Free for homeowners - tell us what is happening and we will get local pros on it.
Fixing a burst or leaking pipe in London costs £120 to £350 for most jobs: £120 to £200 for a pipe you can see, £180 to £300 or more for one behind a wall or under a floor. An emergency visit is £86 to £140 for the first hour in the day and £90 to £220 at night.
| Job | London low | London typical | London high | UK typical | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency visit, weekday daytime, first hour | £86 | £105 | £140 | £75 | Usually a one-hour minimum; one firm starts at £85.50 plus VAT; in the City, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea the call-out rarely includes the first hour |
| Each hour after the first | £55 | £85 | £95 | £60 | Outer boroughs cheapest, central dearest; parts marked up 10 to 15 per cent, at some firms 25 to 50 |
| Evening or weekend visit, first hour | £113 | £113 | £131 | From £112.50 plus VAT at one firm; others charge 1.5 to 2 times the day rate plus a call-out fee | |
| Night visit, 9pm to 7am, first hour | £90 | £144 | £220 | Outer boroughs from £90, inner £130 to £145, central £200 to £220 | |
| Repair to an exposed pipe | £120 | £150 | £200 | Outside London £100 to £160; parts are £2 to £30, so labour and urgency set the price | |
| Repair to a pipe behind a wall or under a floor | £180 | £240 | £300 | Outside London £150 to £250; opening up and making good is the cost; under concrete can pass £1,200 | |
| Finding a hidden leak, basic acoustic survey | £150 | £225 | £300 | A survey with acoustic, thermal and moisture equipment is £250 to £450; tracer gas adds £80 to £200; an insurance report £50 to £120 | |
| Emergency leak detection, same day | £350 | £450 | £550 | For a leak that has to be found the same day; a planned detect-and-fix visit starts at about £280 |
The first job is stopping the water: turn the stopcock clockwise, open the cold taps and switch the boiler off. The visit is a one-hour minimum, and because the parts in a pipe repair cost £2 to £30, you are paying for labour, access and urgency: £120 to £200 for a pipe you can see, £180 to £300 or more for one behind plaster or under floorboards, and £300 or more when the leak has to be found first.
Thames Water repairs only its communication pipe, from the main to the outside stop valve; the supply pipe and everything inside the house are yours. If a leak on your side has run up a metered bill, the leak allowance refunds the water lost, but only if the repair is done within four weeks and claimed within three months with the plumber's invoice; it never covers detection or repair. Most home insurance includes trace and access cover, typically about £5,000.
London and the South East run 15 to 30 per cent above the north, and out-of-hours work costs 1.5 to 2 times the day rate, so a leak the stopcock has contained is cheaper fixed the next morning.
Prices last checked: September 2026. Based on the published 2026 rate card of one London plumbing firm, a May 2026 borough-by-borough comparison of London call-out fees, the 2026 leaking pipe and leak detection guides of Fantastic Services, MyJobQuote and a London emergency repair firm, and Thames Water's leak and lead pages. PROS AI does not yet have enough completed leak and burst pipe repairs in London to publish its own averages.
£120 to £350 for most jobs, against £80 to £250 outside London. A pipe you can get at is £120 to £200, one behind a wall or under a floor £180 to £300 or more, and a hidden leak £300 or more. Those figures are for daytime work; out of hours you pay 1.5 to 2 times the day rate plus a call-out fee, and a night visit's first hour is £90 to £220.
Turn the stopcock clockwise until it stops, open the cold taps to drain the pipes and switch the boiler off. That limits the damage and is all you need to do: leave the pipe itself to the plumber and anything to do with gas to a Gas Safe registered engineer. If you cannot find the stopcock, say so when you call, and say whether the pipe is exposed or behind a wall so the quote is realistic.
Only for the water lost, not for finding or fixing the leak. Thames Water replaces its own communication pipe, from the main to the outside stop valve; the supply pipe and the plumbing indoors are the owner's. If you are on a meter you can claim a leak allowance if the repair is done within four weeks of the leak being identified and the claim made within three months with the plumber's invoice; it is capped at two years.
Evening and weekend visits start at £112.50 plus VAT for the first hour at one London firm, and nights, 9pm to 7am, at £144 plus VAT. Across the boroughs, out-of-hours call-outs run from £90 in outer London to £200 to £220 in the City, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Most firms charge a one-hour minimum, and in central London the call-out rarely includes that first hour.
Unlikely if the house was built after 1970, but close to a million properties are still served by lead pipes. Thames Water runs a lead replacement scheme and free sampling on 0800 316 9800; it replaces its own communication pipe, while the supply pipe from the outside stop valve to the house is the owner's. Victorian cast iron soil stacks are a separate weak point: they fail at their lead-caulked joints.
Written by Shay Hazan, PROS AI.
£100 - £600per job
A guide range for this kind of job, based on London market rates. It is not a quote - the quotes your pros give you are the real answer, and they are free.
Tell us what the job involves and we pass it to local professionals who cover your postcode. They contact you directly with their own quotes, so you can compare real prices for your actual job. It is free for homeowners and there is no obligation.
Get my real price - two quick taps
Local tradespeople covering your area, for jobs large and small.
Browse all electricians in London, plumbers in London, heating & boiler engineers in London.
