Plumbing repairs
Leaks, drains, toilets and fixtures
Finding out where the water is actually coming from, then fixing it. Repair and fixture replacement — not a licensed plumbing contractor, and we say so before you call rather than after.
What does it cost to find out where a leak is coming from?
Coming out and finding it is part of the job here, not a separate fee — there is no diagnostic charge, no trip charge and no call-out minimum, on any of the 84 written quotes this company has issued. Leak diagnosis is the single most frequent thing we are called for, and that includes the visits where the honest finding was that there is no plumbing leak at all. Those still get written up with what we did find, because "your roof is doing that, not your pipes" is worth more to you than a guess that costs you a plumber.
- Kinds of work on this page
- 6
- Invoiced jobs behind them
- 97
- Case studies
- 3
- Towns with work on record
- 7
What this actually covers
Taken from the scopes on our own invoices rather than from a list of services, so it is the work as it was actually bought.
Leak Diagnosis & Pipe Repair
Finding where water is actually coming from, then fixing it — supply lines, shut-off valves, P-traps, hose bibs and dye tests.
- Dye testing to confirm or rule out a plumbing leak
- Shut-off and stop valve replacement
- P-trap and drain-line repair
- Outdoor spigot / sillcock replacement
- Reporting when no leak is found, with what we did find
Drain Clearing & Unclogging
Cabling and clearing slow or blocked drains — sinks, tubs, showers, basement wash basins and main lines.
- Sink, tub and shower drains cleared by cable/snake
- Basement wash-basin and floor drains
- Main line snaking with a commercial auger
- Flow-tested before we leave
Toilet Repair & Replacement
Running, leaking, rocking or blocked toilets — reseated, rebuilt or replaced.
- Wax ring and closet-flange repair, including cast-iron flange repair kits
- Fill valve, flapper and handle replacement
- Reseating a rocking toilet and supporting the subfloor beneath it
- Full toilet supply and installation
Faucets, Sinks & Garbage Disposals
Kitchen and bathroom taps, sink drain assemblies, vanity tops and garbage disposals.
- Kitchen and bathroom faucet replacement, including supply lines
- Sink drain assembly, tailpiece and P-trap replacement
- Garbage disposal replacement and re-mounting
- Vanity top removal and replacement
- Sprayer and diverter replacement
Shower & Tub Repair
Mixing valves, cartridges, diverters, surrounds and the anti-scald limit stop.
- Shower cartridge and mixing-valve replacement
- Anti-scald limit-stop adjustment when the water runs too hot or too cold
- Tub spout and diverter replacement
- Tub surround repair and replacement
- Shower handle replacement
Water Heater Diagnosis & Service
Diagnosing no-hot-water, relighting sealed units and identifying the failed part.
- No-hot-water diagnosis
- Relighting and pilot/ignitor fault identification on sealed gas units
- Thermostat and element fault-finding
- A written finding you can hand to whoever replaces the unit
What it costs, and what that is based on
Six different jobs live on this page and they do not share a price. Where the work has been sold to homeowners often enough to describe, the band and the number of jobs behind it are both shown. Where it has only ever been sold to one property manager at a rate they negotiated, that is said in words instead — their rate card is not your price and printing it here would be quoting you somebody else’s deal.
Every figure below came out of an invoice this company sent between October 2025 and September 2026, and it is printed with the number of jobs behind it. Where the record is too thin or belongs to one customer, that is said instead of averaged — a price nobody can check is worth nothing to you.
Leak Diagnosis & Pipe Repair
- Homeowner, quoted project
$191.11 to $1,342.60
That is the whole spread of 3 invoiced jobs across 3 different customers — not a typical band, because 3 jobs is too few to have one. The middle one was $225. Invoiced between January 2026 and August 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
Property-manager work order — no figure published. We have 31 invoiced jobs on this and every one of them is for the same customer, at a rate negotiated with them. That is their rate card and not a market price, so we are not going to print it as though it were yours. The work is demonstrated; the number is not transferable.
Drain Clearing & Unclogging
- Property-manager work order
$75–$253.75
The middle half of 6 invoiced jobs across 3 different customers. The median was $125 and the full spread was $50 to $309. Invoiced between December 2025 and July 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
- Homeowner, quoted project
$60 to $975
That is the whole spread of 3 invoiced jobs across 3 different customers — not a typical band, because 3 jobs is too few to have one. The middle one was $300. Invoiced between December 2025 and August 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
Toilet Repair & Replacement
- Property-manager work order
$50–$100
The middle half of 13 invoiced jobs across 2 different customers. The median was $100 and the full spread was $50 to $250. Invoiced between December 2025 and July 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
- Homeowner, quoted project
$85–$190
The middle half of 5 invoiced jobs across 3 different customers. The median was $190 and the full spread was $75 to $1,677. Invoiced between March 2026 and August 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
Faucets, Sinks & Garbage Disposals
- Property-manager work order
$50–$100
The middle half of 13 invoiced jobs across 4 different customers. The median was $75 and the full spread was $50 to $380. Invoiced between December 2025 and August 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
- Homeowner, quoted project
$80–$350
The middle half of 5 invoiced jobs across 4 different customers. The median was $145 and the full spread was $60 to $3,753.23. Invoiced between December 2025 and July 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
Shower & Tub Repair
- Property-manager work order
$50–$123.75
The middle half of 10 invoiced jobs across 3 different customers. The median was $62.50 and the full spread was $25 to $169. Invoiced between December 2025 and July 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
- Homeowner, quoted project
$45 to $350
That is the whole spread of 4 invoiced jobs across 4 different customers — not a typical band, because 4 jobs is too few to have one. The middle one was $120. Invoiced between December 2025 and August 2026.
Labour only — materials on top, at cost, with the receipt.
Water Heater Diagnosis & Service
Property-manager work order — no figure published. We have 4 invoiced jobs on this and every one of them is for the same customer, at a rate negotiated with them. That is their rate card and not a market price, so we are not going to print it as though it were yours. The work is demonstrated; the number is not transferable.
Derived on 2026-09-11 from 337 QuickBooks invoices covering 709 line items, 289 jobs and 84 customer quote documents. Property-manager figures are labour billed against a rate negotiated with that manager; homeowner figures are quoted fixed prices. The two are never blended, because the same trade appears in both at up to a fiftyfold difference and an average of them would be wrong for everybody.
The terms, in full
There is no charge for turning up, looking, or coming back.
Coming out
No charge
No trip charge, no call-out minimum, no diagnostic fee, and no charge for a return visit. Attendance and diagnosis of what you reported are included in the job price. True on all 84 written quotes this company has issued.
Materials
At cost, no markup
Supplied at cost with the receipt attached, and not discounted either — there is no margin in them to discount. Across eleven months of invoices, materials are $10,080 of $210,693 billed on labour-and-materials lines: 4.8%.
Anything outside the quote
$65 an hour plus materials
And only with your approval, in writing, before it is done. A fixed price is not a promise that nothing will be found behind a wall — it is a promise that you decide about it before it is billed rather than after.
Warranty
1 year on all labour
Two years on PVC trim installation and on flooring, stair and trim-joint work. Materials you supply yourself are not covered — our work on them is.
Payment
50% / 50%
Half on signing, which secures the date and buys the materials, and half on completion. A labour-only quote carries no deposit at all, because a deposit exists to purchase materials and that quote has none.
First-time customers
10% off labour
Applied to labour only, because materials are already at cost. Repeat and loyalty customers get the same 10%.
Where we stop
A contractor who writes down what they will not do is worth more than one who says yes to everything. These are the boundaries our own quotes already carry, in the same words.
- Water-heater replacement is referred to a licensed plumber or mechanical contractor. We diagnose the fault, identify the failed part and hand you a written finding you can give to whoever fits the new unit — but we do not fit it and we do not claim that licence.
- New supply and waste lines, re-piping and anything requiring a licensed plumbing contractor is arranged separately rather than taken on.
- Sewer back-ups: we clean up, sanitise and put right what the water damaged. The line itself, where it is the line, goes to a drain contractor.
Finished and invoiced
3 jobs of this kind, written up in full
Each one names its QuickBooks invoice number. Nothing on this site is a quote that was accepted and never done — the photographs of those are excellent and they are a portfolio of work we have not carried out.
Towns with plumbing repairs on the books
We do every service on this site across all ten towns. These are the ones with completed, invoiced work of this kind behind them, which is a different and more useful claim.
Questions we get asked about this
- Do you charge to come out and look at a leak?
- No. Attendance and diagnosis of the reported items are included in the job price, there is no separate service call or trip charge, and if the fault turns out to be a different fixture in the same room we will look at that one at no diagnostic charge either.
- Can you clear a blocked drain?
- Yes — sinks, tubs, showers, basement wash basins and floor drains cabled or snaked, and main lines with a commercial auger, flow-tested before we leave. It is the single most requested service in our enquiry record and one of the least-served, which is worth saying plainly: if you have called about a drain and not heard back quickly enough, that is the gap we are fixing.
- My water heater has stopped. Can you replace it?
- We can diagnose it and we cannot replace it. No-hot-water diagnosis, relighting and pilot or ignitor fault identification on sealed gas units, thermostat and element fault-finding — then a written finding. Replacing a gas water heater is licensed work and it goes to somebody who holds that licence.
- Can you replace a faucet or a garbage disposal I have bought myself?
- Yes, and client-supplied fixtures are shown on the quote at no charge rather than absorbed into the labour. The one thing to know is that client-supplied materials are not covered by the craftsmanship warranty — our work on them is, the part itself is not.
- Do you charge a call-out fee or a trip charge?
- No — and no diagnostic fee and no charge for a return visit either. Attendance and diagnosis of the items you reported are included in the job price, and there is no minimum charge and no call-out minimum on any of the 84 written quotes this company has issued. Where a job is far enough out to need several days of round trips, a mobilisation figure is agreed with you in writing before anything starts, or the schedule is compressed into fewer longer days instead.
- What happens if the job turns out to be bigger than the quote?
- It becomes a written change order, priced and agreed before the work goes ahead, and it appears on the invoice by name. Anything outside the written scope is $65 an hour plus materials, and only with your approval — that rate is printed on every quote this company issues.
- Do you mark up materials?
- No. Materials are supplied at cost with the receipt attached, and the invoice record says so rather than the marketing: across eleven months, materials are $10,080 of $210,693 billed on labour-and-materials lines, which is 4.8% of it. On larger projects plenty of customers buy the materials themselves, and those are shown on the quote at no charge.
- Are you insured, and do you hold a contractor licence?
- Fully insured, and a W-9 and a certificate of insurance go out with every signed quote without being asked for. On licensing we are direct, because it is the question that matters and the one most trade websites blur: the Michigan residential builder licence is not held and no contractor licence is claimed or implied. Electrical and plumbing work here is repair and like-for-like replacement on what already exists — new circuits, panels, service upgrades, water-heater replacement and anything else requiring a licensed trade is referred out and named as such on the quote.
Need plumbing repairs quoting?
Tell us what is wrong and we will come and look — no trip charge, no call-out minimum and no diagnostic fee. You get a fixed price in writing with the exclusions listed as plainly as the inclusions, and materials at cost with the receipts attached.