Leaking tap repair: from where it drips tells you what has failed in Coventry
A leak from the spout, the base or the tail is three different faults. We identify which one you have and fix that, not everything.
Booking fee plus hourly labour — the price is confirmed before any work starts.
What this costs
| Booked 14+ days ahead | £25 booking fee £85 per hour |
|---|---|
| Booked within 48 hours | £100 booking fee £65 per hour |
| Same-day call-out | £220 booking fee £45 per hour |
The booking fee secures the visit. Labour is then charged by the hour, so you only pay for the time the job actually takes.
Booking fee £25–£220
£25 + £85/hr booked 14+ days ahead, £100 + £65/hr inside 48 hours, £220 + £45/hr same day. Agreed before we arrive.
Covered under Taps
Plumbing › Taps — one of 17 documented jobs in this section.
Same-day leaking tap repair service
Urgent jobs can often be booked for today. Ask when you book and we will confirm the slot before you pay anything.
15 service areas
Birmingham, Coventry, Dorridge and 12 more across the West Midlands.
Three leaks, three different faults
A leaking tap is not one problem. Water escaping from the spout when the tap is closed points to the valve itself — a worn washer on a traditional tap, or a scored ceramic cartridge on a lever tap. Water appearing around the base of the tap, on the deck, usually means the O-ring that seals the body has perished, or that the body has worked loose. Water under the sink, running down the tail, is a connection problem: a failed fibre washer, a cracked tail, or a compression nut that has given up. Each has a different fix, and replacing the whole tap when only an O-ring has gone is a waste of your money.
How taps end up leaking
Wear is the main cause, and it is normal. Washers flatten and harden, ceramic plates score as grit passes through, O-rings dry out and crack. Limescale builds on the seat under a washer and grinds a groove into it, so a new washer on a damaged seat will fail within weeks. High pressure accelerates all of it. So does turning a tap off too hard, which is the most common self-inflicted cause we see: the extra force drives the washer into the seat and distorts it. Cheap cartridges in mixer taps are another frequent culprit, particularly in hard water areas.
Why a drip is worth fixing now
A steady drip is a small loss per minute and a large one per year, and it is metered water you are paying for twice if it is a hot tap, because you heated it first. The visible damage matters more. Water tracking back along the spout stains the basin and can soften the sealant at the back of a worktop. A leak at the base gets into the unit carcass, and chipboard does not recover. Under-sink leaks quietly rot the cabinet floor and can drip onto anything stored below. None of this is dramatic, and all of it is cheaper to stop early.
How we diagnose it
We dry the tap and the area around it, then watch where water returns first — that is nearly always conclusive. We check whether the tap swivels or drips only when moved, which points at the O-ring. We look at the cartridge type and the age of the fitting, because parts availability decides whether a repair is sensible. Under the sink we check the tail connections, the isolation valves and the condition of the cabinet floor. If the tap is a discontinued model with an obsolete cartridge, we say so rather than ordering a part that may not fit.
How we fix it
We isolate the supply at the service valve, strip the tap and inspect the seat and the cartridge housing. A traditional tap gets a new washer of the correct type, and the seat is reseated if it is scored. A mixer gets a matched cartridge, not a generic one, and the O-rings are replaced while the body is open. Base leaks get new O-rings and the body re-seated. Tail leaks get a new fibre washer or a replacement flexi tail, correctly tightened. Then we run the tap hot and cold, check for weeping at the base and the tail, and wipe down. Most of the work is a straightforward tap washer replacement or cartridge swap once the body is open, which is why a leaking tap repair is rarely an all-day job.
Slowing the wear
A dripping tap fix now is a small job; leave it and the seat wears with it, which turns a washer into a new tap head. Turn taps off with two fingers, not a fist. Fit a service valve to every tap so the next repair does not mean draining down. In a hard water area, a scale reducer on the cold feed pays for itself in cartridge life. Closing the isolator is the quickest way to stop dripping tap water while you wait for a visit, and dealing with a drip when it starts rather than when the tap will not close at all and have both taps in a pair serviced at the same time, since they wear at the same rate.
When to call us
Call when the drip is constant, when the tap will not shut off completely, or when water is appearing under the sink. If water is running and the isolator will not stop it, that is an emergency tap repair and you should close the stopcock first. If you cannot find a plumber you trust at short notice, searching for tap repair near me usually returns the firms with the longest waits; a booked slot with us is normally quicker than an emergency callout anyway. We also take on the awkward ones — old pillar taps, bath mixers with seized cartridges and taps set into stone worktops.
Book a call-out
Tell us the tap type and where it is leaking and we will bring the likely parts. Book online or ring the office; we can usually do a single tap in one visit and a pair in the same slot.
How the price works
We charge a booking fee to hold your slot, then an hourly rate for the work itself. The fee changes with how soon you need us; the hourly rate changes with the slot you choose. You approve the price before we start, so there is no surprise on the invoice.
Booked 14+ days ahead
£25 booking fee
then £85 per hour of labour
Best value. Book the slot now, pay the smallest booking fee.
Booked within 48 hours
£100 booking fee
then £65 per hour of labour
For jobs that can wait a day or two but not a fortnight.
Same-day call-out
£220 booking fee
then £45 per hour of labour
Urgent problems: standing water, no heat, no power, leaks.
Book the slot
Choose the window that suits you and pay the booking fee. That holds your place in the diary.
We diagnose on site
The engineer confirms the cause and tells you what the job involves and how long it should take.
You approve, we work
Nothing goes ahead until you agree the price. Labour is then charged per hour at your slot rate.
A leaking tap wastes water, stains the basin and quietly damages the unit underneath. Where the water appears tells us what has worn: a washer or cartridge at the spout, an O-ring at the base, or a loose connection on the tail. We strip the tap, replace the failed part with a matched one, test under pressure and clean up.
What our customers say about our plumbing service
4.7 out of 5 from 11 reviews
Second time we have used them
What I appreciated was being told what was actually wrong before anyone started. Sorted in under 32 minutes and the invoice matched the quote to the penny.
Job: Loose Pipe Connections Repair
Worth the booking fee
Booked the £220 booking-fee slot on Tuesday and got a message confirming the time the same morning. The cause was explained, the price agreed before any work started, and the job was done in about 75 minutes. Clean and tidy when they left.
Job: Hidden Pipe Leak Repair
Turned up when they said
Turned up in the window they promised, walked me through the options (turns out the part had to be sourced locally), then cracked on. Everything was tested before they left. No mess, no drama, no surprise on the bill.
Job: Central Heating Leak Repair
Book Leaking Tap Repair Service
Tell us what is happening and choose a slot. If you are not sure this is the right job, use the diagnosis panel — it narrows the problem down before you book.
- Booking fee confirmed up front
- Hourly labour, agreed before work starts
- Same-day slots for urgent problems
Questions people ask about leaking tap repair service
Straight answers to the things customers ask most often before booking.
Can a dripping tap really cost much?
Yes, over a year, and more if it is the hot tap because you have paid to heat that water. The bigger cost is usually the damage: staining, softened sealant and a swollen cabinet floor. Fixing it early avoids all three.
Do you replace the whole tap or just the part?
We replace the failed part whenever the tap is serviceable, because that is cheaper and keeps the fitting you chose. If the body is cracked, the seat is beyond reseating or the cartridge is obsolete, we will say so and quote for a replacement.
Why did my new washer fail so quickly?
Almost always a scored seat. A rough seat grinds through a fresh washer in weeks, so the seat needs reseating or the cartridge replacing. We check the seat as part of the repair rather than just swapping the washer.
Can you fix a tap without turning the water off?
Not safely. We use the service valve under the sink where one exists, and the stopcock where it does not. If a valve is seized, freeing or replacing it adds a few minutes but prevents a much worse job later.
What if the tap is old and the parts are discontinued?
We will tell you before doing anything. Sometimes a compatible cartridge can be matched; sometimes the honest answer is that a new tap is cheaper than chasing an obsolete part. You get the choice, with prices, before we proceed.
Need leaking tap repair service sorted in Coventry?
Book a slot in the diary and pay only the booking fee up front. We confirm the rest before we start.