Last year we had an extension with kitchen built. The water pipes were buried into the floor. The builders left in July and all seemed well.

We get a 6 monthly metered water bill and the one we received up to November was pretty high but we assumed that was because of the amount of water used by the builders/plasterers etc. Now we have another bill up to March. It’s around £400 and indicates around 200 cubic metres of water!

We found some signs of damp in the corner of the new build (but not much as the underlying ground is sand so it drains well). The builders came round and have identified a leak in the cold pipe in the floor of the new build. The sub-contractor plumber is sorting this as we speak. Great service as we only told the builders of the problem on Tuesday.

The builder/plumber will sort everything out and make good with the tiled floor and damp patch, and will cover any problems we may get when the ground dries out (the civil engineer says it should be fine). But we are stuck with a massive water bill.

I will ask the plumber/builder to cover it, but am I likely to be told to get stuffed? Are there any plumbers here? If so, would you pay it?

Cheers

We had a £1400 water bill. A leaking shower, which the landlord had been informed about and not acted on was the culprit.

Water company reduced it to a sensible amount after some discussions. Might be worth talking to them

My water ‘bill’ for last month was £23.

I’m not on a meter.

I’m out of the house all day today.

I’ve left all the cold taps running, just for a laugh.

Next months water ‘bill’ will still be only £23.

😀

the underlying ground is sand so it drains well

Have you got someone independent of your builder to look at it? I had a broken drain in sandy ground wash away enough around the corner of my old house to cause subsidence needing tons and tons of concrete underpinning and internal bracing/strapping.

Switch off all taps and see if the meter dial moves, if it doesnt its a leak before the meter.

Yes, we have done the thing with the meter. The leak IS in the new bit of the house. The meter rolls around all the time until I turn off the main stopcock, then it stops.

The civil engineer is independent of the builder, and a good friend of mine. He knows what he is doing. The builder will sort out any future issues anyway.