Is plumbing cover actually worth it for a Leicester home?

Plumbing cover is one of those products people either swear by or think is a waste of money. The honest answer is that it depends on your home, your plumbing and how you like to handle surprises.

What you are actually buying

Two things. First, the call-out is paid for, so ringing someone at 11pm does not cost you anything extra. Second, someone picks up the phone at 11pm in the first place. For most households the second part turns out to matter more than the first.

When cover makes sense

• Your home is older, with original pipework, and you have already had one or two surprises
• You would struggle to find a few hundred pounds at no notice
• You are not confident finding a trustworthy plumber in a hurry
• You let a property and need problems dealt with quickly without being there
• You are away from the property often, or looking after a relative's home

When it probably does not

• Your home is new, the plumbing is modern and still under warranty
• You already have a plumber in the family
• Your buildings insurance includes an emergency helpline you are happy with, and you have read what it actually covers

The questions worth asking any provider

This applies to us as much as anyone, and if a provider will not answer these plainly, that tells you something.

• Is there a call-out fee on top of the monthly price?
• Is there a limit on the number of callouts?
• Who actually turns up: your own engineers or a subcontractor?
• How quickly do you attend, and is that a promise or a hope?
• What is specifically excluded?
• Is there a waiting period before I can use it?

Local versus national

A national provider usually routes your call through a contact centre and then finds a contractor in your area. That contractor may be excellent, but they are not the company you pay, and nobody in the chain knows your home.

A local plan means the engineer works for the same business that answers the phone. That is why we can give you an arrival window rather than a day. It also means the team knows the housing stock in Leicester, which sounds like a small thing until someone is looking for a stop tap in a 1900s terrace.

The maths, without the sales pitch

Cover is worth it if it stops one or two emergencies a year from becoming expensive ones, or if the certainty is worth more to you than the monthly amount. If you never need it, you have paid for a helpline you did not use, which is true of every kind of cover. What you should not do is buy cover with a call-out fee hidden inside it, because that is the worst of both.