What a water bill spike actually turned out to be
Location: Mukilteo, WA
Service: Leak diagnostics & hose bib replacement
Technician: Chase Goldie
A homeowner in the Harbour Pointe area of Mukilteo, on a street behind the golf course, called us in July about a water bill that had climbed for no obvious reason. Nothing was visibly leaking. Chase Goldie arrived twenty minutes ahead of the scheduled window and started where you have to start — at the meter.
What We Did
Chase watched the flow indicator for about three minutes with everything in the house shut off. No movement — which rules out a great deal, because a continuously running supply-side leak turns the dial.
Next, the crawlspace, where a leak leaves evidence either way: staining, damp insulation, a wet vapor barrier. There was none.
The answer was outside. The front hose bib was dripping and would not shut off completely. A bib that weeps slowly is exactly the leak that adds up on a bill and never announces itself, because the water runs down the foundation and disappears into the ground.
Reaching it meant opening the wall. Chase cut a neat rectangular access panel in the garage, isolated the line at the shutoff already there, and fitted a standard cold-only hose bib. An old angle stop sat on the same line inside the work area; the homeowner asked for it out rather than replaced, so it came out. Then he re-pressurized the system and bled the air through the hose.
Before leaving he dye-tested the toilets — food coloring in each tank, then a wait. No dye reached any bowl, ruling out the other silent water-waster people usually suspect first.
The hose bib access and replacement was $799.69; the diagnostic time to find it was $491.88.
Why It Matters
- A quiet meter does not mean no leak. A dripping outdoor faucet will not move a flow indicator in three minutes, but it will show up on a quarterly bill.
- Diagnostics are the job. Meter, crawlspace, exterior, then toilets — in that order. Skipping the sequence is how people end up replacing a fixture that was fine.
- An access cut is part of the repair. Reaching a hose bib usually means opening a wall. It should be cut square and small so it patches cleanly, not torn open.
Why Mukilteo
Harbour Pointe is newer construction than Old Town down by the ferry, so the failures up there are rarely corroded galvanized pipe — they are worn fixtures on houses now thirty-odd years old. Hose bibs, fill valves, angle stops, and supply lines reach the end of their service lives at roughly the same time, which is why one high-bill call so often turns into a short list.
Our office is on 5th Street in Mukilteo, a ten-minute drive rather than a dispatch across the county.
Chasing a Water Bill You Cannot Explain?
We will start at the meter and work outward.
Related: hose bib repair · water leak repair · toilet repair · plumbing in Mukilteo