Areas we cover

Buffalo City

East London combines coastal humidity with a good deal of older housing stock, which is a reliable recipe for corroded supply pipework and tired fittings. Beacon Bay, Gonubie and Nahoon sit close enough to the sea for salt to matter; Vincent, Berea and Cambridge carry the age.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

Nelson Mandela Bay

Gqeberha has lived through a serious, sustained water shortage, and it shows in how the city treats plumbing. Leak repair, pressure management and storage are not lifestyle upgrades here. The housing stock runs from older Central, Mill Park and Newton Park homes through the coastal Summerstrand and Humewood belt to newer development in the western suburbs.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

Mangaung

Bloemfontein's plumbing calendar is set by winter. Hard, repeated frost on a dry Free State night is enough to split an exposed outside tap or an unlagged roof pipe, and the damage usually appears the following morning when everything thaws. The established western and southern suburbs carry the older pipework; newer development sits further out.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

City of Johannesburg

Johannesburg's plumbing splits roughly by decade. The older northern and western suburbs still hold galvanised steel supply lines and clay sewer runs under gardens full of mature trees, while the townhouse and estate belt from Midrand through Fourways is newer, denser and mostly plastic. Both fail, just differently — one from corrosion and roots, the other from pressure and fittings.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

City of Tshwane

Pretoria runs from established, generously treed suburbs in the old east and Moot through to the fast-built townhouse belt across Centurion, Montana and Faerie Glen. The older stock has the pipework you would expect from its age; the newer stock has the fittings and the pressure. Summer thunderstorms and hot afternoons are hard on anything exposed on a roof.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

eThekwini Municipality

Durban's climate does most of the damage. Humid subtropical air, heavy summer downpours and coastal salt shorten the life of exposed metal and overload yard drainage that copes fine for nine months of the year. The Berea, Glenwood and Morningside stock is older with the pipework to match; Umhlanga, La Lucia and the Upper Highway suburbs are newer and denser.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

Polokwane Local Municipality

Polokwane is hot, dry for much of the year, and used to managing water carefully. Storage tanks and boreholes are ordinary rather than unusual, and that means pumps, filters and change-over arrangements are part of normal plumbing here. The established suburbs around Bendor, Flora Park and Welgelegen carry older pipework; newer development sits on the edges.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

City of Mbombela

Mbombela is subtropical: hot, humid summers with heavy rain, and a lot of sloped erven with retaining walls. Drainage does more work here than in most South African cities, and damp is a constant background condition that both hides and imitates plumbing leaks. West Acres, Sonheuwel and Steiltes carry the older stock, with newer development around Riverside.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

Rustenburg Local Municipality

Rustenburg grew quickly, and its plumbing reflects that: established suburbs with older pipework alongside a lot of newer, densely built housing and townhouse complexes. Hot summers, dry winters and periodic supply interruptions mean tanks and pumps are widespread, and rented and investor-owned stock means many jobs are booked by someone who is not living in the property.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

Sol Plaatje Local Municipality

Kimberley has real temperature extremes — hot, dry summers and cold winter nights with frost — and a good deal of older housing in Belgravia, New Park and the central suburbs. Both facts point the same way: exposed pipework needs protecting, and old supply lines need watching.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work

City of Cape Town

Cape Town has the country's oldest surviving urban housing alongside some of its newest. City Bowl and Southern Suburbs homes often still have original galvanised supply lines and clay drainage under mature gardens, the Atlantic Seaboard adds salt air to every exposed fitting, and the Northern Suburbs are largely post-1980 brick and plastic. The 2018 drought left a lasting mark: tanks, wellpoints, greywater and water management devices are ordinary here.

• Geyser
• Blocked drain
• Leaks and burst pipes
• Other plumbing work