A leak two floors below where it started
Water in a ground floor unit that turned out to be a failed riser connection on level three. Isolated the same night, repaired within the week, reported to the council of owners.
- Rang us
- 9:50pm, Thursday
- Isolated
- 10:35pm
- Units affected
- Three
- Repaired
- Following Tuesday
What we were told on the phone
Verbatim, near enough. It is usually the most useful thing anybody says all day.
- "There's water coming through the ceiling of unit 2 and the bloke upstairs says it's nothing to do with him. The strata manager isn't answering. Can someone just come?"
- This is the version of the job where the plumbing is the easy part. Three owners, one strata manager who was asleep, and a genuine question about who was going to pay for it — and water still coming through a ceiling while it was discussed.
What we found
The water in unit 2 was clean and cold, not waste, which ruled out the obvious explanation and meant a supply line rather than a stack.
The riser cupboards on each level told the story quickly: dry on level one, wet on level three. A compression fitting on the cold riser connection into unit 6 had let go at the nut — the sort of failure that takes years to develop and then happens all at once.
We isolated the riser at the level three valve at 10:35pm, which stopped the water without cutting supply to the whole building. Two units were on that section and both were told directly rather than through a manager who was not answering.
What was actually done
In order, including the bits that are not billable.
- 1
Attended at 10:20pm, identified clean water rather than waste, and traced it up through the riser cupboards.
- 2
Isolated the affected riser section only, so nine of the twelve units kept full supply overnight.
- 3
Made the ceiling cavity in unit 2 safe, lifted a section of damaged plasterboard so it could drain and dry rather than hold water, and photographed everything for the insurer.
- 4
Returned Tuesday, replaced the failed compression connection with a brazed joint, and pressure tested the section.
- 5
Wrote a one-page report for the council of owners: what failed, why, which lot it was on, what it cost and what the other five identical connections in the building are likely to do.
What it cost, line by line
Published in full, against the figure quoted before anything started. This is the only proof a plumber can honestly offer.
Quoted before work started
$390 after-hours attendance quoted on the phone
| Item | Detail | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| After-hours attendance and isolation | 10:20pm Thursday, riser traced and isolated, affected owners notified | Amount$390 |
| Make safe and photograph | Ceiling cavity drained and opened to dry, full photographic record for insurance | Amount$180 |
| Riser connection repair | Failed compression fitting replaced with a brazed joint, section pressure tested | Amount$540 |
| Report to the council of owners | One page: cause, location, cost and the condition of the remaining five connections | Amount$0 |
| Invoiced | $1,110 | |
Billed to the strata rather than to the resident, because the riser is common property — which is exactly the question everybody was arguing about at ten o'clock at night. Getting that right in the report is what stopped it becoming a dispute.
Afterwards
The building has since put the remaining five riser connections on a scheduled replacement, two a year, rather than waiting for the next one to fail into somebody's living room.
That is the whole argument for a maintenance plan on an older strata building, and it is a much easier argument to make with one page of photographs than with a quote.
Other jobs, other invoices
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Invoiced$2,190against $2,190 quoted - 02Canning ValeJanuary 2026
Hot water gone on a Sunday, replaced by mid-afternoon
A seventeen-year-old gas storage unit with a rusted-through tank, on the one weekend the house was full. Diagnosed, replaced and certified the same day.
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Want a number like this for your job?
Ring 0491 570 156 and describe it. You get a fixed price before anything starts, and it is the price that ends up on the invoice.
Plumbing Contractor PL 7742 · Gas Fitting GF 3318 · 12 months on workmanship, in writing on every invoice