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A dripping tap, a toilet that won't stop running, a new shower or the plumbing for a whole bathroom – describe the job once and compare quotes from professional plumbers who work in your area.
- Plumbing installation
- Plumbing repairs
- Leaks and burst pipes
- Toilets and WCs
- Showers and pumps
- Bathroom and kitchen plumbing
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Quotes from professional plumbers
Most of us only go looking for a plumber when something has gone wrong – and that's exactly when it's hardest to find one. The plumbers people recommend are often booked up, prices are difficult to judge, and it isn't always clear whether you need a quick repair, a new part or a bigger job.
Plumbers Quote makes the first step simpler. You describe the job once – what's wrong or what you want installed, where it is and how urgent it is – and add your postcode. Independent plumbers who cover your area receive the request and come back to you with questions, a visit or a price. You compare them and decide who, if anyone, to hire.
This page explains what plumbers do, the kinds of work they take on, what affects the price and how to choose between quotes, so you can talk to a plumber with confidence.
What does a plumber do?
- Installation
- Fitting toilets, basins, sinks, taps, baths, showers and appliances, and running new hot and cold supplies and waste pipes.
- Repairs
- Curing leaks, replacing worn tap cartridges and cistern valves, repairing burst or damaged pipes and clearing blockages.
- Maintenance
- Replacing seized stopcocks and valves, lagging pipes, descaling showers and checking pipework before problems start.
- Advice and diagnosis
- Working out why pressure is low, where a leak is coming from or whether old pipework should be replaced.
Types of plumbing work
Most jobs fall into a handful of types. Many plumbers do all of them; some concentrate on bathroom installations, repairs or commercial work.
Bathroom & WC plumbing
Toilets, basins, baths and taps, and the first and second fix plumbing behind a new bathroom or en suite.
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Kitchen plumbing
Sinks, mixer taps, washing machines and dishwashers, and re-routed pipes and wastes for a new kitchen layout.
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Showers and shower pumps
Electric, mixer and power showers, shower pumps and fixes for low pressure, leaks and temperature problems.
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Leaks and pipe repairs
Dripping taps, weeping joints, burst pipes and hidden leaks under floors or behind walls.
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Toilets and blockages
Running cisterns, weak flushes, leaks at the base and blocked toilets, sinks and wastes.
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Maintenance and supply pipes
Seized stopcocks, isolating valves, lagging, old lead pipes and checks before winter or a sale.
Find out more →Bathroom, Kitchen & WC Plumbing
Toilets, basins, sinks and taps, appliance connections, waste pipes and the plumbing behind a new bathroom or kitchen.
- Toilet and WC installation
- Basins, sinks and taps
- Kitchen sink and appliances
- Waste pipes and traps
- New bathroom plumbing
- Moving or adding fittings
Showers, Power Showers & Pumps
Electric, mixer and power showers, shower pumps, low pressure, new enclosures and trays, and repairs to leaking or temperamental showers.
- New shower installation
- Shower replacement
- Power showers
- Shower pumps
- Low pressure problems
- Leaks and shower repairs
Plumbing Repairs & Maintenance
Leaking taps and pipes, burst pipes, faulty and blocked toilets, sink and tap repairs, stopcocks, water leaks and general plumbing maintenance.
- Leaking taps and pipes
- Burst pipes
- Faulty and blocked toilets
- Sink and tap repairs
- Water leaks
- Planned maintenance
Plumbing installation: toilets, basins, taps, showers and kitchens
Installation work ranges from a single new tap to every pipe in a new bathroom. Like-for-like swaps – a toilet, a basin, a kitchen mixer – are usually quick if the existing pipework is sound. New layouts take more planning, because supplies need to reach the new position and wastes need a steady fall to the soil stack or drain.
On a full bathroom or kitchen, plumbers work in two stages: first fix, when pipes are run before walls are boarded and tiled, and second fix, when the sanitaryware, taps, shower and appliances are connected. The best time to replace old pipework, add isolating valves or fix awkward runs is during first fix, before everything is hidden.
Showers deserve a mention of their own. The right shower depends on your hot water system – combi boiler, tank-fed cylinder, unvented cylinder or electric – and a plumber can tell you what will actually work before you buy.
Repairs: leaks, pipes, taps, toilets and blockages
Repairs are the bread and butter of most plumbers' work. Dripping taps usually need a new washer or cartridge; running toilets a new fill or flush valve; leaks under sinks a remade joint or a new connector. Burst pipes, often after a freeze, need cutting out and replacing, and hidden leaks under floors or behind walls may need tracing before they can be fixed.
Blockages in a sink, basin, bath or toilet are normally a plumber's job. If several fittings are draining slowly or the outside gully is overflowing, the problem is likely in the underground drain, and a drainage company with jetting equipment may be the better call. A good plumber will tell you which you need.
Domestic, residential and commercial plumbers
Most requests come from homeowners, tenants and landlords: a leak in a flat, a new toilet in a family home, a shower that's lost its pressure. Domestic plumbers are used to working in occupied homes, keeping the water off for as short a time as possible and leaving rooms as they found them.
Commercial plumbers work in shops, offices, cafés, surgeries, schools and blocks of flats, where the jobs can be larger and the hours more awkward – washrooms, kitchens, water heaters and maintenance contracts, often done early or late to keep the business open. If your job is for business premises, say so when you request quotes.
Emergency plumbing: what to do first
If water is pouring from a burst pipe or coming through a ceiling, turn off the water at the stopcock straight away and open the cold taps to drain the pipes. If water is near light fittings, sockets or the consumer unit, switch off the electricity at the consumer unit – but only if you can reach it safely.
Then call a plumber who offers emergency call-outs. Requesting quotes online is the right route for planned work and repairs that can wait a day or two, not for a house that's flooding. If you smell gas, leave the property and call the National Gas Emergency number on 0800 111 999.
When to call a professional plumber
Changing a shower head or bleeding a radiator is something plenty of people do themselves. It's worth getting a qualified plumber when:
- Water is escaping somewhere you can't see, or a damp patch is spreading across a ceiling or wall.
- The job means cutting into or joining supply pipes, soil pipes or wastes.
- You're moving a toilet, sink or shower, or adding a new bathroom or WC.
- The shower, taps or pressure have changed and you don't know why.
- Your stopcock or isolating valves are seized and won't turn.
- The property is older and may still have lead or corroded iron pipework.
What affects the cost of a plumber
Plumbers price small jobs from a description and photos and larger ones after a visit. These are the main things that move a quote up or down:
- Type of job
- A tap washer and a full bathroom first fix are priced very differently – most plumbers quote fixed prices for defined jobs and hourly rates for diagnosis.
- Access
- Pipes under floors, behind tiles or boxed in take longer to reach and may need making good afterwards.
- Parts and fittings
- Standard washers and valves are cheap; specific cartridges, concealed cisterns and designer taps cost more.
- Condition of the pipework
- Old lead, galvanised or corroded pipes and seized valves can turn a quick swap into a longer job.
- Timing
- Evenings, weekends and emergency call-outs cost more than a booked weekday visit.
- Location
- Rates tend to be higher in London and the South East, and travel time matters in rural areas.
Want example prices for a call-out, a new toilet, a shower or a leak repair?
See the plumber cost guideChoosing between plumber quotes
When the quotes come in, compare these points as well as the price. Our guide to questions to ask a plumber goes into more detail.
- A written quote that lists the work, the parts and what's excluded
- Whether the price is fixed or based on an hourly rate, and any minimum charge
- Who supplies the fittings – you or the plumber
- How long the work will take and whether the water will be off
- Public liability insurance – ask to see the certificate
- Gas Safe registration if the work involves gas, and the right qualification for unvented cylinders
- Recent examples of similar work, or reviews you can check
- Any guarantee on the workmanship and the payment terms
Plumbers near you
We have local pages for 149 towns and cities, each covering the homes, pipework, water and typical plumbing jobs in that area. Choose yours for local advice and quotes.
Plumbers in England
- Ashford
- Aylesbury
- Barnsley
- Basildon
- Basingstoke
- Bath
- Bedford
- Birkenhead
- Birmingham
- Blackburn
- Blackpool
- Bolton
- Bournemouth
- Bradford
- Brighton
- Bristol
- Bromley
- Bury
- Cambridge
- Canterbury
- Carlisle
- Chatham
- Chelmsford
- Cheltenham
- Chester
- Chesterfield
- Chichester
- Colchester
- Coventry
- Crawley
- Croydon
- Darlington
- Derby
- Doncaster
- Dudley
- Durham
- Ealing
- Eastbourne
- Enfield
- Exeter
- Gateshead
- Gloucester
- Grimsby
- Guildford
- Halifax
- Harrogate
- Harrow
- Hastings
- Hemel Hempstead
- Hereford
- High Wycombe
- Huddersfield
- Hull
- Ilford
- Ipswich
- Kettering
- King's Lynn
- Kingston upon Thames
- Lancaster
- Leamington Spa
- Leeds
- Leicester
- Lincoln
- Liverpool
- London
- Loughborough
- Luton
- Maidstone
- Manchester
- Mansfield
- Middlesbrough
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Northampton
- Norwich
- Nottingham
- Nuneaton
- Oldham
- Oxford
- Peterborough
- Plymouth
- Poole
- Portsmouth
- Preston
- Reading
- Rochdale
- Romford
- Rotherham
- Salford
- Salisbury
- Scarborough
- Sheffield
- Shrewsbury
- Slough
- Solihull
- South Shields
- Southampton
- Southend-on-Sea
- Southport
- St Albans
- St Helens
- Stevenage
- Stockport
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Sunderland
- Sutton
- Swindon
- Taunton
- Telford
- Torquay
- Truro
- Tunbridge Wells
- Wakefield
- Walsall
- Walthamstow
- Warrington
- Watford
- West Bromwich
- Weston-super-Mare
- Weymouth
- Wigan
- Winchester
- Woking
- Wolverhampton
- Worcester
- Worthing
- York
Plumbers in Northern Ireland
Plumbers: frequently asked questions
What does a plumber do?
A plumber installs, repairs and maintains the pipes and fittings that bring water into a home or business and take waste water away – taps, toilets, sinks, baths, showers, appliances, supply pipes and waste pipes. Many also work on hot water cylinders and central heating, and some are qualified to work on gas boilers.
How do I find a good local plumber?
Get two or three written quotes, ask what each includes, check their insurance and look at reviews or examples of similar work. Requesting quotes through Plumbers Quote means you describe the job once and plumbers who cover your postcode get in touch with you.
How much does a plumber charge per hour?
Many UK plumbers charge somewhere around £45–£90 an hour, often with a minimum call-out or first-hour charge. Rates are usually higher in London and for evenings, weekends and emergencies. For defined jobs, most plumbers prefer to give a fixed price.
Can I get a plumber for an emergency through Plumbers Quote?
Quote requests are best for planned work and repairs that can wait a day or two. If water is escaping and you can't stop it, turn off the stopcock and call a plumber who offers emergency call-outs directly.
Do plumbers work on boilers and central heating?
Many plumbers also work on central heating – radiators, valves, cylinders and pipework. Any work on a gas boiler or gas pipes must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, so check registration if your job involves gas.
Do I need to supply the parts?
For repairs, plumbers usually bring standard parts and include them in the price. For new fittings such as toilets, taps or showers, you can either buy them yourself or ask the plumber to supply them. Say which when you request quotes.
Is Plumbers Quote free to use?
Yes. Requesting quotes is free and there's no obligation to accept any of them. Plumbers Quote introduces you to independent local plumbers; we don't carry out plumbing work ourselves.
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