Tap Maintenance: Stop Drips Before They Start
A dripping tap wastes about 20,000 litres a year and usually needs a part that costs a few dollars. Here's how to keep taps working and when to stop turning them harder.
· 3 min read
Toilet backing up, shower filling with water, or a gurgling drain that keeps coming back? We find the actual cause with a drain camera and clear it the same day.
No call-out fee. We’ll call you straight back.
Available 24/7
Don’t wait for business hours. We run emergency call-outs across the Hills, Hornsby and the Upper North Shore, 24 hours a day.
Sound familiar?
If any of these describe what’s happening at your place, we can help — usually the same day.
Usually a partial blockage further down the sewer line, not in the pan. Plunging moves it along; it will come back within weeks.
Air being forced past a blockage. It often shows up in a different fixture to the one that’s actually blocked.
Hair and soap build-up in the trap, or a fall problem in the waste line. We’ll tell you which before we quote.
A cracked or displaced pipe letting gas escape. This needs a camera inspection, not a plunger.
The blockage is in the main sewer line. Everything downstream will back up until it’s cleared.
The relief gully is doing its job — protecting the inside of your house. That’s a main-line blockage and it’s urgent.

Most blocked drain call-outs are cleared with a jetter and the plumber leaves. Six weeks later the drain blocks again, because nobody looked at why it blocked in the first place.
We run a drain camera through the line before and after clearing it. Before, so we know what we’re dealing with and can give you a fixed price. After, so we can show you the pipe is actually clear and tell you whether there’s a root intrusion, a crack, or a belly in the line that’s going to cause the same problem again.
You get the footage. If the pipe is damaged, we’ll show you exactly where and how deep, and quote the repair separately — you’re never pressured into it on the spot.
Blocked toilets, showers, sinks, basins and floor wastes. Blocked main sewer lines and stormwater drains. Tree root intrusions — extremely common across the Hills District and Hornsby Shire, where mature gums and camphor laurels sit right over old earthenware sewer lines.
We carry a high-pressure water jetter, electric eels for tight internal lines, and a CCTV drain camera with a sonde locator so we can mark the exact position and depth of a problem on the surface.
A lot of housing stock across Castle Hill, Cherrybrook, Beecroft, Pennant Hills and the Upper North Shore was built when sewer lines were laid in vitrified clay, joined every 600mm. Those joints are the single most common failure point in the region — roots find the joint, work in, and form a mat that catches everything.
Clearing roots buys you 12 to 24 months. Relining the section permanently seals the joints and stops it happening again. We’ll always tell you which of the two you actually need.
How it works
We’ll tell you over the phone whether it sounds urgent and what it’s likely to cost.
Drain camera through the line, blockage located and marked. No guessing.
You approve the price first. It doesn’t change once we’re working.
We jet or cut the blockage out and re-run the camera so you can see the line is clear.
Customer reviews
“Excellent service, very friendly and went above and beyond to get what was needed done.”
“Great communication, Colin was professional, polite and friendly and did a magnificent job. Highly recommend for any plumbing needs.”
“They arrived on time, very professional and friendly — a pleasure to have in my home. The work was carried out efficiently and they cleaned up after themselves. The price was good. I will definitely be using this company as my plumber.”
Where we work
Based in Annangrove and covering the whole of the north-west and upper north shore.
Common questions
It depends on what is actually blocking the line and how hard it is to reach. Clearing a single fixture is at the cheap end; a main sewer line needing high-pressure jetting is more, and tree roots more again because the line usually needs cutting and then a camera run to verify. Depth and access matter too. Tell us what is happening on the phone and we’ll give you a realistic range there and then — we don’t charge a call-out fee, and you get a fixed price before we start work.
Yes, in most cases. Blocked drains are treated as priority work because a blocked main line can back sewage up into the house. Call us in the morning and we’ll almost always be there the same day across the Hills District, Hornsby Shire and the Upper North Shore.
If a drain blocks again within a few months, the underlying cause was never fixed. The three usual culprits are tree roots at a pipe joint, a crack or collapse in the line, or a section of pipe that has sunk and now holds water. A drain camera identifies which one it is in about fifteen minutes.
We’d rather you didn’t. Caustic drain cleaners rarely shift a real blockage, they damage older pipework and seals, and they make the job hazardous for whoever opens the line up afterwards. If a plunger hasn’t fixed it in a couple of goes, the blockage is beyond where a chemical will reach.
Yes. Blocked stormwater is common here after heavy rain — usually leaf litter in the pit or roots in the line. It matters more than people think, because stormwater that can’t get away ends up under the slab or against the footings.
No. There is no call-out fee and no charge to quote. You’ll know the full price before we start.
Advice
A dripping tap wastes about 20,000 litres a year and usually needs a part that costs a few dollars. Here's how to keep taps working and when to stop turning them harder.
· 3 min read
In a burst-pipe emergency, the single most useful thing you can do is turn the water off at the meter. Here's how to find yours, before you need it.
· 4 min read
Kitchen drains block more than any other in the house, and it's almost always the same cause. Here's how to clean them properly and keep them clear.
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No call-out fee, a fixed price before we start, and a lifetime labour warranty on everything we do.