, which is why the two are quoted apart. Finding the leak is usually a single visit. A fitting reached through one small opening can often be repaired the same day, while a buried line means digging and may mean a permit from the City of Petersburg. We mark the spot and write it up; the repair is a separate written quote from whichever plumber you choose.

When the source is unknown, yes, because the alternative is opening a wall or trenching a yard on a guess. When the free checks already point at a toilet or a dripping faucet, no, and you will hear that on the phone. An estimated $150 to $400 buys a marked location and the evidence behind it, which keeps the repair to one opening in a house that may have plaster or brick worth keeping.

The checks that narrow the search are free and you can run them yourself; the visit that locates the leak is not. Read the meter with every fixture off, close the house main valve and read it again, and put a few drops of food coloring in each toilet tank to see color in the bowl without a flush. Ask for a free quote by phone and a written quote before any visit, and if those checks settle the question, you will not need the visit.