Plumbing & Heating in Edgware

EliteShires Property Services provides plumbers for Edgware homes, rentals and managed blocks. Routine work is charged from £60 per hour with a first-hour minimum, and we aim to attend emergencies such as a burst pipe or an uncontrollable leak on the same day during working hours. Edgware is a short drive from our office on Kenton Lane, so the usual variable is traffic on the main routes rather than distance. Much of the plumbing work here involves flats, and a leak in a purpose-built block raises a question a house never does: is the failed pipe inside your demise or part of the building's shared services? We trace it before anyone starts arguing about the bill.

Water is coming through my Edgware ceiling. Whose leak is it?

In a block of flats, that depends on where the water is escaping from, and it is not always the flat directly above. A failed seal around a shower tray or a loose waste connection is normally the responsibility of the owner of that flat. A leak from a riser, a shared soil stack or pipework serving several flats usually falls to the freeholder, although the lease has the final word. The first job is to stop the damage, which often means isolating water at the stopcock of the flat above. After that we find the actual source, photograph it and write down what we saw. If it proves to be communal, we contact the managing agent directly with that evidence, so a leaseholder, a tenant and an agent are not left trading guesses for a week while the ceiling gets worse.

What goes wrong in the plumbing of an Edgware interwar semi?

Most of the interwar semis in Edgware have had their kitchens and bathrooms moved, enlarged or extended at some point, and the plumbing was altered each time. The recurring problems follow from that: long waste runs with too little fall, joints hidden behind boxing or under a floor, a mixture of pipe materials, and isolation valves that were never fitted where they should have been. None of that usually means the whole house needs replumbing. It does mean a leak can take a while to trace, which is why we charge diagnosis by the hour and tell you what we have found before doing more. Once the cause is clear, a routine repair stays at the hourly rate, while a larger alteration or a bathroom replacement is quoted as a fixed price against a written specification.

Can you work around a concierge block near the station?

Yes. The newer developments near Edgware station and the town centre tend to have modern pipework, so the plumbing itself is rarely the difficulty. Getting materials and tools up to the flat is. If a job involves anything bulky, such as a replacement cylinder, a bath or a shower tray, we need to know whether there is a loading bay, whether the lift has to be booked, and what the concierge expects from contractors signing in. Tell us when you call and we will organise the visit to fit. For a straightforward repair like a running cistern or a dripping mixer, a quick word about parking and entry is usually all that is required. We leave the work tested and the area clean, which matters in a building where the neighbours share the corridor.

Is a void a good time to sort the plumbing in an Edgware let?

It is the best time. Between tenancies there is no one to work around, water can be isolated without inconveniencing anyone, and a leak in a flat can be looked at without a tenant's belongings in the way. We go through the property in one visit, checking taps, seals, traps, radiators, the cylinder if there is one and water pressure, and give you a single list and a single price. For a flat in a managed block, it is also a sensible moment to confirm with the agent which parts of the pipework are yours. Because we also carry out the gas check, the EICR and general repairs, the plumbing can happen in the same window, which shortens the void and cuts down on separate call-outs. Anything we notice but you choose to leave is written up with photographs for later.

What is included

• Leak detection and repair
• Taps, mixers, WCs, cisterns and waste traps
• Blockages to sinks, baths, showers and toilets
• Radiators, valves, pumps and cylinder work
• Full bathroom installation and replacement
• Outside taps, isolation valves and stopcock replacement

How booking works

1. Describe what is happening. If it is an emergency, call rather than email
2. We give you a price or an hourly rate and an honest estimate of the hours
3. We attend, diagnose, and tell you what we have found before doing more
4. Larger work is quoted as a fixed price against a written specification
5. You get the work done, tested, and the area left clean

What you end up with: The problem actually fixed rather than patched, a price agreed before the work starts, and an honest view on whether a repair or a replacement is the better spend.

Why people trust us in Edgware

• Gas work, electrical inspection and energy assessment carried out under the relevant registrations, ask to see the card
• Every price confirmed before we attend, and not revised afterwards
• Coded observations quoted line by line, so you can take the work elsewhere
• A time slot rather than a morning-or-afternoon window
• Work photographed before and after, and reported
• We tell you when you do not need something we sell

We are building a review profile under this name and would rather show you none than borrow someone else's. Ask us for references from landlords in Edgware and we will put you in touch.

More in Edgware

• EPC Certificates in Edgware: From £75
• EICR Certificates in Edgware: From £120
• Gas Safety Certificates in Edgware: From £70
• Electricians in Edgware: From £60 per hour
• Handyman Services in Edgware: From £45 per hour
• Property Maintenance in Edgware: Per job or monthly account

The full guide to this service is on our plumbing page, and everything we cover locally is on the Edgware page.