Clark County and the Las Vegas ValleySNWA voucher up to $250Water at 16 grains per gallon
A hidden leak can run for months before it shows on a ceiling or a floor. The EPA puts the average household at more than 9,300 gallons a year lost to leaks that nobody found.
Figures above are published third party data, not company claims. Sources: US EPA WaterSense, Southern Nevada Water Authority, SNWA rebates and vouchers, HomeAdvisor cost guides.
Leak detection is the work of finding a hidden leak before anything is opened up. A plumber isolates the house at the meter, then narrows the location with pressure tests, listening equipment and moisture readings. Published Las Vegas detection ranges run $125 to $400, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority offers up to $250 toward the visit.
This page covers leak detection across the Las Vegas Valley. If you are not sure this is the right service, start from the services index.
Most hidden leaks show up in the bill before they show up on a wall. A pinhole in a pressurized line can lose water for weeks while the drywall in front of it stays dry.
Write down what you notice and when it started. The pattern matters more than any single symptom, because it tells a plumber where to start looking.
You know something is leaking, but you cannot point to it. The water shows up somewhere the pipe is not, or it never shows up at all and only the bill moves. That gap between the symptom and the source is what this page is about.
This page covers finding the leak, not fixing it. If a plumber has already told you the leak is under the concrete, go straight to slab leak repair across Clark County. If the wet ground sits between the meter and the house, the work is water line repair. If sewage is backing up rather than clean water spreading, start with sewer Line Repair and Replacement in Clark County, NV instead.
Detection is a sequence of eliminations, not a single test. Each step rules out a section of the house so the next step can be narrower and cheaper.
| What is included | What that means |
|---|---|
| Meter isolation test | Every fixture is shut off and the meter indicator is watched, which separates a leak inside the house from one out in the yard. |
| Fixture and toilet check | Each toilet gets a dye test, because the Southern Nevada Water Authority reports more than 20 percent of toilets are leaking quietly. |
| Pressure test on the supply | The system is isolated and held under pressure to see whether it holds, which confirms a leak exists before anyone starts cutting. |
| Acoustic and thermal scanning | Listening gear and surface temperature readings narrow a pressurized leak to a small area under tile, stucco or concrete. |
| Moisture mapping of the wet room | Meters read moisture in drywall, baseboard and flooring to map the wet edge and show how far the water traveled from the break. |
| A written location and next step | You get the location, what it takes to reach it, and whether the repair falls under Clark County Code 22.02.195 as work needing no permit. |
Every claim here is either checkable or stated plainly as unknown.
The order is fixed, because each step makes the next one cheaper.
You say what changed, when it started and what the bill did. A plumber asks for the address, the symptom and when someone can be home.
On the phoneYou turn off every tap and appliance that uses water. The plumber watches the flow indicator and times it, which splits the search into inside or underground.
Start of the site visitYou stay out of the water system while the test runs. The plumber closes off sections one at a time to find which branch will not hold pressure.
Once the meter test is readYou point out where sounds or stains appear. The plumber uses listening equipment and moisture readings to mark a small target before any tile or drywall is cut.
Before any demolitionYou approve or decline in writing. The plumber explains the repair options at the marked spot and what each one costs before work begins.
Before any work startsThe price becomes final when you approve the written repair scope after the leak is located, not before.
Detection is one of the few plumbing jobs with a clean published range, and HomeAdvisor's is in the table below. It describes the market, not a quote for your house.
Detection and repair are priced separately in most published guides. The detection fee buys the location, and the repair is quoted once anybody knows what is actually broken.
A plumber comes to the house, runs the meter test and the pressure test, and works the house down to a marked spot. A straightforward detection visit usually runs one to three hours, longer when the leak sits under concrete or out in the yard.
You get the repair price in writing at the house, after the leak is located and before anything is cut open. If the location changes what the repair takes, the number is revised and approved again before work continues.
| Job | Typical Las Vegas range | What moves the number |
|---|---|---|
| Leak detection | $125 to $400 | Repairing the pipe once it is found runs about $150 to $350 more. Las Vegas contractors commonly publish $200 to $600 for detection. |
| Slab leak detection | $150 to $400 | Pinpointing the leak from above the slab, before any concrete is opened. |
| Sewer camera inspection | $100 to $500 | That is the range when it is run as part of diagnosing a sewer problem. A standalone full survey runs higher. |
| Toilet repair | $150 to $391 | Average about $271. A running toilet runs $100 to $400, a wax ring $50 to $200, a fill or flush valve $50 to $150. |
| Service call or diagnostic fee | $75 to $150 | The broader trade range runs about $50 to $200. Emergency and after hours dispatch is higher, commonly $150 to $350 or more. |
Every figure in this table is a published Las Vegas or national market range from the source named beside it. It is not a quote and it is not this company's price list. Your number comes from the on site estimate. Sources: <a href="https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/plumbing/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">HomeAdvisor cost guides, 2026</a>, <a href="https://www.housecallpro.com/resources/marketing/how-to/how-to-price-plumbing-jobs/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Housecall Pro 2026 Plumbing Price Guide</a>.
A $125 to $400 detection visit is cheaper than replacing pipe on a guess and then finding the leak somewhere else.
Published guides put a plumbing service call or diagnostic fee at about $75 to $150. The broader trade range runs from $50 to $200. That figure belongs to the source, not to us, and it covers the visit and the diagnosis rather than the repair.
The detection fee and the repair price are two separate numbers. Whether the first comes off the second is a policy this page cannot confirm. Ask for both numbers when you describe the leak on the phone.
Ranges last reviewed September 2026.
These are the conditions a detection visit is reading. Each one is an illustration of the symptom, drawn to show what a homeowner would see in the house.
A worn flapper lets water slip from the tank into the bowl with no noise at all. SNWA reports more than 20 percent of toilets are leaking this way. A dye tablet in the tank settles the question in about 15 minutes.
Water tracks along framing before it drops, so the stain often sits feet away from the break. The edge of the stain shows how long it has been running. Moisture meters read the drywall to find the wet end of that path.
The images on this page are illustrations of leak symptoms, not photographs of work done for a customer. Job photographs go here once there are signed releases to publish them.
Some of it, yes. Read the meter with the house shut down and dye test the toilets, since both are free and both rule things out. What a homeowner usually cannot do is pinpoint a pressurized leak inside a slab or a wall without listening gear.
Because the repair price depends entirely on the location. A pinhole reachable from a cabinet and the same pinhole under a bedroom slab are very different jobs. Paying for the location first is what keeps you from paying for the wrong repair.
A small leak is still a leak, and pressurized water does not stay small. The EPA puts average household losses above 9,300 gallons a year. Las Vegas water at 280 parts per million also leaves mineral behind everywhere it sits.
Not to look. Meter tests, pressure tests, listening equipment and moisture meters all work without opening anything. Something is only opened once the spot is marked, and you see the mark first.
That happens, and you should hear it plainly rather than watch someone guess. If the tests point outside the house, the next step is the buried service line. If they point at the sewer, that is a camera job instead.
We cover leak detection in every part of the valley listed below. Each area page names the office that issues the plumbing permit there and who owns the sewer line at the curb, because both genuinely differ from one city to the next.
Say it is about this when you call and you skip the sorting.
We are a service area business. We come to you, so there is no counter to visit and no street address on this page. The number above is the fastest way in.
About a minute of detail changes what we can tell you on the call.
Shut off every tap and appliance that uses water, then watch the flow indicator on your meter. If it still moves, water is going somewhere. A bill that jumped with no change in use points the same way. So does a warm patch on a tile floor.
The order matters. Do the free checks first, because a running toilet is the most common cause and a dye tablet finds it in minutes. If the meter still moves after that, the search moves to the buried line and the slab.
Published cost guides put leak detection at about $125 to $400, and Las Vegas contractors commonly publish $200 to $600. Repairing the pipe once it is found usually adds $150 to $350 more. Those are market ranges from HomeAdvisor, not a quote for your house.
Your number depends on where the leak turns out to be. A leak in an accessible wall, one under a slab and one out in the yard are three different jobs. Each carries its own price.
Yes, within limits. SNWA offers single family homeowners a voucher of up to $250 toward a leak diagnostic visit or the first two hours of leak repair. It is one voucher per property per calendar year, and the work goes through a participating Water Smart Plumber.
Read the current terms on the SNWA rebates page before you book anything, because program rules change. We make no claim about our own standing in that program, and you should ask any plumber to show you theirs.
It can, and it is common here, because Las Vegas homes sit on slabs rather than basements. The usual signs are a warm patch on the floor, the sound of running water with everything off, and a jump in the bill. Confirming it still starts at the meter.
Homes here are built on slabs largely because of caliche, a calcium carbonate layer under the desert soil about as hard as concrete. Once a slab leak is confirmed, the work moves to slab Leak Repair in the Las Vegas Valley.
Most detection visits run one to three hours. The meter test takes about 15 minutes, a pressure test another 20 to 30, and pinpointing takes the rest. A leak under a slab or out in the yard runs longer, because each reading gets confirmed a second way.
Access drives much of it. Cleared cabinets, a reachable water heater and an open meter box all shorten the visit. Furniture over the suspect area and a locked side gate both add time.
Usually not for the repair itself. Clark County Code 22.02.195 lists work that needs no permit, including repairing leaks in pipes, valves or fixtures. The exemption holds as long as concealed piping is not replaced or rearranged. Replacing a run of pipe inside a wall is different.
Jurisdiction decides the detail. Unincorporated county permits come from Building and Fire Prevention at 4701 West Russell Road. Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City each run their own department.
Yes, and it is the cheapest leak in the house to fix. SNWA reports more than 20 percent of toilets have a leak, and most of those are a worn flapper. Published guides put toilet repair at about $150 to $391, with a flapper far below that.
A silent toilet leak can run without ever reaching the floor. Put dye or food coloring in the tank, wait 15 minutes, then look in the bowl. Color in the bowl means the flapper is passing water.
Describe what is happening and we will tell you what it usually takes to fix.