Leak detection starts at around £450 for a call out. Most domestic jobs come in between £600 and £750, and a complex leak can reach around £1,000. Where the leak is a simple one, a hole in a pipe or a leaking joint, that price usually includes fixing it on the day.
What it does not include is putting your home back together afterwards: the drying, and the restoration of whatever had to come up to reach the pipe. On an insured escape of water, those are usually a separate and much larger part of the claim, and they are often not costs you meet yourself.
This guide explains what actually drives the price, what you get for it, and when your insurance is likely to pay for it instead of you.
What leak detection costs
| Minimum call out | around £450 |
| Typical domestic job | £600 to £750 |
| Complex or extensive jobs | around £1,000 |
These are PCLA’s own prices for Northern Ireland and Scotland. Rates elsewhere in the UK vary by region and by company, but the structure below is fairly standard across the industry.
What the price actually depends on
Here is the thing most cost pages get wrong, including the previous version of this one: the price is not set by the equipment used.
You will find guides claiming that acoustic tracing is the cheap option and tracer gas is the expensive one. That is not how a competent leak detection company charges. The engineer arrives with the full kit and uses whichever tool the job calls for, often several in sequence. There is no surcharge for reaching for the more sophisticated instrument, and you should be wary of any quote that implies there is, because it creates an incentive to use the wrong tool.
What the price does depend on:
- Complexity. A leak on visible pipework under a sink is a different job from a leak somewhere inside a solid concrete floor with no external symptoms.
- Time on site. This is the real driver, and it follows from complexity. Work is charged in half days and full days.
- Accessibility. Whether the pipe can be reached, and what has to be moved, lifted or opened to reach it.
- What the fix turns out to be. A simple repair happens on the day. A larger repair becomes part of the wider works.
Smaller jobs are charged less, because a straightforward find and a standard plumbing repair does not need a full day. That is assessed and explained on site rather than quoted blind over the phone, because nobody can honestly price a hidden leak they have not seen yet.
What is included, and what is not
Included:
- The full investigation, using whatever combination of methods the job requires.
- A written report with the findings, readings and images. Insist on this from any company you use. It is the single most useful document you will have if a claim follows.
- The repair itself, where the repair is simple. A pierced pipe or a failed joint is normally fixed the same day.
Not included:
- Drying. Removing the moisture that has spread into the floor construction, the walls and the fitted units.
- Restoration. Reinstating the floor, the finishes and the fittings that had to be removed, and any redecoration.
- Larger repairs. Where a proper repair means more than a same-day fix, it is normally carried out as part of the restoration works rather than on the detection visit, so that it is done once and done properly.
That split matters for a claim as well as for your budget. The finding and accessing sits in one part of your policy, and the drying and restoration sits in another, with a much larger limit. Getting the two separated correctly is often worth considerably more than the detection fee itself.
Central heating leaks and pressure loss
A boiler that keeps losing pressure with nothing visible anywhere in the house is one of the most common reasons people call. It is also one of the jobs where the cost is hardest to guess in advance, because the leak can be anywhere in the circuit, including under a floor.
These usually sit in the normal range, £600 to £750, and reach the upper end where the pipe turns out to be buried. The investigation typically works from the least invasive method outwards: pressure behaviour, thermal survey, moisture mapping, then acoustic or tracer gas where the picture is still not clear.
Leaks under concrete floors
This is the scenario that pushes a job towards the £1,000 end, and occasionally beyond it, because reaching the pipe means excavating the slab rather than simply lifting a board. The investigation has to be precise before anything is cut, which is exactly what the equipment is for. Our guide to how leaking copper pipes in concrete floors are located explains the process.
It is also the scenario where insurance limits are most often exceeded, which is covered below.
How the leak is actually found
None of these methods carries its own price. They are chosen to fit the job.
Moisture mapping. Meters and probes establish where moisture is present and how far it has travelled. Usually the starting point, because it narrows everything that follows.
Thermal imaging. Infrared cameras read surface temperature differences, which can reveal water behind plaster or under a floor without opening anything up. Effective, and easy to misread without an experienced operator.
Acoustic tracing. Amplifies the sound of water escaping under pressure. Reliable on pressurised pipework in most materials, less so on very small leaks or in noisy environments.
Tracer gas. A harmless hydrogen and nitrogen mixture is introduced into drained pipework, and a detector picks up where it escapes. Used where the other methods have narrowed the area but not pinpointed it, and effective on very small leaks.
In practice a single job may use three of these. That is normal, and it is not an extra.
Will my insurance pay for leak detection?
Often, yes. Most UK home buildings policies include a section called trace and access, which is intended to pay for locating a leak and getting to it, including the damage caused by the investigation and putting the access opening back afterwards.
Two things are worth knowing before you assume you are covered:
There is almost always a limit. Caps commonly sit between £5,000 and £15,000, though some policies apply considerably less. A £600 detection survey sits comfortably inside that. A buried leak requiring excavation may not.
The trace and access limit is not a limit on your whole claim. Where an insurer allocates the drying and restoration into the trace and access section and then applies the trace and access cap to all of it, the settlement can be reduced substantially. Whether that allocation is correct depends on the policy wording, and it is worth having read before any figure is accepted.
Our full guide covers this in detail, including what to do if a claim is refused or underpaid: trace and access cover explained.
Check your policy schedule for the trace and access section and the figure attached to it, and check whether your insurer requires authorisation before a detection company attends, because a small number of policies do. The insurer makes the final decision on policy cover.
Is it worth paying for?
A hidden leak does not stay the same size as a problem. Moisture in a floor construction spreads, and the cost moves from finding a pipe to drying a structure, replacing units and redecorating rooms. Finding it early is normally the cheapest part of the whole episode.
There is also a claims reason. An early, properly documented detection survey with readings and images gives you evidence of what happened and when, which is exactly what an insurer will ask for later. A leak found late, with no report and no record, is a harder claim to present.
Frequently asked questions
How much does leak detection cost in the UK?
Expect a minimum of around £450 for a call out. Most domestic jobs fall between £600 and £750, and complex leaks can reach around £1,000. PCLA’s prices apply in Northern Ireland and Scotland; rates elsewhere vary by region.
Is tracer gas more expensive than acoustic or thermal detection?
Not with us. The engineer uses whichever method the job requires, often several, and there is no separate charge for the technique. The price reflects complexity and time on site.
Does the price include fixing the leak?
Where the repair is simple, such as a pierced pipe or a leaking joint, it is normally carried out on the day and included. Larger repairs are usually done as part of the restoration works so they are done once and done properly.
Does it include drying and putting my floor back?
No. Drying and restoration are separate, and on an insured escape of water they normally fall under a different and much larger section of your policy.
How much does central heating leak detection cost?
Usually in the normal range of £600 to £750, moving to the upper end where the pipe is buried under a floor and the investigation takes longer.
Can I get a price over the phone?
We can tell you the call-out minimum and the likely range. An exact figure needs the property, because the cost depends on complexity, and no one can responsibly price a hidden leak they have not yet seen. Where a job turns out to be smaller than expected, that is reflected in the price and explained on site.
Will my home insurance cover the cost?
Frequently, under the trace and access section of a buildings policy, subject to the limit on your schedule. See our trace and access guide.
Speak to PCLA
We provide leak detection across Northern Ireland and Scotland, with our own engineers, and we are independent loss assessors as well as leak detection specialists. That combination matters when the leak turns into a claim: we assess the damage, evidence the claim, manage the process and negotiate the settlement.
If the leak has caused damage and you expect to claim, the earlier you involve us the more we can do. The best time to call is before you notify your insurer, or before you accept a settlement figure, while the evidence and the scope of the claim can still be shaped. A short call at that point costs nothing and does not commit you to anything.
PCLA explains its fee and terms clearly before appointment. Our fees are 10% of the final settlement + VAT.
Northern Ireland: 028 9581 5318 · Scotland: 0141 461 2406
When the Detection Fee Costs You Nothing
Every figure above assumes you are paying out of pocket. Often you are not. Where the leak has caused damage, the detection fee usually falls inside the trace and access section of your policy, and the section of your policy that pays for finding the leak is the one to check before you book anyone.
Two examples of how that plays out: a leak found in Downpatrick without lifting the floor, keeping the access costs down; and an £11,000 settlement in Fintona after a disputed offer, where the recovered amount dwarfed the cost of finding the leak in the first place.
Detection in Northern Ireland: PCLA, 028 9581 5318, or NI Leak Detection. Detection in Scotland: Leak Detection Stirling. Claims in either territory: PCLA, Northern Ireland 028 9581 5318, Scotland 0141 461 2406.
