How we chose
We started from every leak detection name Google Maps shows across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the Gas Safe and WaterSafe registers, each firm's own website and platforms such as Checkatrade [1] [2]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law for the work it offers is in place. Firms that met all three were scored in full, and the ten strongest make the table. What customers say counts most toward the score, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated September 2026.
How to hire
A visible drip under a sink or behind a toilet is plumber's work. A hidden leak inside a wall, under a concrete floor or along a buried supply pipe needs a specialist with listening gear, thermal cameras or tracer gas, since guesswork means holes in the wrong places. If the leak sits near a boiler or cylinder, you need a Gas Safe registered engineer, and it is illegal for anyone else to do that work [2]. If water rises outside or the meter spins with every tap off, suspect the supply pipe: in Telford that pipe is yours from the boundary of the highway, while Severn Trent owns the main and the communication pipe up to that boundary [4].
Check the register before you book. For water-side work, search the WaterSafe site by postcode and check the name that comes back matches the business you are hiring; a WaterSafe listing means the plumber's qualifications have been checked and the firm can issue a Certificate of Compliance for the work [1]. For anything gas or boiler-linked, ask for the Gas Safe licence number and check it on the register rather than taking a logo on a van at face value [2]. A Checkatrade profile with recent reviews is useful background, but it is not a substitute for either register.
Confirm the business is real and covered. Companies House shows whether a limited company is active and how long its record runs [7]. Sole traders will not appear there, so weigh their review record instead. Ask who insures the firm and get proof of public liability cover in writing with your quote; firms in this round mostly state cover without detail, so treat a missing answer as a question, not an excuse. If anything goes wrong with a trader later, the Citizens Advice consumer pages set out your options step by step [6].
Get two or three itemised quotes on the same written scope, so you compare like with like [6]. Each quote should separate labour, materials and VAT, and it should separate the three stages of the job: finding the leak, repairing it, and making good the floors, walls or ground opened to reach it. Ask whether a call-out fee applies and whether out-of-hours rates differ, since firms here state free quotations far more often than they publish rates. A fixed price for the survey gives cost certainty; an open-ended hourly rate for hunting a hidden leak does not.
Prepare the visit so the engineer starts finding, not searching. Know where your inside stop tap is and turn it before the visit if water is still flowing. Clear access under sinks, around the boiler and to the meter, and note when the damp appears and whether the boiler loses pressure. Send photos of the stain, the meter cupboard and the rooms above and below with your enquiry, and agree in the same message who lifts flooring or tiles if the leak hides beneath them.
Take the right paperwork away. You should receive a written report naming the leak location and the method, an itemised invoice matching the quote, and a Certificate of Compliance where a WaterSafe firm did the water-side work [1]. Photograph the opened area before it is closed up. Keep the report, invoice and photos with your insurance documents: if your policy carries trace-and-access cover, that file is what supports the claim, since the cover pays for finding the leak and opening up, not for the pipe repair itself.
Pricing
As of summer 2026, guide ranges run like this: standard leak detection costs between £80 and £1,600 depending on the method, with infrared camera surveys at £150–£1,000, acoustic detection at £1,000–£1,500, and tracer gas detection at £250–£2,000 [3]. These are national guide figures, not Telford quotes, so treat them as the bracket your written quotes should land inside rather than as a price for your job.
Detection is only the first bill. Repairing a main water service line runs £330–£1,500 in the same guide, and making good the floors, plaster or ground opened to reach the pipe is priced on top [3]. A leak under a concrete slab or shared driveway costs more to reach than one under floorboards, and out-of-hours call-outs carry higher labour rates, so ask for each stage priced separately before anyone starts.
Ask whether VAT sits on top of every figure, since published ranges exclude it and only VAT-registered firms add it [3]. Firms in this round state free quotations far more often than they publish rates, so treat any single fixed price for detection plus repair with no breakdown as a question, not an answer. Check your home insurance before you book: many policies carry trace-and-access cover that pays for finding a hidden leak and opening up to reach it [3].
Get the scope in writing before work starts: which detection method is included, whether a written report comes with the survey, exactly what repair and making good are covered, and what changes the price if the leak proves harder to pin down than expected. Agree payment stages, keep every quote and invoice, and never pay the balance until the report and repair are both in your hands.
Red flags
Quotes detection and repair as one fixed price without seeing the job or asking where water shows.
Cannot name the detection method they will use when you ask how they will find a hidden leak.
Will not say whether a written report naming the leak location is included in the survey price.
Starts opening up floors or walls before any testing has narrowed down where the leak is.
Cannot give a Gas Safe licence number you can check yourself for boiler-adjacent work [2].
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms [6].
Will not separate detection, repair and making good as individually priced stages on the quote.
Will not put the scope, price and start date in writing before lifting a tool.
The bottom line
For most Telford homes, start with LMS Heating Solutions: one firm for finding and fixing, stated registration and cover, and help on call round the clock. Its pricing stays vague until you enquire, so ask for an itemised quote first. If the leak sits near a boiler, Sure Fire Gas Services is the closer match, and for bathroom work with a showroom to visit, choose SB Plumbing.
Match the firm to the job: round-the-clock plumbers for a leak that cannot wait, Telford Plumbers for a named detection service with free quotations, and a sole trader for a straightforward fix. Then get two or three itemised quotes on the same written scope, keep detection separate from repair and making good, and file the written report with your invoice.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.