Practical things worth knowing before a plumber arrives — and a few honest limits on what we'll do.
Before we arrive
Clear the cupboard under the sink or the access panel to the bath. It sounds minor, but half an hour of moving someone's cleaning products is half an hour of plumbing you've paid for. If the problem is a leak, put a towel and a bowl under it and photograph the drip point while it's actually dripping — the position tells us far more than the puddle does.
Find your stopcock if you can. In valley houses it is usually under the kitchen sink, in a hall cupboard, or outside beneath a small metal cover near the boundary. If it hasn't been turned in years, don't force it; we'll free it off properly rather than snapping the spindle.
What we won't do
We won't pour caustic drain cleaner into old pipework to make a blockage disappear for a fortnight, and we won't fit a part we can't get hold of again next year. If a boiler is past economical repair, we'll say that plainly instead of selling you a sequence of small repairs.
We also don't take on gas pipework alterations, mains water connections, or structural drainage below the garden — those belong with specialists, and we'll tell you what to ask them for so you aren't starting from scratch.
A tap that drips once a second isn't an emergency, but it is a washer and ten minutes of our time. Left for a year it's a stained basin, a scaled seat and a new tap.
Worth fixing early