What an Emergency Callout Costs, and When the Rate Changes
Rillwater quotes emergency plumbing as one fixed figure before an engineer leaves for the address, so nothing runs on an hourly meter and nothing is added once the work is done. The quote covers attendance, diagnosis, labour and the parts named in it. Decline the quote and the figure is £0, the visit included. Nights, weekends and bank holidays carry a different rate, and the quote states that rate before you accept it.
- Directly employed engineers, not subcontractors
- Fixed price agreed before work starts
- No charge for the visit if you decline the quote
- Written workmanship guarantee on completion
Get a fixed price
Tell us the fault and your postcode. We reply with a time and a price before anyone travels.
What is included in an emergency plumbing quote?
The quote includes attendance at the address, diagnosis of the fault, the labour to repair it, and every part listed on the quote. One figure covers all four. Nothing is billed separately afterwards, and the invoice matches the figure agreed before the engineer travelled.
- Attendance at the address, inside the sixteen boroughs attended
- Diagnosis of the reported fault, including isolation and testing
- Labour to complete the repair described in the quote
- Parts named on the quote, fitted and tested
- A written workmanship guarantee covering the work carried out
Four things sit outside the figure and each is quoted separately before it starts: work on a fault other than the one reported, making good to plaster or tiling, a part the property needs that was not on the original quote, and access arranged through a freeholder or managing agent on a communal riser.
Why is emergency work priced per job rather than per hour?
An hourly rate moves the risk of an unknown scope onto the customer and rewards a slow repair. A fixed figure moves that risk back to the engineer who set it. The customer knows the total before anyone travels, which is the number that matters at two in the morning.
When does the rate change?
The rate changes for nights, for weekends, and for the eight bank holidays in England and Wales. Access and isolation change it too. Every one of those is priced into the figure quoted on the call, so the rate that applies is known before the engineer sets off.
Time of day
Night and weekend attendance carries a different rate from a weekday appointment. The quote states which rate applies to the call being made.
Whether the water is still running
A leak that has been isolated at the stopcock is a repair. A leak still running is a repair plus containment, and the difference is quoted before travel.
Access to the isolation point
A stopcock under a fitted kitchen unit, behind a boxed riser or in a locked communal cupboard adds time before any repair begins.
Parts availability
A stock item on the van is fitted on the first visit. An ordered part means a second visit, and the quote says so rather than leaving it open.
Property type
A mansion-block communal riser needs the freeholder or managing agent to authorise the work. That consent is arranged before attendance rather than billed as waiting time.
What happens between the call and the price?
Six steps run between the call and the invoice, and the price is fixed at step three. Nothing is carried out on an assumption, and no figure changes after the engineer arrives unless the fault turns out to be a different one from the fault described.
- Call and describe the fault. The line is answered around the clock by an engineer rather than by a call centre.
- Isolate the supply. The engineer talks the caller through closing the stopcock and draining the cold taps while the visit is arranged.
- Receive the arrival window and the fixed price. Both are given before anyone travels, and both are confirmed in writing.
- Accept or decline. Declining costs £0, the visit included.
- Attendance and repair. The engineer works to the quoted figure and re-quotes in writing before touching anything outside it.
- Invoice. The invoice matches the accepted quote line for line.
Related
- emergency plumbing 24-hour callout
- our prices
- emergency plumber callout charge
- plumbing checklist before going away
Rillwater attends 16 London boroughs for this work: Islington, Camden, Westminster, Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Croydon, Bromley, Barnet, Ealing. Engineers work out of London and travel to the address.