Water you cannot stop, no water at all, no heating in cold weather with vulnerable occupants, and anything involving gas or suspected carbon monoxide are genuine emergencies. A drip you can catch in a bucket is not, and will be cheaper and better resolved on a planned visit.
Genuine emergencies
- Water escaping that you cannot stop. The defining case. If turning the stopcock off does not stop it, or you cannot reach the stopcock, that is an emergency.
- Water coming through a ceiling or near electrics. Both a damage and a safety issue.
- No water at all, particularly with young children, elderly or vulnerable occupants, or anyone with a medical need.
- No heating and no hot water in genuinely cold weather, especially where there are vulnerable people in the house.
- A blocked toilet in a property with only one, which is not dangerous but makes a house unliveable.
- Sewage backing up into the property. A health matter, not just a plumbing one.
- A gas leak or suspected gas leak. Not us first – National Gas Emergency Service, 0800 111 999.
- Suspected carbon monoxide, or a CO alarm sounding. Get out, ventilate, call the emergency line.
- A boiler or appliance that is visibly unsafe – scorching, soot marks in the room, a smell of fumes.
If you smell gas: turn off at the meter, open doors and windows, do not operate any electrical switch, do not use a naked flame, get everyone out if the smell is strong, and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. They are free, they are available continuously, and they will make it safe. We handle the repair afterwards.
Urgent, but usually next working day
| Situation | Why it can usually wait a few hours |
|---|---|
| A leak you can contain in a bucket with the water off | The damage is controlled. It will be cheaper and done more thoroughly on a booked visit |
| No hot water, heating working | Uncomfortable, not dangerous, and usually a modest repair |
| One of several toilets blocked | Inconvenient rather than critical |
| Heating not working in mild weather | Genuinely uncomfortable, not urgent |
| A radiator leaking slowly | Isolate it at both valves, catch the drip, book it |
| Boiler locked out with no other symptoms | Try two resets. If it stays down and the weather is mild, book it |
| Unvented cylinder discharging outside | Alarming but not dangerous – a failed expansion vessel. Book it promptly though |
The distinction that matters: whether the situation is getting worse by the hour. A contained leak is stable. An uncontained one is not.
Not emergencies
- A dripping tap. Genuinely not, however annoying.
- A running toilet. Wasteful, not urgent.
- A slow drain. Book it.
- Low water pressure that has always been low.
- A noisy pipe or a banging boiler, unless accompanied by something else.
- A radiator that has always been cold, which is usually a balancing issue.
- Cosmetic problems – stained silicone, a loose tap handle, a rattling extractor.
We would rather tell you on the phone that something can wait than take an out-of-hours fee for a job that would be cheaper and better done on a Tuesday. That is not generosity – it is how you end up with customers who call you again.
What makes something more urgent than it looks
Context changes the answer, and it is worth telling us about:
- Vulnerable occupants. Elderly, very young, unwell, or anyone with a condition affected by cold. No heating becomes urgent.
- A property you cannot access. A leak in an empty second home or a holiday let is worse than the same leak in an occupied house, because nobody is watching it.
- A business that cannot trade. No water means a retail unit or a food business cannot legally open.
- A tenanted property, where a landlord has repair obligations with statutory timescales.
- Water near anything expensive or irreplaceable – a server room, stock, artwork.
- Forecast cold weather, which turns a contained problem into a freezing risk.
- A ceiling already bulging, which is a structural risk rather than a plumbing one.
Making the call useful
Whatever the hour, the same information helps:
- What is happening, in plain description rather than diagnosis.
- What you have already isolated, and whether it stopped.
- Any fault code, written down exactly.
- Whether it is getting worse.
- Who is in the property, if that affects urgency.
- Access – who will let us in, and whether there is parking.
- What system you have, if you know – combi or cylinder, oil or gas.
A good phone conversation frequently resolves the problem entirely, or establishes that it can safely wait until morning, which is a better outcome for you than a call-out either way.
Not sure whether it can wait? Call and describe it. We will tell you honestly, including when the answer is Tuesday.
Questions we get asked about this
Do you charge more out of hours?
Yes – out of hours work costs more than booked work, as it does in every trade. You will be told what a visit costs before we set off rather than afterwards.
Is no hot water an emergency?
Usually not on its own, unless there are vulnerable people in the property or it is accompanied by no heating in cold weather. It is treated as urgent and dealt with quickly, but it rarely warrants an out-of-hours premium.
My boiler has stopped and it is freezing outside.
That is treated as urgent. Check the pressure gauge, the programmer batteries and the condensate pipe first – between them they account for a lot of cold-weather boiler failures and any of them may get you running tonight.
I can smell gas. What do I do?
Turn off at the meter, open windows and doors, do not touch any electrical switch, do not use a flame, get everyone out if it is strong, and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. Not us first.
Will you tell me if I do not need a call-out?
Yes, and it happens regularly. Taking an emergency fee for something that could wait until Tuesday is a good way to lose a customer permanently.
My toilet is blocked and it is the only one.
That is treated as urgent in practice. It is not dangerous, but a house with no usable toilet is not a liveable house.
Need this doing?
Call and describe the problem — you will speak to an engineer, not a call centre. Written quotes, no estimates over the phone.