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Utility Works
Water

Underground Leak Detection & Repair

Find it, dig it, fix it — one crew, across Auckland, Franklin and North Waikato

Get a free quoteCall 0800 779 588

Since 2015Own locators, hydro-vac & diggersAuckland · Franklin · North Waikato

Leak detection and service detection jobs can start from $300 +GST. Every job is different, so call 0800 779 588 and we’ll talk through your situation and give you an estimate. Commercial work: talk to us about your site.

Call 0800 779 588

Start here

So you’ve got a water leak you can’t find.

Maybe the water bill jumped, the meter keeps ticking with everything turned off, or there’s a soft patch in the lawn or driveway that never dries. Somewhere between the street and your building, water is escaping underground.

Here’s how it goes with us: we find it without digging up half the property, we open the ground only where the leak is, we fix it, and we put the surface back. Same crew, start to finish.

Here’s what we can do

  1. Acoustic Leak DetectionStart here if you know there’s a leak but not where. We pinpoint it before anyone digs.Learn more
  2. Leak Excavation & RepairChoose this if the leak has already been located — by us or someone else — and it needs digging up and fixing properly.Learn more
  3. Water Network SurveysFor body corporates, schools, farms and industrial sites: the whole network checked for loss, pressure and weak points before something fails.Learn more

Not sure what you need?

Most people aren’t — and you don’t have to be. Tell us what you’re seeing and we’ll tell you what it needs, before anyone turns up with a digger. People usually describe one of these:

  • A water bill that’s suddenly higher
  • The meter moving with every tap off
  • A wet or green patch that never dries
  • Pressure that’s dropped off
  • The sound of running water with nothing on
Call 0800 779 588 Send us the details

Mon–Fri 7am–5pm · based at Waiau Pa, South Auckland

A few jobs people ask for

Some of the things we get called about

Not a full list — just the requests that come up most. If yours isn’t here, it almost certainly still is something we do.

  • Homeowners

    The water bill doubled

    No visible leak, no change in use — just a bill that jumped. We test the meter, isolate the house and find where it’s going.

  • Homeowners · landlords

    Meter spinning with everything off

    The surest sign of a leak on your side of the point of supply. We pinpoint it on the lateral and fix it, usually in one visit.

  • Homeowners · rural

    A patch that never dries

    Green, soft or sinking ground over a buried pipe — in a lawn, berm or driveway. We locate the leak under it, not just the symptom.

  • Commercial · body corp

    Site losing water around the clock

    Body corporates, villages, schools and yards with a network of their own: night-flow testing, section-by-section isolation, every leak found.

  • Plumbers · homeowners

    Someone else found it, now it needs fixing

    A plumber or council has marked the spot. We excavate, repair and reinstate — under concrete, paving or lawn.

  • Something else?

    If it’s underground and it carries power, water, gas or comms, there’s a good chance we do it. Describe the job and we’ll tell you straight.

    Call 0800 779 588 →

Why Utility Works

Finds it. Digs it. Fixes it.

Most locating companies hand you a map and leave. Most contractors dig first and hope. We do the whole job with one team.

One crew, start to finish

Locators, hydro-vac truck and diggers on the same team. The people who find it are the people who fix it — no second contractor, no re-marking.

Non-invasive first

Acoustic correlators, GPR, pipe tracing and potholing find the answer before anything is dug. We only open ground where we have to.

Local since 2015

Based at Waiau Pa — most of Franklin, South Auckland and North Waikato is under an hour away, and we know the ground and the councils.

Certified locators, done properly

Our locators hold NZ Certified Locator certification, so you get compliant methods, accurate marks and a survey plan of what went where — and the surface left so you’d never know we were there.

Plumber or specialist?

Plumber or leak detection specialist?

Plumbers fix pipes and many of them call us when the leak is underground. Here is where the two jobs differ.

Read: plumber or specialist? →

Equipment

A plumber

A pressure test, a visual check and experience. Most plumbers do not carry locating gear.

Utility Works

Acoustic correlators, ground microphones, tracer gas, pipe tracing, GPR and thermal imaging, on hand for every job.

Who digs and repairs

A plumber

Repairs the pipe once it is exposed. Excavation under concrete or a driveway usually means a second contractor.

Utility Works

The same crew locates, excavates by hand, digger or hydro-vac, repairs the pipe and reinstates the surface.

Commercial experience

A plumber

Mostly house connections and internal plumbing.

Utility Works

Shopping centres, hospitals, retirement villages, schools and private networks, tested section by section, often overnight.

When the first contractor can't find it

A plumber

The next step is usually to dig along the pipe or replace the whole run.

Utility Works

This is most of our work. We take over the trace and narrow it to one spot before anyone digs.

Specialist proof

Called in when the first contractor couldn't find it

Straight from our Facebook job diary, in Tony's words. Clients unnamed, as they are there.

More on Facebook →
  • “After substantial effort for months by other contractors to locate this leak … we traced pipeline, detected, excavated & reinstated this leak within days of initial commission.”

    One of Auckland’s most critical operations · leak detection and repairTony Eggleton · September 2026

  • “Over 8 years servicing this client with water mains leak detection, repairs and upgrades.”

    One of Auckland’s largest shopping centres · another leak excavated and repairedTony Eggleton · November 2025

  • “Over 200 individual pipe, cables, ducts and drains tracked and traced so far with more to go…”

    Long-term client, South Auckland · services detection and mappingTony Eggleton · July 2025

  • “10 Acre site, first hole - leak found on the mark.”

    Rural property · leak detectionTony Eggleton · May 2025

How it goes

From your first call to a finished job

  1. Call or message us

    Tell us what you’re seeing. We’ll ask a few questions, give you a straight answer on what it needs, and book a time.

  2. We find it

    Acoustic correlators, ground mics and pipe tracing pinpoint the leak — usually in a single visit, usually without digging.

  3. We fix it and tidy up

    Same crew opens the ground only where the leak is, repairs the pipe, and reinstates the surface. You get a photo record and a survey plan.

Utility Works crew pinpointing an underground water leak on a South Auckland property
South Auckland

The essential guide to underground leak detection in South Auckland

Under most South Auckland properties there is a water pipe nobody has looked at since it went in. When one cracks, the water soaks into the ground and the first clue is indirect: a bill that has jumped, a meter that keeps turning with every tap off, a patch of lawn or driveway that never dries, or pressure that has quietly dropped. We go through each one in five signs of a hidden underground leak.

Utility Works has been finding and fixing underground water leaks across South Auckland since 2015, from our yard at Waiau Pa. Acoustic correlators, ground microphones and pipe tracing pinpoint the leak before anyone digs. Then the same crew opens the ground at that one spot, repairs the pipe and puts the surface back. Homes, commercial sites and farms, one team for the whole job.

Leak detection is water only. We locate gas lines so nobody hits them, but a smell of gas is a call to your gas retailer, not to us.

Across South Auckland

Leak detection for homes, businesses and farms

The leak looks different on every kind of property, and so does the fix. Here is what we are usually looking at in South Auckland, and which part of the job is yours.

Residential leak detection

Most South Auckland homes are fed by one service pipe from the meter at the boundary to the house, and everything on your side of the meter is yours to maintain. We pinpoint the leak on that pipe, usually in a single visit, and dig only where it is.

Commercial and industrial sites

Offices, retail centres, schools, yards and factories across Manukau, East Tāmaki and Papakura usually have a network of their own behind the meter. We test it section by section, overnight if that suits the site, so trading carries on while we work.

Farms and lifestyle blocks

From the Aka Aka flats to Mangatawhiri, farm water runs a long way from bore or tank to troughs and sheds, and a leak can empty a tank before anything shows. We trace the line, find the loss and repair it without ripping up the paddock.

Body corporates and villages

Retirement villages, apartment blocks and strata sites share one supply and one bill. Night-flow testing and isolation show which run or unit is losing water, so the repair is one excavation rather than a guess.

Plumbers and property managers

A plumber has confirmed the loss but the pipe is under concrete or lawn. We locate it and mark it, and if you want, excavate, repair and reinstate in the same visit.

Leaks the water supplier has flagged

Watercare has told you the meter is turning and the leak is on your side of the point of supply. We find it, fix it and give you the photo record to send back to them.

What leak detection costs in South Auckland

Leak detection starts from $300 +GST (the full price note is at the top of this page). Before anyone comes out we talk it through on the phone and give you an estimate, so there are no surprises.

What moves the price is how much pipe there is to check, what is on top of it, and whether you want the same crew to dig and repair it once it is found. A single house connection under lawn sits at the low end. A commercial network tested overnight is a bigger job, and still far cheaper than the water it is losing.

Read what affects the price

Leak detection across South Auckland, Franklin and North Waikato

Based at Waiau Pa, we cover the whole of South Auckland: Manukau and East Tāmaki, Papakura and Drury, then Pukekohe, Waiuku and the rest of Franklin, and over the Waikato River to Tuakau and Pōkeno. Further out we run north to West Auckland and the North Shore, south to Huntly, Ngāruawāhia and Hamilton, and east to Thames and the Hauraki Plains. Local pages for each town:

Stop water loss fast — book leak detection and repair today.

Free, no-obligation quote · Mon–Fri 7am–5pm · Auckland, Franklin & North Waikato

Call us0800 779 588Get a free quote

A closer look

Still not sure which one? Here’s each in more depth.

Acoustic Leak Detection

Acoustic Leak Detection

Water escaping from a crack or joint under pressure makes a sound that travels along the pipe. We listen for it with ground microphones and acoustic correlators, through concrete, asphalt and several metres of soil, and narrow it to a spot you could cover with a dinner plate.

It’s the first thing we do on almost every leak job, because it means nobody digs until we know exactly where. On a typical house connection it’s a single visit; on a large network we combine it with isolation testing and pipe tracing to work section by section.

Good for

  • High water bills with no visible leak
  • Leaks under driveways, slabs or paving
  • Confirming a leak before any excavation
  • Pressurised mains and private service lines
Acoustic Leak Detection →Get a quote
Leak Excavation & Repair

Leak Excavation & Repair

Once the leak is marked, our own crew opens the ground — by hand, digger or hydro-vac depending on what’s nearby — exposes the damaged section and makes a permanent repair in PVC, MDPE, copper or galvanised.

Then we reinstate: concrete, asphalt, lawn or paving, back to how it was. Because the same team located the leak, there’s no second contractor, no re-marking and no argument about whose fault the hole is.

Good for

  • A leak that’s already been pinpointed
  • Burst or split mains and laterals
  • Repairs under concrete or near other services
  • Jobs where reinstatement matters
Leak Excavation & Repair →Get a quote
Water Network Surveys

Water Network Surveys

For sites with their own reticulation — retirement villages, schools, body corporates, farms, industrial yards — a survey looks at the whole network rather than one leak: pressure and flow testing, hydrant and valve checks, system mapping and night-flow loss measurement.

You get a plain report of where the network is losing water or at risk, and because we’re the crew that found it, we can go straight to locating and repairing the losses.

Good for

  • Multi-unit and commercial sites
  • Unexplained ongoing water loss
  • Asset managers needing a mapped network
  • Planning renewals before failures
Water Network Surveys →Get a quote

Google reviews

What customers say

5.0 on Google →
  • “Prompt service & fair pricing. Tony and his team — sharp eye for detail and out of the box problem solving paired with a high standard of workmanship.”

    Richard La Trobe · Google · October 2026

  • “Really happy with the work to install our underground services. Highly recommend.”

    Sarah Walworth · Google · October 2026

  • “The only company we trust… reliable, cost effective, and honest service from A to Z. 100% confidence in this company.”

    Darrel Assink · Google · September 2026

Leak Detection Specialists

Our Projects

1–2 of 4

Retirement Village Water Leak Detection & Repair

South Auckland

Retirement Village Water Leak Detection & Repair

A large retirement village of 58 units in South Auckland had been experiencing underground water loss. Utility Works conducted system loss testing, system mapping, mark-out and CCTV/sonde pinpointing of joint and tapping band positions, isolation point installation, followed by acoustic and infrared detection works. Once leak positions were located, we implemented strategic excavation and pipe repairs, followed by ground reinstatement and site clean-up. This successful project resulted in the accurate locating and repair of five leak positions, and provided substantial water savings to the client.

Read the case study
Industrial Property Water Loss Investigation

East Tāmaki, Auckland

Industrial Property Water Loss Investigation

A large, 14-hectare industrial property in East Tāmaki was experiencing a high-volume water-loss issue. The busy site was losing in excess of 170 L/min and substantial works had already been undertaken to attempt locating the leak before Utility Works was engaged. We undertook a strategic approach to the investigation including a full site audit and partial mapping of the 180mm mains and isolation testing, followed by IR, GPR, and acoustic works which enabled us to pinpoint the leak, have the position excavated, and the leak repaired overnight.

Read the case study

Worth a read first

Guides & advice

1–3 of 6

How to Find an Underground Water Leak in NZ: Signs, the Meter Test and Who to Call

How to Find an Underground Water Leak in NZ: Signs, the Meter Test and Who to Call

Most underground water leaks start small and stay out of sight. By the time water shows at the surface it may have been running for weeks, and every litre has gone through your meter. This guide covers the signs we see most often across Auckland, Franklin and the Waikato, how to run the meter test that confirms a leak, how to work out which side of the meter it is on, and who to call for each situation.

Read the guide
Who Owns the Pipe From the Street to Your House? Point of Supply, Responsibility and Leak Remissions in NZ

Who Owns the Pipe From the Street to Your House? Point of Supply, Responsibility and Leak Remissions in NZ

When water starts pooling in the berm or the bill doubles, the first question is who has to fix it. The answer depends on which side of the point of supply the problem sits, and that line is drawn in a slightly different place on urban, rural, cross-lease and unit-title properties. This guide explains where it is, what the water supplier will and will not do, how shared pipes and tenancies work, and how to claim back some of the water a leak cost you.

Read the guide
What Leak Detection Costs in NZ: What Affects the Price and Why One Crew Is Cheaper

What Leak Detection Costs in NZ: What Affects the Price and Why One Crew Is Cheaper

People ring us wanting a price before anyone has seen the site, and that is fair. This guide gives you our straight answer on where leak detection starts, explains what makes one job take longer than another, and shows with real jobs why finding and fixing the leak with one crew usually costs less overall than hiring a detection company and then a separate digger or plumber.

Read the guide

FAQ'S

How much does leak detection cost in Auckland?
Leak detection and service detection jobs can start from $300 +GST. Every job is different, so call 0800 779 588 and we’ll talk through your situation and give you an estimate. For commercial sites and private networks there is no fixed number: talk to us about your site and we will scope it properly.
How does acoustic leak detection find leaks underground?
Our specialists use advanced ground microphones and acoustic correlators to detect the sound of water escaping under pressure. These frequencies are analysed to locate the precise leak point, even through layers of concrete, asphalt, or soil.
Is acoustic leak detection suitable for all pipe materials?
Yes. We work effectively with PVC, copper, steel, MDPE, and galvanised pipe systems.
What types of pipes can you repair?
We repair all common materials — PVC, MDPE, copper, and galvanised water lines — for both residential and commercial clients.
How do you know where to dig?
We use precise Acoustic Leak Detection and Water Network Surveys to pinpoint the leak before excavation begins.
Will my property be left tidy after the repair?
Yes. We take pride in restoring every site to a clean, professional finish once the repair is complete.

Ready when you are.

Tell us what you’re seeing or what you’re planning. You’ll get a straight answer, a free quote and one crew that does the whole job.

Call us0800 779 588Email usinfo@utilityworks.co.nzGet a free quote

Mon–Fri 7am–5pm · Waiau Pa, South Auckland · Auckland, Franklin & North Waikato