Unusually High Water Bill in Metro Atlanta? A Hidden Leak Is the Most Likely Cause.
Your usage didn’t change. Your habits didn’t change. But the bill went up — sometimes by hundreds of dollars.
The most common reason is a leak you cannot see. Hidden leaks inside walls, beneath the foundation, or underground can run for weeks without leaving a visible trace inside the house. Meanwhile, your meter records every gallon.
Plumbing Express finds the source. We use thermal imaging, acoustic detection, and pressure testing to locate leaks other methods miss — and we show you what we found before any repair work begins.
Why Your Water Bill Suddenly Spikes
A high water bill without an obvious cause usually comes down to one of a few things. The most common culprits, in order of likelihood:
A hidden leak in your plumbing system
Slab leaks, supply line failures inside walls, and underground main line breaks can lose thousands of gallons a month without ever producing a visible wet spot inside the house. These are the hardest to find and the most expensive to ignore.
A running toilet
A toilet with a failed flapper or fill valve can silently pass 200 or more gallons per day. You won’t hear it running, but the meter records every drop. This is worth ruling out before calling a plumber — lift the tank lid and check whether water is running into the bowl without flushing.
A dripping faucet
A faucet dripping once per second wastes roughly 3,000 gallons per year. Worth fixing regardless, but rarely the cause of a dramatic bill spike.
A meter or billing error
Uncommon, but it happens. If your bill is unusually high and you’ve already ruled out the above, call your utility and ask for a meter reading verification.
If you’ve checked the obvious fixtures and the bill is still high, you almost certainly have a hidden leak somewhere in the system. That is where we come in.
How Much a Hidden Leak Actually Wastes
The numbers are bigger than most homeowners expect.
A slow slab leak or underground supply line failure can lose 10,000 gallons or more per month. At Metro Atlanta water rates, that adds hundreds of dollars to your bill — every month it goes undetected. And water damage doesn’t stop at the meter: sustained moisture inside walls, under floors, or in the soil around your foundation creates conditions for mold, structural decay, and foundation movement.
The leak itself is fixable. The damage it causes while it runs is what drives the real cost. Finding it early is the single most effective way to limit both.
How We Find the Source
We do not guess. Plumbing Express uses three non-invasive methods to locate hidden leaks — and we match the method to the situation rather than running every job through the same procedure.
Pressure isolation testing: confirms whether an active leak exists in the system and identifies which branch or section is affected. This is often the first step.
Thermal imaging detects temperature differences behind walls and under floors caused by leaking water. A hot water line seeping inside a wall leaves a heat signature that is invisible to the eye and clear on an infrared scan.
Acoustic detection locates the sound of pressurized water escaping from a pipe — useful for leaks inside concrete slabs or underground supply lines where thermal scanning is less effective.
We show you what we find before any repair decision is made. You see the evidence, understand the options, and decide how to proceed. No pressure, no surprises.
For a full explanation of how our detection process works, visit our leak detection service page.
What Happens After We Find It
Once we locate the source, we walk you through your options. That might be a targeted pipe repair, a slab leak bypass, or — in cases where the piping system has reached the end of its useful life — a whole-home repipe that eliminates the problem at the root.
If the leak has caused water damage, we document the source and scope in writing. That documentation supports insurance claims and helps your adjuster understand what happened and what the repair covered.
You are never committed to a repair on the day of the diagnostic visit. We find the source, explain your options, and let you decide when you are ready.
What Atlanta Homeowners Say About Plumbing Express
Our 4.9-star rating comes from 2,000+ Google reviews written by real homeowners across Metro Atlanta. Here is what a few of them had to say.
Read more reviews on Google or visit our customer reviews page to see why Atlanta homeowners choose Plumbing Express.
Service couldn’t be completed due to needing a new system. We appreciate the very informative visit as well as insight that could help after a new unit install.
Plumbing Express was great. I had a failed sump pump that had partially overflowed into the basement. Nasty. Josh was the tech that did the work. He was efficient, neat and courteous. I will use Plumbing Express if I have any other plumbing needs and I will recommend them to my family and friends.
The technician was very knowledgeable and professional. I believe they did a very good job.
Ron was our second plumber from this company. The first plumber came, examined pipes and said he found no leak, even though we had experiences a large amount of water leaking from the ceiling in the finished basement. Several days later we had another leak-same area but less water the second time. Ron came in, listened to our frustration and did a more thorough inspection of the pipes and identified the problem. He was very personable and professional. On his third visit, we had several replacement pipes installed and are without leaks again. Our frustration, with the situation, was my son had used your company to replace pipes when he purchased the home and founding out not all the pipes were included with that process.
Tim arrived on time and was very professional. He took his time to explain the problem and the process it would take fix the water line.
Called Plumbing Express as tankless hot water not operating. Their website states "Get Free Plumbing Quote ". When service man showed up an looked at unit he said there would be a $207 charge to look into unit in order to give me a quote to fix unit. Due to not having hot water and time required to get another company to address the problem I agreed to pay $207 for quote. After looking in unit I was told he would not be able to fix due to age of unit and parts not available. I think he should have said parts not available when seeing model number on front of unit and I would not have wasted $207.
Outstanding customer service, we will definitely be using them in the future for any plumbing needs. Can’t thank them enough!
Extremely knowledgeable and very helpful. The team was excellent. The job was completed in 1 day with a great team. Very expressive.
Daniel Perez was great in coming out to check the problem I had with a water leak from my air conditioner line. His recommendation was correct.
Great and informative service while I was in a bind without a functioning water heater.
Plumbing Express is my go-to plumbing support team. They have fair pricing, well-vetted technicians, and a truly exceptional scheduling system. Rod, my technician, was the best. He quickly assessed the problem and gave a fair estimate, working hard to keep to the schedule. He even brought Josh along on the day of service, and the two of them worked well together. They addressed the bathtub drain repair with expertise and caused the least sheetrock damage. It was difficult to replace the broken pipe and get to the upstairs drain, but together they made it a success.
Daniel did a great job and was very professional during his service call last week!
Rod and Josh did an awesome job taking care of my clogged sinks. Knowledgable, professional and great to work with - I really appreciated their help today and would highly recommend them and Plumbing Express!
Daniel was excellent. The work he did was simply superb. I highly recommend your company and hopefully Daniel will get more and more work
Dylan from Plumbing Express came over and replaced our garbage disposal for us. It was older, had a massive leak, and needed to be replaced. He did a great job and was in and out in about 30 minutes! I also asked him to check out a potential leak I had been hearing in my ceiling. He used a thermal camera to investigate and was very honest and upfront about what he found. Rather than immediately cutting into the drywall to confirm something uncertain, he explained that the sound could simply be pipes expanding and that opening the wall might be unnecessary. He recommended monitoring the area and waiting to see if a wet spot appears, which would clearly indicate an actual leak. I really appreciated that he didn’t try to upsell or push unnecessary work. Overall, great service and a great guy. They will definitely be our go-to plumbing service from now on.
Once again we had some problems under our kitchen sink so we called Plumbing Express who were able to get us on their schedule pretty quickly after these storms Tim Robinson came out to do the job. Tim has been to our house for a number of different plumbing problems. He is personable & professional. As usual he did a great job even though this particular problem turned out to be far more difficult than anyone had expected. As frustrating as it was, Tim worked through it until he finished the job. We can't thank him enough.
Anthony was very competent, professional and friendly. He answered all my questions throughly. Highly recommend!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my high water bill is from a leak or something else?
Start with the meter test. Turn off every faucet, toilet, appliance, and fixture in the house. Go outside and watch the meter. If the dial or flow indicator is moving, water is actively leaving your system somewhere. If it is still, the issue may be a dripping fixture that runs intermittently. A diagnostic visit will confirm either way.
My water bill was high for two months. Does that mean I've had a leak for two months?
Possibly, yes. Hidden leaks can run for months before any visible sign appears inside the home. The bill spike is often the first — and only — early indicator. The sooner you have it investigated, the less water you lose and the less potential damage accumulates.
Can a high water bill be caused by a problem outside my house?
Yes. Underground supply line failures between your meter and your home are a common cause of unexplained high bills. These leaks lose water into the soil and rarely produce a visible wet spot right away. An on-site assessment will check both indoor and outdoor plumbing as potential sources.
Will my homeowner's insurance cover a hidden leak?
It depends on the policy and the cause. Sudden, accidental leaks are more likely to be covered. Slow leaks from gradual deterioration are often excluded. We provide written documentation of the leak source and repair, which supports insurance claims. Contact your insurer to understand your specific coverage before making any assumptions.
What does it cost to find the source of a high water bill?
There is no dispatch fee for a leak assessment. Diagnostic costs depend on what the situation requires — from a basic pressure isolation test at $195 to more advanced acoustic or trace gas detection if needed. We tell you upfront what the diagnostic will cost before we begin.
Our Service Areas
Serving Metro Atlanta, North Georgia, and Surrounding Communities
Plumbing Express provides plumbing, repiping, water heater, and drain cleaning services to homeowners across Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Our licensed plumbers know the plumbing systems in this region, from aging polybutylene pipes in 1980s subdivisions to clay sewer lines in older neighborhoods.
We serve the following counties and communities:
Don’t see your city listed? We likely serve your area too. Visit our full service area page or call (678) 439-9540 to confirm availability at your address.
Schedule a Hidden Leak Service in Atlanta, GA Today
A high water bill is telling you something is wrong. The longer a hidden leak runs, the more it costs — in water, in damage, and in repair scope.