After-Hours Plumbing Dispatch for Facility Managers

A dispatcher answers, takes the details and sends a tech if it is a real emergency. The supervisor calls you back in the morning to confirm what was done and what is next. You do not get an answering machine, and you do not wait for the office to open to find out whether someone is coming.

We offer 24/7 emergency service for facilities. For an active leak or a sewer backing up into a space, a tech is sent for the same night.

An emergency is water that is spreading, sewage coming up through floor drains or toilets, no water to a building you cannot close, or anything that endangers people or equipment. Those get a truck.

A slow drain, a dripping faucet, a running toilet that you can isolate with the stop valve and a single restroom out of order while the other works can usually wait for scheduled service the next business day. Telling the dispatcher honestly which one you have is the fastest route to the right response. If you are not sure, say so, and describe what you see.

Gas is the exception to everything above. If you smell gas, leave the building and call 911 and Southwest Gas from a safe place. Southwest Gas says that applies day or night, and the plumber comes after the utility says it is safe.

Send these in the first message, or have them ready on the phone.

1. 1The address and suite, and the cross street if the complex is large.
2. 2What you see: water from where, sewage or clean water, how far it has spread.
3. 3Where the shutoff is, and whether you have closed it. Most buildings have a main near the front, and many have a branch valve at the restroom or kitchen.
4. 4How to get in: lockbox code, on-site contact, or the security desk that can let the tech in.
5. 5Who approves the work: your name, a number to reach you and your purchase-order or work-order number if the property requires one.

A photo of the problem helps. A photo of the shutoff and the equipment label helps more. Our guide on the after-hours checklist for commercial plumbing covers what to do in the first ten minutes while you wait.

Phoenix expects certain incidents to be reported quickly. Under the city's amended building code, a backflow, backsiphonage or cross-connection incident goes to Water Services immediately, and the building official hears about it within 72 hours. If a cross connection contaminated the water system, Phoenix City Code asks the customer to notify the city and the Maricopa County Health Authority promptly. A restaurant that sees discolored or odd-smelling water after a main break should treat it that way, and read what to do after a water advisory.

Stopping a leak or clearing a stoppage does not need a permit in Phoenix, so an emergency repair at 2 a.m. does not wait on paperwork. If the repair means replacing concealed pipe, that is new work, and a permit follows. We tell you which one you have before work starts.

The first job is to make the space safe: isolate the water, stop the leak or clear the stoppage. For a stoppage the tech starts with a cable and brings a hydro jetter if the line needs it. We do not push a bigger repair at midnight when a temporary fix will hold the building until daylight. The supervisor follows up with the proposal for the permanent fix, such as leak detection to trace a hidden line, a camera inspection of a repeat stoppage, or a hydro-jetting plan.

Do not call a plumber for a problem that is really the utility's. Phoenix City Code puts the customer's responsibility starting at the point of service delivery, so a break on the utility's side of that point is the utility's to fix. If the whole block is dry, check with neighbors first, because it is probably not your plumbing.

For a non-urgent problem, calling in the morning gives the same fix at the normal pace, and lets you set a window around your hours. Tell the dispatcher it can wait, and we will book it for the next day.

Send us the sites, shutoff locations, access details and contacts before anything breaks. Then the 2 a.m. call is about the problem, not about finding the building. For multi-store operators, see multi-location plumbing service, and for scheduled visits that prevent a lot of these calls, see preventive plumbing maintenance. For the broader picture of what we handle for commercial buildings, start at commercial plumbing or our emergency plumber page. We give free estimates and an upfront price before work starts.