How I'd choose a plumber before the ceiling starts dripping

If I were choosing a plumber before the ceiling starts dripping, I'd do it on a dry day, and I'd ask to see a permit before I ask about price. Nobody reads the small print on a permit with a bucket in the other hand.

Whose pipe is it?

Before any of that, I'd want to know whether a plumber is even the right call. Air Selangor's advice, as SAYS passed it on in 2025, is that its job runs up to the meter and anything leaking inside the home is yours.¹

An Air Selangor advertorial in The Star says the same about internal leaks and pins it on the Water Services Industry Act 2006.² That's a water company describing its own edge, and I've only read this one company's version, so I'd check how my own operator words it.

The regulator is the National Water Services Commission, or SPAN, and it covers Peninsular Malaysia, Putrajaya and Labuan. Sabah and Sarawak aren't on that list, so there I'd start with the state's water department.

In a flat I'd make one more call first. The drip could be coming from a pipe that isn't mine, and I'd want the management office to settle that before anybody quotes me for it.

The permit is the one thing I'd insist on

The 2007 permit rules say work on pipes and fittings carrying water from the mains needs an IPA Type A permit.³ There are two grades, and they're worth knowing:

• Type A1 covers the pipe after the meter and the plumbing inside the house.
• Type A2 covers all of that plus what the rules call the communication pipe.

The same rules ask for a separate permit in each state, and a permit lasts between one and three years. So I'd look at the state and the date on it, not just the fact of it.

The fee schedule put an A1 at RM100 a year.³ I couldn't confirm whether the rules have been amended since they were published, so take that as a rough idea, but I wouldn't accept cost as the reason someone doesn't hold one.

The Act also lets SPAN exempt some work, and I haven't seen that list. A missing permit doesn't prove anything, then. It's just my reason to phone someone else.

Checking is the awkward bit. SAYS says the Air Selangor app will show you plumbers licensed by SPAN nearby.¹ I couldn't find a public list on SPAN's own site to search by name, so outside that app I'd ask for a photo of the permit, and I'd read it.

The water is the cheap part

That same advertorial says a home can lose up to 20,000 gallons a year through leaks, or about 75,700 litres.² It sounds like a flood, but it's only about six cubic metres a month.

Selangor, KL and Putrajaya bill a house in three bands of use, with their own rates for low-cost housing and condominiums, and the new rates The Vibes reported were announced to start on 1 September 2025. Even if every drop of that leak were charged at the top band, RM3.51 a cubic metre, my sum says the bill goes up by under RM25 a month.⁴

What that leak adds to a month's water bill, in ringgit

So the bill isn't what would get me out of bed. It's the plaster, and whatever's sitting under the plaster when it gives way. A leak can run a long time before the bill looks odd, which is one more reason I'd want someone's number before I need it.

What I'd ask while nothing is leaking

I couldn't find a price from anyone who doesn't sell plumbing. The only call-out figures I can find sit on plumbers' own sales pages and a directory, without a date I'd trust, so I won't repeat them.

That means I can't tell you what's fair. I can tell you how I'd make a price mean something, which is to split it:

1. What do you charge to come and look, and does that go away if I take the job?
2. Once you've seen it, will you tell me the price of the fix before you start?
3. If the ceiling has to be opened, who closes it and paints it?
4. What happens if the leak turns out to be next door's, or on the water company's side?
5. If the same joint leaks again in a few months, do I pay twice?

I'd want the answers somewhere I can scroll back to. It doesn't need to be a contract. A WhatsApp message with a number in it beats his memory and mine.

What I'd ignore, and when I'd walk away

I'd ignore the word "licensed" on a listing, because that's only someone's description of himself. I wouldn't put much weight on being fast either, since everyone is fast until you need them.

The usual advice is to walk away from anyone who won't give a firm price over the phone. I wouldn't go that far. A plumber honestly can't price a leak he hasn't found, so "I don't know yet" is a fair answer, and I'd be more worried by someone who's sure.

What I'd want instead is the price of finding out. I'd walk away from someone who won't name that, won't show a permit, or starts cutting before I've heard what it'll cost.