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A water leak is any leak in your home’s plumbing, from a dripping faucet to a burst supply line. A slab leak is a specific type of water leak: one that happens in the pipes running underneath your home’s concrete foundation, which is harder to spot and usually needs different detection methods than a leak you can see. If you searched either term, this page covers both, because most homeowners aren’t sure which one describes what they’re actually noticing until someone walks them through the difference.
We’re based in Santa Ana and serve homeowners across central Orange County using the same non-invasive detection methods and the same two guarantees on every job, no matter which OC city you’re in.
A leak you can see, under a sink, at a visible fitting, behind an exposed pipe, is usually straightforward to find and fix. A slab leak is different because the pipe is buried under concrete, so there's nothing to visually inspect; finding it means listening for it, reading temperature differences in the slab, or tracing it with gas, not opening a cabinet to look.
That's the reason a slab leak specifically calls for the non-invasive detection methods described below, while a visible leak often doesn't need them at all. If you're trying to figure out which one you're dealing with, a sudden high water bill, a warm floor spot, or the sound of running water when everything's off all point toward a slab leak specifically rather than a visible plumbing leak.
Whether the leak is under a slab or somewhere else hard to access, we use the same set of non-invasive methods to find it before any repair begins, not a guess about where to start cutting:
We use these methods together, not in isolation, because no single one catches every leak in every situation. For the full explanation of how and when we use each one, see our slab leak detection and repair service in Santa Ana, or read why this non-invasive approach beats jackhammering the floor to see what it replaces.
Three things drive most of the leaks we find across Orange County, and they interact.
Pipe material comes first. Galvanized steel corrodes from the inside until it narrows and weeps. Copper is more durable but not immune: galvanic corrosion, driven by the mineral content of hard water, thins the wall from within until a pinhole opens.
Foundation type decides what that failure costs you. In slab-on-grade construction the supply lines run under poured concrete, so a pinhole nobody can see keeps releasing water into the ground beneath the house. On a raised foundation the same pinhole is reachable, and cheaper to fix.
Soil is the third factor. Where a slab sits on expansive clay, that soil swells and shrinks with the seasons, and pipe joints set in concrete cannot flex with it. Decades of that movement fail joints that never corroded at all.
Locating any of these is a measurement problem, not a guessing one. Acoustic listening picks up escaping water in a pressurised line, thermal imaging reads the temperature signature it leaves, and pressure testing isolates which line is losing pressure when the sound is ambiguous. If we cannot find the leak, the no-find-no-fee guarantee means you owe nothing for the visit.
A sudden jump in your water bill, a warm spot on the floor, or the sound of running water when everything is off are the most common signs of a possible slab leak. A wet or green patch in the yard, unexpectedly low water pressure, and brown or rusty water from a usually clear tap are worth watching for too.
None of these confirms a leak on its own, but the pattern across more than one sign is usually what points toward calling for a detection visit. See our full slab leak signs and symptoms checklist for all seven signs.
The next step is a detection visit, not a guess about which pipe, foundation type, or soil condition is behind it. Because a slab leak specifically can't be confirmed by eye, the acoustic, thermal, tracer-gas, and pressure methods described above are what actually locate it before anyone decides where to open the floor. From here, the process below covers exactly what that visit involves, which cities we cover, and why the same specialist handles detection and repair start to finish.
You tell us what you’ve noticed. We locate the leak with acoustic and thermal equipment before anything is opened up. We mark the exact spot and explain what we found in plain language. You get a written quote on site, and the same crew does the repair.
The detection visit is a flat $150 to $500, credited toward the repair if you go ahead. The full sequence — what helps before we arrive, what happens at each step, and the four things you get at the end — is on what happens on a leak detection visit.
We're based in Santa Ana and serve homeowners across central Orange County, including Garden Grove, Orange, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, and Irvine, with service also available in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Westminster, and Anaheim.
We're a new company actively growing this list, and we say so directly: our deepest local knowledge is concentrated in Santa Ana today, and we're building that same depth city by city rather than claiming an established presence everywhere at once. See our full service area breakdown for how that coverage is organized.
Detection is a flat $150 to $500 anywhere we work, credited toward the repair. Your price is quoted in writing after we see the job — see pricing. The full service index is on all leak detection services.
A general plumber can repair a leak once it's found. Finding a slab leak precisely, without opening a wall or floor to look, is a different skill built by running acoustic, thermal, and tracer-gas equipment on leak after leak until reading the results correctly becomes routine. That's most of what we do, not an occasional call squeezed between other jobs, and it's why the same team that locates your leak also completes the repair, with nothing lost in a hand-off to a separate contractor.
A detection visit is a flat-rate charge of $150 to $500, credited toward the repair if you move forward. Repair is estimated by method rather than as one band.
| Service | Estimated price |
|---|---|
| Detection visit (flat rate, credited toward the repair) | $150 – $500 |
| Spot repair, accessible area (garage, closet, laundry) | $1,500 – $2,500 |
| Spot repair, under tile or hardwood | $2,500 – $3,500 |
| Reroute, single line | $2,000 – $4,500 |
| Full reroute, multiple lines | $7,500 – $14,000 |
| Whole-house repipe | $6,000 – $15,000 |
Estimates based on Orange County pricing, reviewed August 2026. Your price is quoted in writing after we see the job.
Most of the gap between the low and high end is the floor, not the plumbing. A leak under a garage slab is opened and patched in a day. The same leak under bedroom tile means removing and replacing the tile, which is where the cost goes. Where a home is on a post-tension slab, the concrete has to be scanned and the cable runs mapped before anything is opened, which adds time.
Whether insurance covers a slab leak repair depends on the specific cause and how the damage occurred, not a blanket yes or no. See our full guide on documenting a slab leak insurance claim for what to document; we don't promise a specific coverage outcome, since that call belongs to your policy and your carrier.
Contact us to schedule a detection visit, Monday through Saturday, 7am to 6pm, or reach our 24/7 emergency line (English and Spanish) for a genuine emergency.
We're based in Santa Ana and bring the same equipment and the same named technicians to every OC city we serve.
(714) 386-7923Call or text, day or night Get a Leak CheckedA water leak is any leak in your home’s plumbing. A slab leak is specifically one under your home’s concrete foundation, which is harder to spot and needs non-invasive detection methods rather than a visual check.
We serve Santa Ana as our home base, with active service in Garden Grove, Orange, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, and Irvine, and growing service in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Westminster, and Anaheim. If your city isn’t listed, contact us and we’ll let you know.
A detection visit is a flat-rate $150 to $500, credited toward the repair if you proceed. Repair is estimated by scope, from $1,500 for a spot repair in an accessible area up to $15,000 for a whole-house repipe. Your price is quoted in writing after we see the job. See our transparent pricing page for the full breakdown.
Yes, someone who can grant access to the property and speak to what you’ve noticed should be present, since we’ll walk through the findings with you before recommending anything.
It depends on your specific policy and how the damage occurred. See our insurance documentation guide for what to document; we don’t promise a coverage outcome.
No. Every method above works from the surface, without cutting concrete or opening walls to search. Repair is different by necessity, since reaching the pipe means opening the specific section where the leak is, but locating it precisely first keeps that opening confined to the actual leak location.
Usually not an immediate emergency. It is still worth scheduling a detection visit soon rather than waiting. The exceptions are active water pooling, a rapid water bill spike, or a sudden pressure drop, any of which is worth a same-week call, or a call to our 24/7 emergency line if it’s active flooding right now.