Strata Plumber Gold Coast

Hills Plumbing & Gas looks after the plumbing in strata buildings from Coomera to Coolangatta. Body corporates, strata managers and committees call us because we turn up when we say we will, we quote a fixed price before we start, and we hand over a report your committee can actually read.

We are QBCC licensed (QBCC licence no. 15243081), carry $20 million public liability insurance, and hold 5.0 stars from 27 Google reviews. We are a family-run business, not a franchise, so the plumber who quotes your job is usually the one who does it.

Call 0472 657 042 or email sales@hillsplumbingandgas.com.au for a fixed-price quote or to set up a maintenance program for your scheme.

Strata plumbing is different work to residential plumbing. In a house, one owner makes one decision. In a Robina townhouse complex or a Main Beach high-rise, a single blocked stack affects twelve lots, the repair sits on common property, and the invoice needs committee approval before anyone signs off.

A strata plumber has to do three jobs at once:

1. Fix the plumbing. Shared sewer stacks, risers, common cold water mains, roof drainage, fire hose reels, backflow devices and TMVs in shared amenities.
2. Sort out who is responsible. Before work starts, someone has to work out whether the fault sits on common property or inside a lot. Get that wrong and the wrong party pays, and that argument lands at the next committee meeting.
3. Document everything. Committees need photos, written findings and quotes they can table and vote on. A verbal "she'll be right" is useless to a strata manager who has to justify spend to twenty owners.

Most Gold Coast plumbers do the first job well. We built our service around all three.

This is the question we get asked on nearly every strata call out, so here it is in plain English.

Under the Queensland Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, the body corporate must maintain common property, and lot owners must maintain everything inside their lot boundary. Where the pipe sits decides who pays, and pipes do not care about lot boundaries.

The general rule for most Gold Coast schemes registered under a building format plan: pipework that services more than one lot, or sits in a boundary structure like a shared wall or slab, is a body corporate cost. Pipework that services only one lot, inside that lot, is the owner's cost.

Concrete examples from jobs we do every week:

• Leaking riser in a Main Beach high-rise. The vertical water riser feeds every apartment above it. It services multiple lots, so it is common property and the body corporate pays. Riser corrosion in older beachfront towers is common because salt air gets into service risers and eats galvanised pipe from the outside in.
• Leaking ensuite tap in the same building. The tap serves one lot and sits inside it. The owner pays. Simple.
• Blocked shared sewer stack in a Robina townhouse complex. The stack takes waste from four townhouses, so clearing it is a body corporate cost, even if the blockage was caused by one household's wet wipes.
• Blocked branch line off that stack, serving only unit 3. That section services one lot. Unit 3's owner pays, even though the pipe runs under common ground in many older schemes. This is where disputes start, and it is why our reports state exactly where in the line the fault was found.
• Root intrusion in the sewer main of a canal-front duplex at Broadbeach Waters. Two lots share the main, so it is a shared cost under the scheme's arrangements. Canal-front blocks grow thirsty tree roots and the clay joints in 1970s and 1980s earthenware pipe let them straight in.

Every scheme's community management statement can vary these rules, and boundaries differ between building format and standard format plans. When responsibility is unclear, we locate the fault first, photograph it, and state in writing which side of the boundary it sits on. That gives your strata manager something solid to act on instead of an argument.

For the full breakdown with more examples, read our guide: who pays for strata plumbing repairs in Queensland.

Preventative maintenance programs

Reactive plumbing is the most expensive kind. A burst riser at 2am costs many times what a scheduled inspection would have. We build annual maintenance programs sized to your scheme, whether that is a six-lot walk-up in Palm Beach or a 120-lot tower at Surfers Paradise. A typical program covers stack and drain inspections, roof and balcony drainage checks before storm season, hot water plant checks, and a written condition report with a forward works forecast so your committee can budget sinking fund spend instead of getting ambushed by it.

Annual CCTV inspection of shared sewer stacks and drains

Shared stacks fail quietly. Root intrusion, scale build up, cracked earthenware joints and sagging PVC all develop for years before the first overflow. An annual CCTV camera inspection of your shared stacks and site mains catches them early. You get the recorded footage, a condition rating per line, and repair options ranked by urgency. CCTV drain inspections are quoted on inspection. If we find a blockage during inspection, jetting is quoted on the spot at a fixed price. See our blocked drain service for how we clear and repair shared lines.

Backflow prevention testing

If your scheme has testable backflow prevention devices on irrigation, fire services, trade waste or the water meter assembly, Queensland law requires them to be tested annually by an endorsed licensee and the results lodged with council. Miss the test date and the body corporate wears the compliance risk. We test, tag, lodge the paperwork with Gold Coast City Council, and diarise your renewal so it never lapses. Backflow testing is quoted on inspection until published rates are approved, with multi-device discounts for larger schemes.

Thermostatic mixing valve (TMV) servicing

Shared amenities, pool showers, gym bathrooms and accessible facilities run on TMVs that cap water at a safe temperature. TMVs drift. Springs weaken, elements foul, and a valve set at 45 degrees can creep upward without anyone noticing until someone is scalded. Annual servicing is the standard, and for a body corporate it is also a liability shield. We service, test and tag each valve and issue a compliance certificate for your records. TMV servicing is quoted on inspection until published rates are approved.

Water leak detection for high water bills

A common water meter that keeps climbing while usage stays flat means the scheme is paying for water that is going into the ground. On canal-front and older slab-on-ground schemes we find these constantly: pinholed copper under slabs, failed irrigation solenoids, and leaking mains between the meter and the buildings. We use acoustic listening equipment and thermal imaging to locate leaks without digging up half the common property. You get the leak location marked, photographed and quoted for repair. Leak detection is quoted on inspection. More detail on our leak detection service.

24/7 emergency response

Burst risers, sewer overflows into ground-floor lots, failed hot water plant in a building full of residents. These do not wait for business hours and neither do we. One number, 0472 657 042, answered around the clock, every day of the year. Emergency attendance is $360 to $560 for the first hour plus the repair work, quoted before we are dispatched. See our emergency plumbing service for what is covered.

Most plumbers hand a strata manager the same invoice they would hand a homeowner. That creates work for you. Here is what we do instead.

On every job you receive a written report within one business day of completion. Each report includes:

• What we found, in plain English, with date-stamped photos of the fault before and after repair
• Where the fault sits: common property or lot, with our reasoning stated so the committee can see how the call was made
• What we did and what it cost, itemised
• What we recommend next, if anything, with each recommendation priced as a separate fixed quote the committee can approve or park

Quotes are written for committee approval. Fixed price, scoped in full, valid for 30 days, with options where they genuinely exist. Your committee votes once and the work proceeds without variations, because fixed price means fixed price.

Invoicing suits strata workflows. We invoice the body corporate through your strata manager, reference your work order number, and split invoices between the scheme and a lot owner when a job crosses the boundary, which saves your manager chasing recoveries after the fact.

Compliance records are kept for you. Backflow test certificates, TMV service records and CCTV footage are stored against your scheme and re-issued on request, handy at AGM time or when the building manager changes.

We put our service levels in writing for every scheme on a maintenance program:

• Emergency (burst pipe, sewage overflow, no water to the building): on site within 2 hours, 24/7
• Urgent (single lot affected, contained leak, one blocked fixture on common property): same-day attendance
• Routine (scheduled maintenance, quoted repairs, testing): booked within 5 business days at a time that suits your building manager
• Reporting: written report with photos within 1 business day of any completed job

Fixed-price quoting. No hourly open cheques. Your committee approves a number and that is the number on the invoice.

QBCC licensed and insured for strata work. QBCC licence no. 15243081 and $20 million public liability cover, which meets the insurance threshold most Gold Coast strata managers require before a contractor sets foot on common property.

We know the responsibility split. Every report states which side of the lot boundary the fault sits on, which is the single thing committees argue about most and the single thing most plumbers never address.

Family-run and local. We live and work on the Gold Coast. The person who answers the phone at 2am is one of us, not an answering service in another state.

5.0 stars from 27 Google reviews. Read them. They are from real Gold Coast customers, several of them building managers.

We service every suburb from Coomera to Coolangatta: high-rise towers in Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Broadbeach, townhouse complexes in Robina, Varsity Lakes and Upper Coomera, walk-ups in Palm Beach and Burleigh Heads, and canal-front duplexes across Broadbeach Waters, Mermaid Waters and Hope Island.

Who pays for plumbing repairs in a strata building, the owner or the body corporate?

It depends on where the fault is. Under the Queensland Body Corporate and Community Management Act, pipework that services more than one lot, or sits in common property or a boundary structure, is a body corporate cost. Pipework serving a single lot, inside that lot, is the owner's cost. A leaking riser is body corporate. A leaking ensuite tap is the owner. Your scheme's community management statement can vary this, so when it is unclear we locate the fault, photograph it and state in writing which side of the boundary it sits on.

Do you work directly with strata management companies?

Yes. Most of our strata work comes through strata managers. We accept work orders, reference your job numbers on invoices, invoice the body corporate directly, and supply the licence and insurance certificates your compliance system needs. We also present quotes in a format committees can table and vote on without follow-up questions.

How fast can you get to an emergency at our building?

Within 2 hours, any time, any day, anywhere from Coomera to Coolangatta. Call 0472 657 042 and a plumber answers, not a machine. For schemes on a maintenance program that response time is written into your agreement.

Does our body corporate need backflow prevention testing?

If the scheme has testable backflow devices, and most schemes with irrigation, fire services or commercial lots do, Queensland law requires annual testing by an endorsed licensee with results lodged with council. The body corporate is responsible for devices on common property. We test, tag, lodge the results with Gold Coast City Council and remind you before the next test falls due.

How much does strata plumbing cost?

We quote a fixed price before any work starts, so your committee approves an exact figure, not an estimate. Common jobs such as CCTV inspections, backflow testing and TMV servicing are quoted on inspection until published rates are approved. For anything bigger we inspect first, then quote in writing with photos and our recommendation, at no obligation.

Call 0472 657 042 any time, or email sales@hillsplumbingandgas.com.au with your scheme details and we will come back to you with a fixed-price quote or a maintenance program proposal your committee can approve at its next meeting.