An assessment is not legally required, but it is the difference between a system designed for your property and a system designed for an average one.
What it establishes
- Actual daily and peak water demand
- Available pressure and flow
- Condition of existing pipework, pumps and storage
- Water quality and what testing is appropriate
- Where water is being lost
- How long the property needs to run during an interruption
When it matters most
Before drilling a borehole, before sizing a backup system, before specifying treatment equipment, and on any property where multiple sources need to work together. Also worth doing when bills have risen without an obvious explanation.
When you can probably skip it
A single straightforward repair — a failed pump replaced like for like, a leaking tap, a routine pool service — does not need a full property assessment.
What skipping it usually costs
Undersized storage that runs dry halfway through an outage, oversized pumps that cycle and wear, treatment equipment bought for contaminants the water does not contain, and irrigation running from a source that cannot sustain it. These are expensive to correct after installation.