My house in the city centre is Grade II listed. Can you do an emergency repair without listed building consent?

Emergency repairs to a leak and like-for-like replacement of damaged pipe do not normally need consent, because you are not altering the historic fabric or character of the building. We stop the water, repair on the existing route, and keep disturbance to floorboards, plaster and joinery to a minimum. New pipe routes are different: if they mean cutting into historic walls or floors, speak to the district council's conservation team before planned work starts. We can document what we found to support that conversation.

Our cottage outside the city has lost water pressure. Is that our pipe or the supply?

Often it is the supply, not you. Villages around Chichester can sit at the end of long mains, and a burst or maintenance work on the main can drop pressure for a whole lane; the main up to your boundary is your water supplier's responsibility. The giveaway is whether neighbours are affected too. If your house alone has lost pressure, that points at the supply pipe from the boundary or the pipework inside, and that is where we come in. Checking pressure at the stopcock tells us which side of the boundary the problem sits.

I live in a flat above a shop on North Street. Water is coming through the shop's ceiling from my flat. Whose problem is it?

That depends on where the leak is. Converted buildings like that often share a rising main and a soil stack, with each flat taking its own branch. A leak from your own bathroom or kitchen pipework is your responsibility, or your landlord's. A leak on the shared main or stack normally sits with the freeholder or managing agent. Turn off your stopcock if you can, and on the first visit we identify which it is and stop the water either way.

Can you come out tonight?

Yes. We run a 24 hour rota that covers evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Call and you get a real arrival window before anyone sets off, not a vague promise.

Emergency Plumber Chichester | 24 Hour Call-Outs

House has no water at all

Nothing from any tap sits above every valve you own. Ask a neighbour first, because a dry street makes it the supplier's matter. Their main stops at your boundary; the supply pipe, the stopcock and everything after them are ours to check.

Pressure is poor everywhere

Rooms do not lose pressure, pipes do. In older city houses a narrow lead supply or a stopcock left half shut after building work is the usual reason. We measure pressure and flow at the stopcock and work outwards until the restriction shows itself.

One tap has gone dry

Working taps elsewhere prove the supply is fine. With the rest of the house running, the interruption sits on that branch: a closed isolation valve, a seized cartridge or debris that lodged after the water was last turned off.

No hot water this morning

Hot water failures are awkward because the cause can sit in the cylinder, the tank in the loft or the boiler. We check the feed tank, the cylinder and the immersion heater, handle the plumbing side, and tell you straight away if a Gas Safe registered engineer is needed.

Pipes knock and bang

Consistency helps. A bang as a tap shuts means water hammer; a hum while water runs points at a worn valve; ticking as the heating warms is pipe expanding against a joist. After that it is a question of clips, valves or pressure.

Dishwasher leaking under the units

Dishwasher and washing machine leaks start small and spread under kitchen plinths unseen. We isolate the appliance valve, then check whether the water is coming from the supply hose, the waste connection or the machine itself before anything is replaced.

You'll get a straight answer on what failed and why. Most jobs are put right the same day; anything waiting on parts is made watertight first and booked in.