Plumbing fails quietly before it fails loudly. Flexi hoses fray behind vanities, tree roots thread into sewer joints, anodes dissolve inside tanks, and none of it is visible from the hallway. An inspection cadence is how you buy your failures at planned prices instead of emergency ones.
Inspection cadence by home and situation
| Situation | Recommended cadence | What it should include | Typical cost with us |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home under 15 years old | Every 3 years | Visual check: taps, toilets, flexi hoses, valves, hot water, water meter leak test | Quote on inspection |
| Home 15 to 30 years old | Every 2 to 3 years | As above, plus hot water anode and valve attention | Quote on inspection |
| Home over 30 years old | Annually | As above, plus pressure check and drainage assessment | Quote on inspection |
| Gas appliances in the home | Service at least every 2 years | Licensed gas service, burner and safety checks | Annual gas service $150 to $200 |
| Known tree-root or blockage history | CCTV every 1 to 2 years | Camera survey of sewer line | CCTV inspection $200 to $350 |
| Suspicious water bill or meter movement | Immediately | Leak detection | $200 to $500+ |
| Buying a home | Before you sign | Pre-purchase plumbing and sewer camera inspection | Quote on inspection |
What should a routine plumbing inspection cover?
The high-yield items, in order of how often they cause damage: flexible hoses under every sink and vanity, because burst flexis are among the most common water damage claims in Australian homes and the braided hoses cost $20 to $40 a hose at trade to replace proactively; toilet inlet and outlet valves, because a silently running toilet wastes thousands of litres; tap and mixer condition; the hot water system's age, relief valve and anode status; water pressure, because pressure above the 500 kPa standard chews through fittings; and a water meter test with everything off, which is the two-minute check that catches concealed leaks. On older homes we add the drainage side, because the sewer is the most expensive thing on the property to ignore.
Why do older Gold Coast homes need annual checks?
Because the failure curves all bend upward together. Past 30 years, original galvanised or copper pipework is reaching the pinhole stage, earthenware sewer joints have had decades of root pressure, and the home may be on its second or third hot water system with valves that have never been touched. Coastal exposure accelerates all of it: salt air is hard on external valves, casings and fittings, which is a genuinely local factor we see street by street. An annual visit on an older home is not about finding disasters every year. Most years it is a short list of small items. The value is the one year it catches the tank about to let go or the sewer at 80 percent blocked before the long weekend it would have backed up.
Are gas appliances really a fixed schedule?
Yes, and this one is safety rather than economics. Gas appliances should be serviced by a licensed gas fitter at least every 2 years, and annually is better for heaters that run all winter. A service checks burner condition, flame quality, flueing and spillage, which is your protection against carbon monoxide, and it keeps most manufacturer warranties valid. Ours runs $150 to $200 as a standalone annual service. One licensing note: gas servicing is licensed gas work under Queensland's gas safety framework, a separate authorisation from plumbing licensing, so check your tradie holds it.
Is an inspection cadence actually worth the money?
Here is the honest maths rather than a scare campaign. A planned tap repair runs $80 to $180 plus parts. The same failure discovered at 10pm on a Saturday starts at $360 to $560 for the first hour after hours, plus the work, plus whatever the water damaged in the meantime. A CCTV survey at $200 to $350 is cheap against an emergency sewer backup. Inspections do not prevent every failure, and we will not pretend they do, but they reliably convert emergency-priced problems into planned-price ones, and they give you a documented maintenance history that helps with insurance and resale.
Sources: Queensland gas appliance servicing guidance under the Petroleum and Gas legislation; AS/NZS 3500 pressure provisions; QBCC licensing requirements.
Cannot remember your last plumbing inspection? That is your answer. Call Hills Plumbing & Gas on 0472 657 042 or book through our Leak Detection service page and we will work through the whole checklist in one fixed-price visit.