Traced with acoustic and pressure equipment, not guesswork. On these blocks the run from the meter crosses the whole yard before it reaches a tap, and every metre of it is yours.
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Everything on the house side of the water meter belongs to the property owner. That is true everywhere, and on most blocks it is a short hop from the front boundary to the house.
On a back-to-front block it is not short. The meter sits at the street, which here is behind the house, so the service run crosses the length of the property before it reaches a single tap.
More metres means more opportunities to fail, and all of them are under lawn or paving where nothing ever shows. A leak on that run can go for months with the house looking entirely normal and the only evidence arriving in the post.
So the meter is the instrument here, not the wet patch. It is also worth knowing where yours is and that the lid lifts, well before the night you need it.
On these blocks it is out the back, at the street. Worth finding on a quiet afternoon rather than at midnight in the rain.
On a back-to-front layout the road frontage is behind the house, and the water meter sits at that frontage like it does anywhere else.
So the service run crosses the entire property before it reaches the building, which is a considerably longer run than on a conventional block.
More pipe means more to fail, and it means a leak can be a long way from the house without being anybody else's problem.
The service run from the meter to the house is the property owner's responsibility, however long it is and whatever it crosses on the way.
On a conventional block that is a short run across a front garden. Here it is the length of the property.
That is worth knowing before a problem, because it is the single largest piece of private pipework most people own without realising it.
Shut every tap and appliance and watch the meter for a quarter of an hour. Movement with nothing running means water is genuinely leaving on your side.
Turn any irrigation off entirely rather than to a rest day, or it will run during the measurement and confuse the answer.
It costs nothing, needs no equipment, and it is the most useful thing you can tell us before anybody sets out.
Shut the supply into the hot water system and read the meter again. Whatever the dial does next is the most useful thing you can hand a plumber.
Still creeping means the cold side and the unit is not involved. Stopped means the unit or the hot distribution beyond it.
One caveat before that becomes bad news: a relief valve weeping rather than releasing occasionally gives exactly the hot-side result and is a minor repair.
Escaping water carries fine material along with it, and the volume it removes leaves a void behind. Over months that shows as paving that has begun to dip or rock underfoot.
So subsidence on a path or a driveway is occasionally the first visible sign of a leak rather than a paving problem.
It is worth mentioning if you have noticed it, because it points at a location on a run that is otherwise entirely invisible.
The alternative to detection on a run this long is trenching the length of the property and hoping, which nobody wants and nobody should pay for.
Acoustic listening, pressure testing and sectional isolation narrow a long service line to a point without disturbing anything.
On a run that crosses the whole block, that is the difference between one small excavation and a very long one.
Closing the stop tap needs nobody's permission and it is the one thing that decides how much damage there is.
On a back-to-front block that tap is at the far end of the property from the house, which matters at two in the morning in the rain.
Find it on a dry afternoon, check it turns, and leave a torch somewhere you will remember.
Under the sink, behind the toilet, at the hot water unit. Closing one of those handles a specific failure without the walk to the far end of the property.
In a household of several people that is the difference between one fixture out of use and everybody without water.
They are small taps and easy to miss. Worth having somebody point them out while they are on site.
Water follows the fall of a joist, the back of a stud or the top of a slab and appears wherever it finally escapes, which can be a room from the failure.
Underground on a long service run it may never surface at all, and the account is the only symptom you get.
So a wet patch is a starting point rather than an address, and its absence proves nothing.
The braided hoses under vanities and behind cisterns last around five years and fail all at once, at mains pressure, frequently while nobody is home.
They are cheap, quick to replace, and the most common single cause of a genuinely destructive indoor flood.
Doing them as a set makes sense because they all went in on the same day and reach the end together.
On a service run crossing the whole property, escaping water goes into the ground and produces nothing anybody would notice.
The quarterly account is frequently the only symptom, and by the time a second bill confirms it the loss has been running for months.
Start with the meter test, because it splits the problem in two at no cost and it tells you whether there is anything to find.
A written account of the fault, its location and the repair is straightforward to produce while somebody is still on site and effectively impossible later.
It supports an application to Sydney Water for a concealed leak allowance, where the circumstances meet their criteria, and it supports a claim if one follows.
Whether you qualify for anything is not ours to say. Having the evidence is.
Fixed price agreed before work starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges. On a long service run the detection spend is what keeps the excavation, and the reinstatement, small.
Isolated and stopped, any hour. Damage stops before anything else is decided.
Acoustic and pressure testing to a point. A long service run sits at the upper end.
Once located. Access and putting the surface back move this more than the pipe.
Cheap now, and among the most destructive things in the house when left.
Where it failed, why, and whether the ground around it needs attention.
On a burst that comes first. If you can reach the meter, shutting it off before we arrive saves a great deal of damage.
Acoustic and pressure testing to narrow a long buried run down to a single point.
One small excavation instead of a trench down the yard, with the surface reinstated properly afterwards.
Pressure tested before the ground goes back so nothing is closed up on a guess.
Head out the back to the meter and shut it off if you can, then call. A licensed plumber answers at any hour and can be on the way immediately.
Call 1300 381 569What Campbelltown locals ask us before booking a plumber.
Ask us yours
At the street boundary, which on a back-to-front block is behind the house rather than in front of it. That catches people out when they are trying to shut the water off in a hurry. It is worth finding yours on a calm afternoon rather than at midnight with water coming through a ceiling, and worth making sure the lid actually lifts. A meter box that has been grassed over or built against is a genuine problem at the one moment it matters.
Because it is long, and all of it is your responsibility. Everything from the meter to the house is the property owner's, and on these blocks that run crosses the entire yard before it reaches a tap. More metres means more chances of a failure, and the whole length sits under lawn or paving where nothing shows. A leak out there can run for months while the house itself looks completely fine.
Easily, and here the honest test is the meter rather than your eyes. Shut every tap and appliance in the house, then watch the meter for fifteen minutes. If the dial is still moving, water is leaving the system somewhere. It costs nothing, it works regardless of where the leak is, and on a long buried service run it is often the only symptom you will ever get.
Do the meter test above, and if it is turning, treat it as real. A bill is very often the first and only sign of a leak on a buried service run. Acting promptly matters because you are paying for every litre while it continues, and because water escaping under a driveway or path will eventually take the ground with it and the surface will start to move.
With equipment rather than guesswork. Acoustic gear listens for the sound of water escaping under the surface, and pressure testing isolates which section has lost integrity, so we narrow a long run down to a point before anything is opened. That matters on a block where the alternative is trenching the length of a yard on a hunch, then reinstating whatever was over the top of it.
They are one of the most common causes of serious water damage in Australian homes, and they are on a clock. The braided hose under your sink or vanity lasts about five to ten years, and when it goes it does not drip, it releases mains pressure continuously until somebody reaches the meter. Which, on a back-to-front block, is out the back door and down the yard. Replacing them before they fail is cheap.
An emergency make-safe is $250 to $500. Leak detection runs $300 to $600 depending on how much ground has to be covered, and a long service run is at the upper end. Repair once located is $400 to $1,200 for most jobs, with access and surface reinstatement moving it more than the pipe does. A flexible hose replacement is $150 to $350.
Tell us what made you suspect it, the meter, the bill, or something that has moved in the paving. And say if you cannot find or open your meter, because that changes what we do first.
Located with equipment, opened in one spot rather than trenched, and pressure tested before the ground goes back.
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