Irrigation mainlines and valves
Long runs, many valves, and a great deal of it buried under decorative gravel where a wet patch is easy to miss. This is where most of it is.
Irrigation leaks →Who we help
Leak detection for HOA boards
A board has to explain a decision to its members. So the useful deliverable is not just a repaired pipe — it is a written record of what was tested, what was found and where.
What a board needs
A finding you can minute
Common-area water loss is usually discovered on a bill and argued about in a meeting.
Common-area irrigation is the single biggest water user on most Valley communities, and it is also the least observed — nobody lives beside a valve box. A leak there can run for months, and the first anyone knows of it is a bill that does not match the season.
What we can give a board is the thing a board actually has to work with: a written record of which systems were isolated, what method was used, what each test showed, where the loss is and what putting it right involves. That is a document you can attach to minutes, hand to a manager or send to an owner who has asked a fair question. We report what the equipment shows, in the direction it points. If the property turns out not to have a leak, that is the finding and it goes in writing the same way.
Common-area systems
Where community water goes missing
The community pool and spa
Automatically topped up, running continuously, and perfectly capable of hiding a loss for a season. Shell, skimmer, light niche, returns and buried plumbing all get tested.
Pool leak detection →Shared and buried supply lines
Lines crossing common ground, under driveways and under hardscape. Line tracing first, so that when something is opened it is opened in the right place.
Underground leaks →Clubhouse and common buildings
Slab lines, hose bibs and equipment rooms. The same testing as a house, with more people to keep informed while it happens.
HOA and community →Who is responsible for what
A question your documents answer, not us
Whether a particular line is the association’s responsibility or an owner’s is decided by your CC&Rs and your governing documents, and possibly by your counsel. We do not interpret them and nothing here is legal advice.
What we can do is make that determination easy to apply, by establishing precisely where the water is escaping. “Somewhere in the north landscape” leads to a long meeting. “The lateral serving zone four, at this point, before the valve” usually does not, because the documents can simply be read against a known location.
Working around residents
Community work means working in front of people. We explain what we are doing to whoever asks, keep the site tidy while it is open, and leave the landscape the way we found it. We do not discuss the association’s business with residents, and we will not speculate to anyone about who caused what.
Scheduled walk-throughs
Some boards prefer a periodic check of the irrigation and the pool rather than waiting for a bill to tell them something. If that is useful, say so and we will work out a rhythm that fits your meeting cycle.
Community age and what it means
Two different kinds of community
Valley communities fall into two broad groups underground, and they need a different first hour. In the older group, Sun City’s median housing unit dates from 1973 with 88 percent of stock built before 1980, and Sun City West’s median is 1990. Under that generation the supply is copper and, at the older end, galvanised steel — failing from the inside out or where a line rubs, long before anything shows on the surface.
In the newer group, 84 percent of Anthem’s housing and 89 percent of Buckeye’s has gone up since 2000, with Surprise at 74 percent. Those systems are PEX and newer copper, which rarely fail along a run: it is fittings, manifolds and irrigation valves that go. Either way the common-area irrigation is where we look first, because that is where the water is.
Housing figures: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2023).
Straight answers
Board questions
Can you attend a board meeting?
We can talk a board through findings, in person or on a call, and answer technical questions in plain terms. What we will not do is offer an opinion on responsibility under your documents.
Who is responsible, the association or the owner?
Your CC&Rs and governing documents decide that, not us, and nothing we say is legal advice. Our job is to establish exactly where the water is escaping so that your documents can be applied to a known location.
Our community water bill jumped. Where do you start?
The common-area irrigation, then the pool, then the buried lines. Most of the water a Valley property uses goes outdoors, according to City of Phoenix Water Services, and common landscape is the least watched part of any community.
Can you work without shutting the whole community's water off?
Usually. Testing works by isolating one system at a time, so how much has to be off depends on what can be isolated. We will tell you in advance what a given test needs.
Do you provide something in writing for our records?
Yes: scope, method, result per test, the located position, photographs and the repair scope. Written to be attached to minutes or forwarded to an owner.
Can you check the community pool as well?
Yes. A community pool is topped up automatically and runs continuously, which makes it very good at hiding a loss. We test the structure and the plumbing separately.
Community services
Irrigation & Drip System Leak DetectionWet patches, soggy gravel or a bill that climbed with no change in use.Pool & Spa Leak DetectionA pool losing water faster than evaporation explains.Underground Leak DetectionBuried supply lines between the meter and the house.Commercial Leak DetectionBusinesses, HOAs and multi-unit properties.Water Main Leak DetectionThe main service line, often under a driveway or front yard.Water Leak RepairRepairing the leak that detection located.
Tell us what the community is seeing
The community name, what the bills are doing and who handles access. We will tell you what we would test first.
Community bill up with no explanation?
Send us the usage history and the name of the community. The irrigation is where we would start, and we will tell you why.
5.0 on Google
What customers in the Phoenix valley have written. The words are theirs, on listings we cannot edit.
“Humberto has been amazing! Prompt, professional, and patient. He has gone above and beyond, taking the time to show me how to operate the water valves and educating me so I can continue to monitor for future leaks. He identified multiple leaks and made thoughtful recommendations.”
“Beto was very professional, thorough and patient in explaining everything he was doing and why. It was an excellent and well worth it experience, and this is saying something for an architect who had a hundred questions!”
“The owner and operator of this company is everything a contractor should be. On time, honest, competent, reachable, comprehensive. Hope to work with him again in the future.”