What to do in the first five minutes

The plumber is on the way — what you do right now decides whether this is a repair bill or a renovation. Work through these in order:

  1. Stop the water. For a toilet or sink, turn the small valve behind or below the fixture clockwise. For anything bigger — or if you can't find a fixture valve — shut off the main: usually a wheel or lever where the line enters the house, or at the meter box by the street.
  2. Kill the power risk. If water is near outlets, the breaker panel, or appliances, turn off the breaker for that area. Never step in standing water near anything electrical.
  3. Protect what you can. Move rugs, electronics, and furniture out of the water's path. Lift curtains. If a ceiling is bulging, poke a small relief hole with a screwdriver and put a bucket under it — a controlled drain beats a collapse.
  4. For sewage: stop using all water — every flush or load of laundry sends more into the backup. Keep people and pets away from it.
  5. For a leaking water heater: close the cold-water inlet valve on top of the unit and, for gas models, turn the gas control to pilot or off. For electric, flip the breaker.

Then call (512) 233-6590 if you haven't already. Tell us what you shut off and what you see — it helps the tech arrive with the right parts instead of diagnosing from scratch.

How our emergency response works

When you call with an emergency, you don't go into a scheduling queue — you get triaged. We ask what's happening, whether water is still flowing, and whether anyone is at risk. That determines whether a truck rolls immediately or we talk you through stabilization first. On arrival, the tech stops the damage, then diagnoses, then gives you an exact upfront price before repairs begin. You'll never get a “we'll see how long it takes” on an emergency call.

We're a local shop, not a dispatch center — the person you talk to knows Austin, and the tech who shows up works for us, under our Texas Master Plumber License #M-41147. We've been doing this since 2012, including through the 2021 freeze when half the city's pipes gave out at once. We know what urgency looks like, and we don't perform it — we act on it.