Tap cartridge replacement that stops the drip and frees the handle for good in Smethwick
Worn cartridges are behind most tap faults.
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 tap cartridge replacement
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.
When a tap drips, most people assume the whole tap is worn out and face the cost of replacing it. In reality, the fault is usually a single component: the cartridge. This is the valve inside the tap that opens, closes and — on mixer taps — blends the hot and cold water. Cartridges wear out long before taps do, and replacing one is far cheaper than fitting a new tap.
What a tap cartridge actually does, and why it fails
Turn your tap and you are turning a cartridge: a small cylinder, usually ceramic, with precisely machined discs that align to let water through. Constant rotation, mineral deposits in the water, and simple age wear down the seals and the disc faces. Eventually water seeps past even when the tap is fully closed — that is your drip. On mixer taps, a worn cartridge can also stop blending hot and cold correctly, giving you water that is suddenly too hot, too cold, or all over the place. Grit in the supply accelerates the wear, which is why a stiff, grinding handle often precedes a full leak.
Why ignoring a worn cartridge costs you more
A dripping tap wastes water every hour of every day, and on the hot side you are paying to heat it too. Worse, the drip rarely stays contained: water tracks down the spout, pools around the base and works into the worktop or the cabinet below, causing swelling and staining that cost far more to put right than the tap. Inside the tap, a degrading cartridge can shed debris into the waterway, and forcing a stiff handle to shut it off can crack the cartridge or the tap body.
How we diagnose which cartridge you need
Cartridges are not universal — sizes, stem shapes and mounting details vary between brands and models, which is why DIY cartridge swaps so often go wrong. We begin by isolating the water and dismantling the tap: handle off, retaining nut removed, cartridge out. We inspect the cartridge and the valve seat for wear and scaling, check the O-rings and washers while we are in there, and identify the exact cartridge type your tap needs — measuring and matching against the stock we carry. If your tap uses a proprietary cartridge, we will confirm availability before committing you to anything.
How we replace it
Once the correct cartridge is in hand, the fitting itself is quick: the new cartridge is seated correctly and oriented so the handle stops align properly, the retaining nut is tightened to the right degree, and fresh seals and washers go in at the same time. We clean limescale from the valve body and spout, reassemble the tap, restore the water and test thoroughly — closed for drips, open for flow, and on mixer taps across the hot-to-cold range for steady temperature. Only when it passes do we tidy up and leave.
Preventing the next cartridge failure
Cartridges wear with use, but you can slow it down. Do not over-tighten the tap — closing it hard grind the ceramic discs and shortens their life. If the handle starts to feel gritty or stiff, get it seen early, before the cartridge is damaged beyond a simple swap. In hard-water areas, periodic descaling of the tap internals helps, and fitting isolation valves under the sink makes any future service quicker and less disruptive.
When to call us
Call when a tap drips with the handle fully closed, leaks around the base, turns stiff or grinding, or when a mixer tap will not hold its temperature. These are the classic signs of a worn cartridge, and the earlier we look, the simpler the fix.
Book your cartridge repair now
If you have been searching for a tap repair plumber near me, you have found one. Book your call-out today.
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.
The cartridge is the heart of your tap — and the part most often to blame when a tap drips, leaks or turns stiff. Replacing it is a precise job: the part must match your tap exactly or the problem returns.
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 Tap Cartridge Replacement
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 tap cartridge replacement
Straight answers to the things customers ask most often before booking.
How do I know if my tap needs a new cartridge rather than a new tap?
Dripping when closed, a stiff handle, or erratic temperature on a mixer tap all point to the cartridge. Taps themselves rarely fail catastrophically — if the body is sound and undamaged, a cartridge replacement usually restores it fully. We will always confirm on inspection and never recommend replacing a tap that can be repaired.
What if you do not have the exact cartridge for my tap?
We stock common cartridge types and can identify most taps on sight. If your tap needs a brand-specific or discontinued part, we will tell you straight away, give you options — sourcing the part or a like-for-like replacement tap — and quote before any further work.
How is the work priced?
You pay a booking fee when you book, and labour is charged hourly at a rate that depends on how quickly you need us. The full cost of the work is quoted before we start, so you approve it before any tools come out.
Can I replace a tap cartridge myself?
Some people do, but the common pitfalls are ordering the wrong cartridge, seating it incorrectly and over-tightening the retaining nut, which can crack the valve. If you would rather not risk it, our fixed-price service handles matching, fitting and testing in one visit.
Does the tap repair price include the cartridge itself?
It includes diagnosis, labour and standard cartridges from our stock. If your tap requires a specialist or proprietary cartridge that we need to order, we will quote for that part separately and only proceed once you approve.
Need tap cartridge replacement sorted in Smethwick?
Book a slot in the diary and pay only the booking fee up front. We confirm the rest before we start.