Service areas
Twenty-nine towns, villages and communities
Buckeye to Mesa, Anthem to Chandler, from a yard on South 36th Drive in Phoenix. Every pin on the map below is a place we actually go.
Coverage
The Valley, pinned
Buckeye to Mesa, Anthem to Chandler.
Based on South 36th Drive in Phoenix. Every pin is a place we actually go.
Click a pin for the kind of work that part of the Valley usually needs, and why. Each one is written from that area’s housing age, not from a customer’s file.
Why the town matters
What a build era means underground
The most useful thing we know about a Valley neighbourhood is when it was built, because that tells us what is likely under the slab and how it tends to fail. The paragraphs below use each area's median build year from the Census.
| Build era | Usually underneath | How it tends to fail |
|---|---|---|
| Late-1980s through 1990s | copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end | Mixed-material houses are the awkward ones: the failure point is often the transition fitting between two materials rather than either run itself. |
| 2000s build-out | PEX and newer copper | Newer pipe rarely fails along its length - it fails at fittings and manifolds, which means locating it is about the connections, not the run. |
| 1970s and early 1980s | copper supply under the slab | Copper of this era usually fails where it was bent or where it rubs a rebar chair, so the leak is rarely where the wet carpet is. |
| Mid-century | galvanized on the older end and early copper on the newer | Early copper in Valley soil tends to fail at pinholes rather than joints, which is why a leak here can run for months at a rate the meter barely registers. |
Median build year and build-decade shares for every area on this page: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2023). Materials and failure patterns are our own trade experience, and they describe what is usual rather than what is certain about any individual house.
Where we work
Phoenix and the villages
The city itself is not one kind of house. Inside the limits you can stand on a mid-century street with galvanized steel in the ground and be a short drive from housing that went up this century on PEX.
Phoenix
Most of Phoenix went in around 1984 — the 1970s and early 1980s — which usually means copper supply under the slab. The whole span of the Valley's building history sits inside the city limits, which is why we test rather than assume.
Encanto and Willo
Encanto and Willo has a median build year of 1961, putting it in the mid-century: galvanized on the older end and early copper on the newer. Most of it predates 1980, and that is the stock where a slow leak has had the longest time to go unnoticed. The oldest housing we work on. Galvanized steel corrodes from the inside out, so pressure drops long before anything shows on the surface.
Biltmore
Housing in Biltmore averages out at 1976, the 1970s and early 1980s, so what we expect to find is copper supply under the slab. A good share of the addresses are condos or apartments rather than detached houses, so the first question is often whose line it is. Flood irrigation reaches parts of this area, and past the SRP delivery gate that pipe is private — the owner's to maintain, not the utility's.
Arcadia
With a median build year of 1971, Arcadia is mostly 1970s and early 1980s housing, which usually means copper supply under the slab. The majority went in before 1980, which means pipe that has been in the ground long enough to fail quietly. Flood-irrigated lots are common here. Once a zanjero opens the gate, the ditches, standpipes and buried laterals belong to the homeowners.
Maryvale
Maryvale reads as 1970s and early 1980s housing — median build year 1976 — so copper supply under the slab. Most addresses here are older than 1980, so we arrive expecting a leak that has been running a while. Post-war tract housing built in blocks, so what we find at one address is often true of the next three.
Laveen
Most of Laveen went in around 2006 — the 2000s build-out — which usually means PEX and newer copper. Nearly all of it went up since the turn of the century, so the failures are at fittings and manifolds rather than along a pipe run. Much of Laveen is flood irrigated and much of it is new: an unusual combination of recent pipe and old ditch on the same lot.
Ahwatukee
Ahwatukee has a median build year of 1995, putting it in the late-1980s through 1990s: copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. South of South Mountain, and pool country — a lot of what we do here starts with a bucket test.
Where we work
East Valley
Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. Farmland that became subdivisions, older flood-irrigated pockets, and some of the largest lots and pools in the metro.
Tempe
Housing in Tempe averages out at 1983, the 1970s and early 1980s, so what we expect to find is copper supply under the slab. Plenty of it is attached housing, which means a leak can sit on a shared line and an association is involved. Parts of Tempe are flood irrigated, and past the delivery gate that water is travelling through private pipe.
Mesa
With a median build year of 1988, Mesa is mostly late-1980s through 1990s housing, which usually means copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. Parts of Mesa are flood irrigated too, so a wet patch in a yard is not automatically a call to the utility.
Chandler
Chandler reads as late-1980s through 1990s housing — median build year 1997 — so copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. Grown in phases from the 1980s onward, so two streets a mile apart can be two different plumbing generations.
Gilbert
Most of Gilbert went in around 2002 — the 2000s build-out — which usually means PEX and newer copper. Built out fast on former farmland, with irrigation infrastructure that predates the subdivision sitting around it.
Scottsdale
Scottsdale has a median build year of 1990, putting it in the late-1980s through 1990s: copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. Much of it is not single-family, so working out who owns the pipe comes before working out where it is leaking. Scottsdale Water publishes month-by-month evaporation for an open pool, which is the honest way to judge whether yours is really losing water.
Paradise Valley
Housing in Paradise Valley averages out at 1985, the late-1980s through 1990s, so what we expect to find is copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. Large lots, long irrigation runs and big pools: the distance between the meter and where the water ends up is the difficulty here.
Where we work
West Valley
From Glendale and Maryvale's western edge out past the Estrellas. The widest range of build eras we work in, from post-war tract housing to subdivisions still being finished.
Glendale
With a median build year of 1986, Glendale is mostly late-1980s through 1990s housing, which usually means copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. A wide span of build eras inside one city, which is a good reason not to assume the material before testing.
Peoria
Peoria reads as late-1980s through 1990s housing — median build year 1998 — so copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. Peoria sets the sewer charge from December through March water use, so an auto-fill stuck open in February can lift every bill until the next spring.
Surprise
Most of Surprise went in around 2004 — the 2000s build-out — which usually means PEX and newer copper. Almost everything here is this century, which moves the search to connections and manifolds rather than the middle of a line. Northwest-side building where the leaks we find are usually irrigation or a buried supply line rather than anything indoors.
Avondale
Avondale has a median build year of 2002, putting it in the 2000s build-out: PEX and newer copper. West-side subdivisions on the newer end, where wet gravel and a soggy patch are the usual first symptoms.
Goodyear
Housing in Goodyear averages out at 2007, the 2000s build-out, so what we expect to find is PEX and newer copper. The housing is overwhelmingly post-2000, and newer pipe tends to let go at a joint rather than along its length. Goodyear works out the sewer charge from January, February and March water use and applies it for the following twelve months — a winter leak here can follow you all year.
Buckeye
With a median build year of 2010, Buckeye is mostly 2000s build-out housing, which usually means PEX and newer copper. Nearly all of it went up since the turn of the century, so the failures are at fittings and manifolds rather than along a pipe run. Out past the Estrellas, where a buried supply run can be long enough to hide a leak for months.
El Mirage
El Mirage reads as 2000s build-out housing — median build year 2004 — so PEX and newer copper. Almost everything here is this century, which moves the search to connections and manifolds rather than the middle of a line. Small, newer and mostly single-family, which usually means the water we are chasing is going into a yard.
Litchfield Park
Most of Litchfield Park went in around 2001 — the 2000s build-out — which usually means PEX and newer copper. A small city with a wide build range, from the original townsite to subdivisions finished this century.
Tolleson
Tolleson has a median build year of 2001, putting it in the 2000s build-out: PEX and newer copper. Older housing near the centre with newer building around it, so the first question is which one you are standing on.
Sun City
Housing in Sun City averages out at 1973, the 1970s and early 1980s, so what we expect to find is copper supply under the slab. Most of it predates 1980, and that is the stock where a slow leak has had the longest time to go unnoticed. Built for retirement and the plumbing has been in the ground ever since. We explain what we find in plain language and are happy to have family on the phone.
Sun City West
With a median build year of 1990, Sun City West is mostly late-1980s through 1990s housing, which usually means copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. The later of the two Sun Cities, and the same pattern: settled housing, and leaks that show up on a bill before they show on the surface.
Where we work
North Valley
Up the I-17 and out towards Cave Creek: north-Phoenix villages, late-nineties and 2000s master planning, and desert lots where the irrigation runs a long way from the house.
Deer Valley
Deer Valley reads as late-1980s through 1990s housing — median build year 1988 — so copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. A good share of the addresses are condos or apartments rather than detached houses, so the first question is often whose line it is. North-side housing from the tail end of the tract-building years, with pools of much the same age behind a lot of it.
Desert Ridge
Most of Desert Ridge went in around 1999 — the late-1980s through 1990s — which usually means copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. Building around the 101 straddles the change from copper to PEX, so the transition fitting between two materials is the first thing we look at.
Moon Valley
Moon Valley has a median build year of 1985, putting it in the late-1980s through 1990s: copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. North-Phoenix housing either side of the mid-eighties, much of it with a pool of the same vintage.
Cave Creek
Housing in Cave Creek averages out at 1997, the late-1980s through 1990s, so what we expect to find is copper, with CPVC and early PEX appearing towards the end. Low-density desert lots where irrigation runs a long way from the house to whatever it is watering.
Anthem
With a median build year of 2004, Anthem is mostly 2000s build-out housing, which usually means PEX and newer copper. The housing is overwhelmingly post-2000, and newer pipe tends to let go at a joint rather than along its length. Master-planned and built in one go up the I-17, so whole streets share the same plumbing generation and the same failure points.
The written list
Every area, in one place
The same twenty-nine, alphabetically, if that is how you are looking.
Not on the list? Call anyway. The list is the places we go often enough to have written a page about, not a fence. If you are outside it we will tell you straight away rather than waste your afternoon.
Keep reading
What we do when we get there
Start here
Is your town on the list?
Call or text a photo and you will be told straight away whether we cover you and what the water is most likely doing.
Somewhere in between?
Plenty of the Valley sits between two of these names. Ask — it is a one-minute conversation.
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