Close the main stop tap
It is at your water meter, usually near the street boundary or in a small covered box in the garden. Turn it clockwise until it stops. This is the single most useful thing you can do.
24/7 emergency plumber in Cape Town
Flooding, sewage backing up, a burst geyser through the ceiling or no water at all. Call the emergency line and a plumber answers, whatever time it is. We will tell you what to shut off before we even hang up.
Emergency line, open now
021 555 0147One number, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, public holidays included.
If you cannot talk, WhatsApp a photo and your address to 082 555 0147
You get an honest arrival window, not a vague promise.
The callout fee is quoted before we leave, the repair is quoted on site.
Four things to do before we arrive
None of these need tools and all of them limit the damage. Do what you safely can, then leave the rest to us.
Switch the geyser off
Find the geyser breaker on your DB board and switch it off. An element that keeps heating an empty or leaking geyser will burn out and turn a repair into a replacement.
Keep water away from electrics
If water is coming through a ceiling or near plug points, switch that circuit off at the DB board and stay out of the room. Never stand in water to reach a switch.
Take photos and move what you can
Photograph the damage before you clean up, your insurer will ask for it. Then lift rugs, electronics and anything on the floor out of the way.
Is this actually an emergency?
An after hours callout costs more than a booked visit, so it is worth knowing which side of the line you are on. If you are not sure, phone anyway and ask. We will tell you straight.
| What you are seeing | What to do |
|---|---|
| Water running from a pipe, ceiling or wall and you cannot stop it | Call now |
| Sewage backing up into a shower, bath or floor drain | Call now |
| No water at all, when the neighbours still have water | Call now |
| Geyser leaking into the ceiling, or a burst geyser | Call now |
| Water rising in the only toilet in the house | Call now |
| A tap that drips, even a fast one | Book for the morning |
| One basin or shower draining slowly | Book for the morning |
| A cistern that keeps running quietly | Book for the morning |
| No hot water, but nothing is leaking | Book for the morning |
| Low pressure in one shower head | Book for the morning |
What happens when the van pulls up
Emergency work is done in a fixed order, because getting the water under control first is what keeps the repair bill small.
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Stop the water
We isolate the failed section so the rest of the house can carry on using water wherever that is possible.
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Find the actual cause
The wet patch is rarely where the leak is. We trace it properly rather than opening up the first thing that looks likely.
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Quote before we repair
You hear what the repair involves and what it costs before it starts. If a part has to wait for morning, we make it safe and say so.
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Repair, test and tidy
The repair is pressure tested, the site is cleaned, and you get an itemised invoice plus photos you can send to your insurer.
What an emergency callout costs
The callout fee is fixed and you hear it on the phone before we leave the yard. It covers travelling to you, making the situation safe and diagnosing the fault. The repair itself is quoted separately, on site, once we can see what we are dealing with.
Nothing beyond making it safe happens until you have agreed the price. If the job turns out to be bigger than it first looked, we stop and talk before carrying on.
Insurance work: burst geysers and sudden water damage are usually covered by household insurance. We photograph everything and invoice in the format assessors expect, so your claim is not held up by paperwork.
Where we come out to at night
We are based in Salt River, which puts most of the Peninsula within a sensible drive. Suburbs further out are still worth a call, we will just be honest about the travel time.
- City Bowl
- Sea Point
- Green Point
- Camps Bay
- Woodstock
- Salt River
- Observatory
- Rondebosch
- Claremont
- Newlands
- Kenilworth
- Wynberg
- Constantia
- Tokai
- Muizenberg
- Fish Hoek
- Pinelands
- Athlone
- Milnerton
- Table View
- Blouberg
- Goodwood
- Parow
- Bellville
- Durbanville
- Brackenfell
Emergency callout questions
Do you really answer at three in the morning?
Yes. The emergency number rings the owner's mobile after hours, not a message service. If the line is engaged it is because we are on another call, so leave it thirty seconds and try again rather than giving up.
How quickly can you get here?
It depends where you are, what time it is and what we are already busy with. You will get a realistic arrival window on the phone rather than an optimistic one, and a message if anything changes on the way.
What if I cannot find the main stop tap?
Tell us on the phone and we will talk you through it. In most Cape Town homes it is in a small box near the street boundary, next to the water meter. Some older properties also have a tap on the wall where the pipe enters the house.
Do you work weekends and public holidays?
Yes, the emergency line runs every day of the year. Office hours are for quotes, bookings and accounts, but emergencies do not keep office hours and neither do we.
Can you attend if I am not at the property?
Often yes, as long as someone can give us access and you are contactable to approve the work. This comes up a lot with rental properties and holiday houses, so tell us up front and we will arrange it with the tenant or caretaker.
Will my insurance pay for this?
Sudden damage such as a burst geyser or a split pipe is usually covered, while gradual wear and tear usually is not. We are not the ones who decide, but we do photograph everything and write invoices in the detail assessors ask for, which makes claims a lot smoother.
How do I pay?
Card on site or an EFT against an invoice. Ask when you call if you need a formal quote or a purchase order reference for a body corporate or a business.
Still reading while the water runs?
Close the main stop tap, then call. Everything else can be worked out once the water has stopped.