General plumbing in Christchurch

Most of what we do isn't dramatic. It's the tap that's been dripping since autumn, the toilet that runs for twenty minutes after every flush, the outdoor tap that's seized, the washing machine hoses nobody has looked at in a decade. Small jobs, but they're the ones that quietly waste water, stain fittings and eventually turn into a bigger bill.

What we get called out for most

• Dripping taps and mixers. Usually a worn ceramic disc or O-ring rather than a whole new tapware set. We'll tell you honestly which it is — a repair when a repair will do, a replacement when the body is pitted or the brand is long gone.
• Running and leaking toilets. An inlet valve or flush valve that won't seat. A running cistern can quietly put through a startling amount of water before it shows up on a bill.
• Leaking pipework. Under sinks, in cupboards, under the house, in ceilings. Copper joints, failed compression fittings, old galvanised runs that have finally rusted through.
• Flexi hose replacement. Braided hoses under the vanity and kitchen sink have a service life. Replacing them is a twenty-minute job on a weekday and a very expensive one at midnight.
• Tapware, sink, vanity and toilet replacement. Like-for-like swaps, or a fixture upgrade where the existing plumbing allows it.
• Outdoor taps, garden taps and hose bibs. Seized, snapped or leaking behind the cladding.
• Laundry and appliance connections — washing machines, dishwashers, fridge water lines.
• Water pressure problems. Pressure that's dropped off across the house, or one fixture running far weaker than the rest.

Toilets are a good example of repair versus replace. A running cistern is usually a valve or a washer, and that's a repair. When the toilet itself is old, cracked, stained or hard to get parts for, a new one is often the better spend. On a recent job in Riccarton we took out an older toilet and installed a new toilet suite in its place.

Why "general" still means certifying

There's a habit in the trade of treating small jobs as beneath a proper tradesperson. We don't work that way. The same certifying plumber who does a full cylinder replacement does the dripping tap, with the same care.

It matters more than it sounds. A tap repair done with the wrong washer material fails again in six months. A waste re-plumbed with the wrong fall gurgles for the life of the house. The small jobs are where shortcuts hide.

What it costs

Standard weekday work is $95 + GST an hour, with a first hour of $135 + GST that includes the $40 + GST call-out fee. Most everyday repairs are inside that first hour. If we can see from your description that it's going to run longer, we'll tell you before we start rather than after.

Where a job needs parts, you pay for the parts. We don't mark up a $9 valve into a $60 one.

Christchurch-specific things worth knowing

• Post-quake repairs left a lot of mixed pipework. It's common to open a wall in a repaired home and find copper, PEX and the remains of galvanised all joined in the same run. Joints between dissimilar metals corrode. If you have unexplained pinhole leaks, that's often why.
• Ground movement is still working through some suburbs. Slow settlement puts strain on rigid pipework and on waste falls. A gurgle or a smell that's appeared in the last year in an eastern suburb is worth looking at properly.
• Dux Quest is still out there. The grey plastic pipe put into a lot of late-1970s and 1980s housing goes brittle and fails suddenly, and most insurers now exclude water damage from it. Partial replacements are common, so a house can look re-piped and still be full of it. There is more, including what a full replacement involves, on our plumbing and gas reports page.
• Our water is hard enough to matter. Christchurch draws from artesian aquifers, and while the water is excellent to drink, the mineral content will scale up elements, shower roses and mixer cartridges over time.