What is always an emergency?
Four situations justify a phone call at any hour. A burst pipe or failed flexi hose you cannot stop by turning off a valve, because a running flexi can put thousands of litres through a home overnight. Sewage backing up into showers, floor wastes or toilets, which is a health hazard on top of a plumbing fault. The smell of gas, which means getting everyone out, not flicking switches, and calling for licensed help immediately. And a total loss of water supply to the property with no council outage in your street to explain it. Water coming through a ceiling belongs on this list too, because the weight of a filling ceiling cavity is a structural problem measured in minutes, not days.
What can usually wait until morning?
More than most people think, provided you can isolate the problem. A dripping tap, a running toilet you can shut off at its wall stop, a single slow drain when other fixtures still work, a hot water system that has quit on a warm night, and a weeping relief valve are all real problems, but none of them get worse in eight hours once the water to that fixture is off. Isolating is the trick: every toilet and most taps have a small stop valve at the wall, and the whole house can be shut down at the meter. If turning one valve turns a crisis into an inconvenience, you have just saved yourself the after-hours rate, and we will tell you exactly that on the phone rather than sell you a midnight callout you do not need.
Emergency or not? The honest triage table
| Situation | Emergency? | First move before calling |
|---|---|---|
| Burst pipe or flexi you cannot isolate | Yes, call now | Shut water off at the meter |
| Sewage backing up inside the house | Yes, call now | Stop using all water, keep people clear |
| Smell of gas | Yes, immediately | Get out, no flames or switches, call from outside |
| Water dripping through a ceiling | Yes | Kill the water, keep clear of sagging plaster |
| No water to the whole house, no street outage | Yes | Check the meter stop tap has not been closed |
| Hot water system failed, no leak | Usually waits | Isolate its cold inlet if leaking, book morning |
| Running toilet or dripping tap | Waits | Close the fixture's stop valve |
| One slow drain, others fine | Waits | Avoid that fixture overnight |
What should I do while I wait for the plumber?
Isolate first. The main stop tap at the meter kills water to the whole property, and knowing where it is before an emergency is worth more than any phone number. For ceiling leaks, turn off the water, and if the ceiling is bulging, place a bucket and stay out from under it. For sewage, stop putting any water down any drain, because every sink and shower in the house feeds the same blocked line. For gas smells, leave the house, leave doors open on the way out, and make the call from the footpath. When you call us, we give you a realistic arrival window based on where we actually are, not a marketing promise. As an owner-operated business we would rather quote you an honest hour than a fictional fifteen minutes.
What does emergency plumbing cost?
As of 2026, our after-hours attendance is $360 to $560 for the first hour plus the work required, quoted before we leave, so the number is never a surprise at the door. For comparison, the same accessible burst repair booked in normal hours runs $250 to $650 plus parts, and a machine drain clear runs $250 to $400. That gap is exactly why we triage honestly on the phone: if your problem can be isolated and safely wait for a weekday visit, we will say so and book you in, because the cheapest emergency is the one that stops being an emergency with one turned valve.
How do I avoid the next emergency?
Most of the genuine emergencies we attend had a warning phase. Flexi hoses are the standout: they fail suddenly, they fail indoors, and swapping them proactively costs $20 to $40 a hose at trade rates, which is nothing against a flooded kitchen. Beyond that, learn where your meter stop tap is and check it actually turns, replace any tap or toilet that needs its valve nursed, and treat a drain that gurgles or backs up repeatedly as a blockage announcing itself rather than a quirk. Ten minutes of familiarity with your own shut-off valves converts nearly every category in the table above from a night call to a morning booking.
Water, sewage or gas that will not wait? Call Hills Plumbing & Gas any hour on 0472 657 042 or see /services/emergency-plumbing/. QBCC licence 15243081, fixed prices quoted before we roll.