Emergency Plumber Thorneside — 24 Hour Callout

What counts as a plumbing emergency

• A burst or fast-leaking pipe that will not stop on its own
• Sewage backing up into the house, yard or gully trap
• No hot water at all, especially with kids or elderly residents home
• A gas smell anywhere in or around the house
• A toilet or cistern that keeps overflowing and will not shut off
• A burst flexi hose spraying water under a sink, toilet or washing machine

What to do in the first five minutes

Find your water meter or isolation tap and turn it off — this stops the flow straight away and limits how much water gets into floors, cabinetry or the space under the house while you wait for us. If a hot water unit is leaking, isolate it at its own valve, or switch it off at the wall if it runs on electricity. If you can smell gas, do not touch light switches or use any appliances, and do not go looking for the leak yourself — get everyone outside and phone us from there. For a blocked drain or an overflowing toilet, stop using that fixture and anything else connected to the same line until we get to you. On an older stumped home, it also helps to check underneath if it is safe to do so, since a leak there is often the first sign something has let go.

How fast we get to Thorneside

Thorneside is a short drive from our Wellington Point base, so it is one of the suburbs we reach quickly. Same-day response is standard for anything that is not urgent, and for a genuine emergency — a burst pipe, sewage backing up, or a gas leak — we aim to be on site within a couple of hours, and being this close usually works in your favour. We carry the fittings and parts we use most often on the van, so a Thorneside emergency call is generally fixed in one visit.

Emergency plumbing problems we see in Thorneside

Thorneside's older housing stock, much of it from the 1960s through the 1980s and sitting up on stumps, is behind a good share of the emergency calls we get here. Ageing pipework under these homes — old galvanised runs and original fittings that have never been replaced — tends to fail without much warning, and a burst pipe under the house can go unnoticed until water starts pooling or a ceiling below stains. The waterfront reserve area adds salt air into the mix, which speeds up corrosion in exposed pipework and older tap fittings on homes closer to the water. At the same time, the newer unit and townhouse developments going up around the rail line bring a different set of calls, including shared hot water systems and flexi hose failures in freshly fitted-out bathrooms and kitchens. Being on the rail line and close to the water, Thorneside sees a genuine mix of old and new emergencies within a few streets of each other.

What an emergency call-out in Thorneside costs

Emergency plumbing jobs in Thorneside are mostly $250 to $600, depending on what has gone wrong and how much work is needed to put it right. We look at the job on site and tell you the price before starting, not after, whether it is an older stumped home or a newer unit. If the scope changes once we are into the work, we stop and talk you through it before going further.

Insurance claims — what we give you

If you are making an insurance claim, we photograph the damage before starting and again once the repair is complete, and we provide a clear invoice describing what we found and what was done. This is the paperwork most insurers ask for, so hang on to it with your claim.

Why Thorneside homeowners call Dave

• Close to our base, so response times to Thorneside are quick
• One licensed plumber and gas fitter on every job, not a revolving crew
• Common parts carried on board, so most jobs are fixed the first time
• Lifetime workmanship guarantee: it works when we leave, or we come back and fix it

Common questions