Our Process
How a job runs in Des Plaines, step by step: free quote, written scope, written quote, sign-off - and the cheaper option named when there is one.
Sequence
Four steps, start to finish
Which water it is and whose pipe it is, settled before anything gets opened.
Call and describe the water
Where it is, when it appears, whether it follows rain, and what the meter does with everything off. That usually rules out a source or two before anyone drives over.
Get the figure in writing
The estimated range becomes a written quote for the visit, with any after-hours charge said up front. Nothing starts until you agree it.
We isolate, then listen
Hot side against cold, house against service line, supply against drain. Then the equipment the isolation points to: acoustic, thermal, moisture or tracer gas.
You keep the finding
The spot marked, how it was found, the pipe material and which side of the curb box it falls on, in writing, for any plumber you like.
What it costs
Each job, priced
Estimated Cook County ranges, with your written quote after the visit.
Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $400
Quoted for the visit, repair separate.
Water Line Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $400
B-box to foundation, five feet down.
Basement Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $400
The water named before the source is chased.
Wall Leak Detection - estimated $200 - $400
Imaged and measured, nothing cut to look.
Emergency Leak Detection - estimated $150 - $400
Plus any after-hours charge, said on the call.
Before anyone is booked
Four checks that cost nothing
Each rules out a source, and the last one points at whose pipe it is.
Compare the inside dial with the bill
On city water, meters are read every two months through a remote reader outside. A stalled reader can make a catch-up bill look like a leak, which is why the city asks for an inside reading once a year.
Turn everything off and watch the dial
Movement on the low-flow indicator means water is leaving the pipes inside the house. Stillness clears the inside plumbing, not the buried line before an inside meter.
Close the water heater's cold inlet
A dial that goes still means the hot side is losing water. If it keeps turning, look at the cold side: a toilet tank, an outside faucet line.
Look where the pipe comes in
The service line enters through the foundation near the meter. Damp concrete there on a dry day points at the buried stretch outside rather than the plumbing in the house.
The local catch
Why the meter test is only half the answer here
A test that works in many towns has a blind spot in houses built like these.
In many places the meter sits in a box near the street, so a leak anywhere past it, buried line included, moves the dial. Des Plaines code sets the meter inside, as near as possible to where the service pipe enters. The buried stretch from the b-box to that wall comes before the meter, so it can leak for weeks without moving anything you can read, and without adding a gallon to the bill.
That is why a still dial is good news about the inside plumbing and no news at all about the yard. The yard is checked by listening at the curb box and along the run, by tracer gas where the sound is weak, and by the state of the wall where the line comes in. Those are the parts of a visit worth paying for.
- The free tests explained on the phone
- The buried stretch checked by ear, not by bill
- The water named before a pipe is blamed
- Detection and repair quoted separately
Want a number on it?
Call (847) 787-9427, say what you are seeing, and leave the call with a written quote and a time for Des Plaines.
Talk to us
Talk to us about leak detection in Des Plaines
Before you call
- Inside dial compared with the two-month bill
- Supply, sewer, ground or river decided first
Where we work
Every area we cover