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Plumber

A plumber who turns up, fixes it and leaves the kitchen as they found it

Dripping taps, toilets that will not stop filling, a stopcock that has seized, a washing machine that needs plumbing in, pipework that bangs every time a tap shuts. Everyday plumbing for London homes, flats and rental properties, quoted before the work starts.

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ExcellentMany five-star reviews
Plumber

What people say once the tap has stopped dripping

Reviews

Excellent

Rated by London homeowners and landlords

  • Boiler repair, flat

    Boiler locked out on a Sunday evening and the flat was freezing by Monday. Explained the fault code over the phone, turned up when they said, had the part on the van. Heating back on the same visit.

    Sarah M.Reviewed on Google

  • New combi boiler

    Got a written quote with the boiler model, the flush and the filter all listed, nothing added later. Two days of work, tidy, and they talked me through the controls before leaving.

    Daniel O.Reviewed on Google

  • Landlord gas certificate

    Needed a CP12 quickly for a tenancy renewal. Booked for the next morning, the tenant said the engineer was polite and quick, and the certificate was in my inbox that afternoon.

    Priya K.Reviewed on Google

  • Blocked kitchen drain

    Kitchen sink had been slow for weeks and then stopped altogether. Cleared it, showed me the fat build-up on the camera, and gave honest advice on stopping it happening again.

    Tom R.Reviewed on Google

  • Radiators cold at the bottom

    Three radiators were cold at the bottom however much I bled them. Power flush took most of a day and the difference is obvious, the whole house heats up far faster now.

    Helen W.Reviewed on Google

  • Leak under the bathroom floor

    Water was coming through the kitchen ceiling and I feared the whole floor coming up. They traced it to one joint on the bath waste and only lifted two boards. Very relieved.

    Marcus L.Reviewed on Google

  • Bathroom refit

    Full bathroom, old one stripped out and a walk-in shower put in. Plumbing, tiling and electrics all handled by the same people, so nothing fell between the gaps. Really pleased.

    Aisha B.Reviewed on Google

  • Annual boiler service

    Straightforward service, no upselling. Checked everything, cleaned the condensate trap, adjusted the pressure and explained what the readings meant. Booked again for next year.

    George P.Reviewed on Google

What the work involves

Most plumbing jobs are small on paper and enormous in the moment. A toilet that will not flush in a one-bathroom flat is not a small job to the people living there. Neither is a kitchen tap that sprays sideways, a bath that drains so slowly the water is cold before it has gone, or the faint drip behind a boxed-in pipe that you can hear at night but cannot find. This is the work a local plumber exists for, and it is the work Dependable Heating does most of.

The job list is long and unglamorous: tap reseating and replacement, mixer cartridges, toilet fill valves and flush valves, close-coupled toilet replacements, ball valves and float valves in loft and cistern tanks, stopcocks and isolation valves, outside taps, washing machine and dishwasher connections, pipework in copper and plastic, waste pipes and traps, shower valves and hoses, and the odd job nobody has a category for. If it carries water and it is inside the property, it is on the list.

Where a job turns out to be more than a plumbing job, you are told straight away. A blocked sink that will not clear with a plunger becomes blocked drain clearance, a wet patch with no obvious source becomes a leak trace, and a plumber who tells you that on the first visit is saving you a second one. Coverage runs across the London areas we cover, from central postcodes out to the surrounding towns.

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01

The jobs a local plumber handles every week

Taps come first, because they fail first. A dripping tap is usually a worn washer on an older compression tap or a tired ceramic cartridge on a quarter-turn or mixer tap. Both are quick to change if the isolation valves under the sink work; if they do not, they get replaced at the same time so the next job is quicker. Where a tap is beyond saving, or you simply want a new one, the new tap is fitted with fresh flexible connectors and the old one taken away.

Toilets come second. A cistern that keeps filling is a fill valve that has stopped shutting off or a flush valve seal that is letting water through into the pan. A toilet that rocks, a pan that leaks at the base or a flush that needs holding down all have known fixes. Full toilet replacements, including swapping an old low-level or high-level cistern for a modern close-coupled or back-to-wall unit, are a common half-day job.

Then the rest: stopcocks that will not turn, ball valves in cold water tanks that overflow through the pipe outside, banging pipework (water hammer, usually a loose pipe clip or a fast-closing valve), noisy fill valves, pipework runs for new appliances, and outside taps with a proper double check valve.

02

Small repairs that stop expensive problems

A slow drip wastes water, but that is the least of it. Left alone, a weeping tap connector under a kitchen sink rots the cupboard base. An overflow pipe that drips outside stains the render and, in winter, freezes into a sheet of ice on the path. A toilet fill valve passing constantly can add a startling amount to a metered water bill without a puddle anywhere. And a stopcock nobody has turned in twenty years will not turn on the day the washing machine hose bursts.

That last one is worth a visit on its own. Knowing where the stopcock is and that it works is the single most useful thing in a plumbing emergency. Part of a routine plumbing visit is checking it, freeing it if it is stiff, and fitting a lever isolation valve beside it if it is the old brass gate type that eventually snaps.

03

Plumbing in London flats and older houses

London housing makes plumbing its own discipline. Victorian and Edwardian terraces have pipework that has been added to by every owner since the 1950s, so a run can change from lead to copper to plastic in one cupboard. Converted flats share soil stacks and often share stopcocks, so isolating one bathroom can mean tracing a pipe through a neighbour's hallway. Mansion blocks and post-war estates have communal risers where the isolation valve is in a service cupboard on the landing.

Lead pipework still turns up on the incoming main in older properties. It can be left alone if it is sound, but where it needs work, the right answer is usually to replace the section in copper or MDPE and fit a new stopcock. Hard water is the other London constant. Scale blocks tap aerators, seizes shower valves and furs up ball valves, so a plumber working here carries the spares to deal with it and will tell you when a scale problem is really a hot water cylinder problem.

04

How a plumbing job is priced

Every job is priced before it starts. For the standard repairs, the price covers the visit, the labour and the common parts carried on the van, so a tap cartridge or a fill valve is fitted there and then. Where a part has to be ordered, such as a specific mixer tap or a discontinued cistern, you get the price for the part and the return visit in writing and decide before anything is bought.

What you will not get is a quote that changes when the job is done. If the plumber finds something else once the panel is off, you are shown it, told what it would cost to deal with and asked. Nothing is added to the bill that was not agreed. The emergency plumber service works the same way, priced before the work starts, even at night.

05

Landlords and managing agents

A good share of London plumbing is for people who do not live in the property. For landlords and agents the routine is built around not needing to be there: the tenant is contacted directly to arrange access, the work is photographed before and after, and the invoice describes what was done in plain terms so it can be passed on or filed for the deposit scheme. Where a tenant reports a problem that turns out to be misuse rather than a fault, that is written down too.

Recurring work for the same properties builds up a record. When the same flat has had three ball valves in two years, that pattern says the incoming pressure needs a regulator, and that is the sort of thing a plumber who keeps notes will spot. The same engineers handle the annual landlord gas safety certificate, so a plumbing repair and a CP12 can be booked on one visit.

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How a job runs

From the message to the fixed tap

Plumbing jobs are quick when the plumber arrives knowing what they are walking into. This is how a visit is arranged.

  1. Reading the job through before the visit

    01

    Describe the fault

    What is dripping, running or not working, where in the property it is and, if you can, a photo. That decides what goes on the van.

  2. Checking the plans and paperwork

    02

    Price agreed

    A price for the visit and the likely repair, sent in writing. If a part needs ordering you know before it is bought.

  3. Engineer drilling a wall for a fixing

    03

    The visit

    The plumber isolates the water, does the repair, tests it under pressure and checks the surrounding pipework while the panel is off.

  4. A finished boiler and cylinder installation

    04

    Left tidy

    Old parts taken away, the cupboard wiped out, and a note of anything spotted that will need attention in future.

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A dripping tap or a toilet that never stops? Get it priced today

Send the job through the form and a plumber calls back to agree a price and a time.

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Where we work

A local plumber across London

Plumbing calls come from every part of the city: mansion flats in Westminster, converted terraces in Islington, semis in Sutton and Croydon, new-build apartments along the river. The towns below are covered, and the housing in each brings its own plumbing problems.

  • London
  • City of Westminster
  • Islington
  • Chelsea
  • Battersea
  • Holloway
  • Brixton
  • Peckham
  • Fulham
  • Archway
  • Shepherds Bush
  • Canary Wharf
  • Stamford Hill
  • Willesden
  • Cricklewood
  • Putney
  • Streatham
  • Stratford
  • Catford
  • Canning Town
  • Acton
  • Wimbledon
  • Tottenham
  • Finchley
  • Leytonstone
  • Walthamstow
  • Mitcham
  • Wembley
  • Beckenham
  • Brent
  • Morden
  • Edmonton
  • Eltham
  • Croydon
  • Barking
  • Ilford
  • Carshalton
  • Enfield Town
  • Chingford
  • Greenford
  • Harrow
  • South Croydon
  • Hounslow
  • Welling
  • Southall
  • Heston
  • Surbiton
  • Sutton
  • Becontree
  • Purley
  • Borehamwood
  • Ewell
  • Bexley
  • Hayes
  • Dagenham
  • Feltham
  • Banstead
  • Cheshunt
  • Esher
  • Romford
  • Dartford
  • Watford
  • Uxbridge
  • Staines
  • Leatherhead
  • Hatfield
  • Redhill
  • St Albans
  • Grays

Jobs that often go with this one

  • Emergency Plumber

    Emergency Plumber

    Burst pipes, water pouring through a ceiling, a stopcock that will not turn or no hot water on a cold morning. Tell us what is happening and we get someone moving.

  • Leak Detection

    Leak Detection

    Damp patches, pressure that keeps dropping, a water bill that has jumped. Hidden leaks traced under floors and behind walls, then repaired with minimal disruption.

  • Bathroom Installation

    Bathroom Installation

    Full bathroom fitting from strip-out to the last bead of silicone: first fix plumbing, showers, baths, tiling, wet rooms and the electrics that go with them.

Resources

Guides worth reading before the visit

FAQ

Plumber: the questions people ask first

Do you charge to come out and look at a plumbing problem?

The price you agree before the visit covers the plumber coming out, looking at the fault and doing the repair where it is one of the standard jobs. You are told the price in writing first, so there is no surprise on the day.

Can you fix a tap that only drips when the hot is on?

Yes. A drip only on the hot side is usually the hot washer or cartridge, which wears faster because of the heat and, in London, the scale. It is replaced in the same way as the cold.

My stopcock will not turn. Is that a problem?

It is a problem on the day you need it. A seized stopcock can often be freed with care; where the old brass gate valve is past saving it is replaced, usually with a lever valve that will still turn in twenty years.

Do you plumb in washing machines and dishwashers?

Yes, including running new hot and cold supplies and a waste connection where there is not one already, and fitting proper isolation valves so the appliance can be swapped without turning the whole flat off.

Can you replace a toilet on the same visit?

If it is a standard close-coupled toilet, usually yes. Older or unusual pans, wall-hung frames and toilets that need a new soil connection are quoted after a look at the existing pipework.

What if the problem is a blocked drain rather than plumbing?

If a sink, bath or toilet is slow or backing up, the cause is usually in the waste or the drain rather than the supply. That is treated as drain clearance, with the right equipment, rather than a plumbing repair.

Anything not covered here is answered on our contact page, and the longer reads on boilers, radiators and leaks live in our heating resources.

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ExcellentMany five-star reviews

Tell us what is dripping, running or refusing to turn

A line or two about the fault and where it is in the property is enough. The plumber calls back to agree a price and a time.

  • A written price before any work starts
  • Boilers, gas, plumbing, drains and bathrooms under one roof
  • London and the towns around it

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