Plumbing in Cape Town

We’ve been the plumbing trade behind the family business since the WayWes Plumbing days in 2010, working out of Capricorn Park in Muizenberg and dispatching across Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula. Every plumbing job is run by a PIRB-registered plumber, every job that needs a Certificate of Compliance gets one on the day we finish, and the firm’s owner, Clive Anthony van Niekerk, has been a registered PIRB Plumbing Auditor since 2008, which means we sign off other plumbers’ work as well as our own.

Below is the full scope of what we do day to day, grouped into four acts. Each section anchors to its own URL fragment so you can deep-link from a quote enquiry. If you want to skip ahead and call, 083 700 8260 rings through any hour.

Geyser installation and replacement

Direct like-for-like geyser swaps when yours has burst, blown an element or simply aged out. We also size up or down where the household has changed (more people, more bathrooms, less hot-water demand because the kids have moved out). Standard SANS-compliant install: drip tray, vacuum breaker, isolating valves, pressure-control valve, electrical isolator. Plumbing COC issued on completion.

We work with electric, gas and indirect (heat-exchanger) geysers. The brands we fit by default are Kwikot, Ariston and Xtreme, with the specific choice depending on the install, the warranty profile and the household’s hot-water demand.

Solar geyser installation

Direct (open-loop) and indirect (closed-loop) solar geyser systems, sized for the roof orientation and household demand. We do the full install: tank, collector panels, pump station where needed, frost protection on indirect systems, Geyser Wise (or equivalent) controller and monitoring, and the SANS-compliant plumbing layout (10254 hot-water installations, plus the related 10106 and 1352 standards) that keeps the install COC-compliant. Eskom rebates handled where they apply.

Heat pump installation

Heat pumps where solar isn’t a fit (north-facing roof busy with PV, shaded roof, complex shading, or a homeowner who wants the most efficient electric option without panels). We size the unit, set the placement, do the plumbing tie-in, and certify the install.

Geyser maintenance and servicing

Annual or two-yearly servicing on existing geysers: anode rod check and replacement, element inspection (with the option to upgrade to a titanium element in hard-water areas where scale build-up shortens the life of a standard element, or where the homeowner asks for the longer-life upgrade), thermostat verification, drip-tray and pressure-valve check, vacuum-breaker check, sediment-build-up assessment. The single biggest cause of geyser failure in Cape Town is sediment build-up plus a depleted anode rod. Catching it on a service is roughly a tenth of the cost of replacing the geyser later.

Burst pipe repair

Burst pipes are an emergency, full stop. Call 083 700 8260 any time and we’ll have a plumber on the road. Once the immediate damage is contained we trace the cause (pressure spikes, frozen pipe, corrosion, faulty fitting), do the repair, and pressure-test the line.

Leak detection

Slow leaks under slabs, behind walls or under driveways. We use acoustic and pressure-test methods to locate the leak before any wall or floor gets opened, which keeps the make-good work to the minimum. If the meter is ticking and you can’t see why, this is the call to make.

Drain jetting and unblocking

High-pressure jetting on blocked drains, sewers and stormwater lines. CCTV inspection where the blockage is recurrent or the pipe condition is unknown; that tells us whether it’s a roots-and-grease job or whether the line itself is collapsed and needs replacement. We do both.

Emergency plumbing

24/7 callouts for burst pipes, major leaks, blocked sewers, geyser flooding and any other plumbing emergency that can’t wait until morning. Direct line: 083 700 8260. After-hours pricing applies to call-outs between 17:00 and 08:00 and across weekends and public holidays.

New-build plumbing

Full first-fix (rough-in) and second-fix (fixtures and final connections) plumbing on new builds across Cape Town. We coordinate with the builder, the architect’s drawings and the rest of the trades (often our own electrical, gas and cabinetry) so the plumbing schedule stays in lockstep with the rest of the build. PIRB COC issued at the end.

Maintenance plumbing

Ongoing relationships with homeowners, body corporates and complex managing agents. We become the plumber you call without thinking about it: dripping taps, running toilets, geyser servicing, scheduled audits, the occasional emergency. Most maintenance work is private, fixed-fee per call-out plus parts.

PIRB plumbing audits and sign-off

Clive has been a registered PIRB Plumbing Auditor since 2008, which means he can sign off other plumbers’ work for compliance and insurance purposes. Two common scenarios where this comes up: you’ve had work done by a plumber who isn’t PIRB-registered and you need a valid COC for a property sale or insurance claim; or you’ve had work done that you’re not sure was up to standard and you want a written audit report before paying the rest of the invoice.

We charge a fixed call-out for an audit. If the work passes, we issue the COC. If it doesn’t, you get a written report telling you exactly what needs to be fixed and we can either remediate it ourselves or refer you back to the original plumber.

How we work

Every plumbing job runs the same way. You call, WhatsApp or email, whichever’s easiest. We come and quote inside 48 hours, on site where the job calls for it. The quote is fixed where the scope is fixed and time-and-materials only where the scope can’t be pinned down up front (mostly leak detection and audits). On completion we issue the Plumbing COC where one is required, the workmanship guarantee paperwork, and the invoice. Most homeowners pay on completion via EFT.

Non-urgent work is usually same-day or next-day, scope depending. Emergencies we’ll attend the day you call, the dispatch radius from Capricorn Park out to the Southern Peninsula and Atlantic Seaboard reaches the quickest.