A brown water stain on a living room ceiling dripping into a bucket

Independent review

Updated 25 September 2026 · 19 sources · not paid by American Leak Detection

American Leak Detection review: a 50-year-old leak specialist, office by office in Florida

A fair look at a national leak detection company that has been in the trade since 1974, for the moment your bill is high, the slab is warm or the pool keeps dropping and nobody can see why.

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Call American Leak Detection if

Your water bill jumped and you cannot see a leak.
You suspect a slab, pool or buried line leak.
Your insurer wants a written cause and origin report.

Compare first if

You can already see where the water is coming from.
The report tells you to open a slab or reroute a line.
The office near you has unanswered complaints or few reviews.

Compare with a licensed local company

Pick your area and see three local leak detection companies next to American Leak Detection. None of them pay us to be here.

Your area

Our verdict. American Leak Detection is a sensible call when you cannot find a leak yourself, especially under a slab, in a pool or in a buried line. It has done nothing but leak work since 1974, has 13 Florida offices, and several of them are owned by its public parent company. It publishes no prices, and the quality of the report depends on the local office: Florida BBB grades we checked run from A+ to B-, and the small Trustpilot sample is poor, mostly over leaks marked in the wrong place. Book it for the search, then get a second opinion before anyone breaks concrete on the strength of one report.

At a glance

13Florida offices on its own locator

150+Locations in 46 states, per its parent

$150 to $400Slab leak detection, Angi 2026

2.2 of 5Trustpilot average, 13 reviews

Where it is strong

Specialist in leak detection only, with more than 50 years in the trade and its own acoustic and infrared equipment.
Thirteen Florida offices on its locator, from Pensacola to Miami, so most of the state has one within reach.
Several Florida offices (South Florida, Orlando, Central and Northeast Florida) were bought back by the parent, so they are company-run.
Offers cause and origin reports that insurers and adjusters ask for.

Where to be careful

No published prices. Its site says pricing depends on the property, the system and the location.
Florida office records vary: A+ in Jupiter and Holiday, B- in Sunrise with an unanswered complaint.
An average of 2.2 of 5 on Trustpilot (13 reviews), with wrong leak locations the most common complaint.
Mostly detection. Some offices repair, some refer you on, so the fix may be a second bill from a second company.

How we reviewed American Leak Detection: research only, nobody here has hired them, 19 public sources. Read the method

We have not hired American Leak Detection, and nobody at BestHonestPro has. This review is research: its own website and Florida office pages, its parent company's results and stock exchange announcements, franchise directories, Better Business Bureau files for the headquarters and three Florida offices, Trustpilot, a national cost guide and news coverage of a franchise dispute. We read patterns across complaints rather than quoting single angry customers, and we left out anything we could not trace to a source.

We have not called American Leak Detection for a test quote yet. When we do, what we asked and what they said will be added here with the date.

Last checked 25 September 2026. American Leak Detection is not affiliated with BestHonestPro, has not paid us, and did not see this page before it went up. American Leak Detection is a trademark of its owner and is used here only to name the company.

What American Leak Detection is

American Leak Detection started in Palm Springs, California, in 1974 and has franchised since 1985. It is owned by Water Intelligence plc, a company listed on London's AIM market, which reported revenue of $90.4 million for 2025. The parent describes 150 or more locations in 46 states, a mix of company-run and franchised offices under one brand. Franchise Direct lists about 140 units. The counts differ, and neither labels each office.

For you this matters because the office you call may be company-run or a local franchise. Its own site says each office is independently operated and services may vary by office. Ask which kind you are dealing with.

Source: Water Intelligence, group overview; MarketScreener, Water Intelligence FY2025 results (18 Jun 2026); Franchise Direct; American Leak Detection, residential and about pages.

What American Leak Detection charges

American Leak Detection does not publish prices. Its site says service call pricing depends on property size, the type of system being checked and your location. We found no cost guide that reports its own prices. The figures below are national figures for slab leaks, the most common Florida case.

Slab leaks: what Angi reports nationally, 2026

Slab leak detection

$150 to $400

Slab leak repair

$630 to $4,400

Slab leak detection	$150 to $400, average about $280 (Angi, Sep 2026)
Slab leak repair	$630 to $4,400, average about $2,280 (Angi, Sep 2026)
Leaking pipe repair	$175 to $550 (Angi, Mar 2026)
Amounts named by customers	About $400 to $1,200 in Trustpilot reviews; $400 in one Florida BBB complaint

Source: American Leak Detection, residential services; Angi, slab leak repair cost (updated 22 Sep 2026); Angi, plumbing repair cost (updated 17 Mar 2026); Trustpilot; BBB, American Leak Detection Inc. (Sunrise) complaints.

The last row is individual bills, not a price list. Ask for the service call fee, and whether the price covers a written report, before the technician leaves the office. More in our leak detection cost guide.

American Leak Detection in Florida

Florida coverage is wide. The locator lists 13 Florida offices: Daytona Beach and Jacksonville (both Ormond Beach), East Central Florida (Melbourne), Gainesville, Miami and South Florida (Sunrise), Orlando (Winter Springs), Pensacola and Northwest Florida (Cantonment), Pinellas County (Brandon), Southwest Florida (Punta Gorda), Spring Hill (Holiday), Tampa, the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast (Jupiter), and West Central Florida (Clermont).

Who owns which. The parent announced buying back its South Florida franchise in 2018, Orlando in 2019, Central Florida in April 2021 (linking Orlando, Melbourne and Miami) and Northeast Florida in July 2021 (Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Gainesville). Those are company-run as of those announcements. The rest we could not confirm, so ask.

Licences. The Palm Beaches office shows a Florida plumbing licence (CFC1428292) and a pool licence (CPC1459054) on its BBB file. The Sunrise office shows CFC1429240. The Tampa page shows CPC1456992, which is a pool and spa contractor licence, not a plumbing one. If the job moves from finding a leak to repairing a pipe, ask for a CFC number. We have not checked these numbers with the Florida DBPR, so treat them as shown, not verified.

Source: American Leak Detection locations and Tampa pages; Water Intelligence announcements of 15 May 2018, 28 Mar 2019, 8 Apr 2021 and 1 Jul 2021; BBB profiles for the Jupiter and Sunrise offices.

The complaint record, read fairly

There is no single BBB file for the brand in Florida. Each office has its own, and they differ. The headquarters file in California, which covers the head office and its company-owned locations there, is graded D- for two unanswered complaints in 2024.

BBB, Palm Beaches (Jupiter)	A+, accredited since 21 Apr 2025, in business since 1989
BBB, Spring Hill (Holiday)	A+, accredited, an average of 4 of 5 across 4 reviews
BBB, Miami and South Florida (Sunrise)	B-, not accredited, 1 unanswered complaint in 3 years
BBB, headquarters (Palm Desert, CA)	D-, not accredited, 2 unanswered complaints in 3 years
Trustpilot average	2.2 of 5 (13 reviews, profile unclaimed)

Source: BBB profiles for American Leak Detection of the Palm Beaches, American Leak Detection (Holiday), American Leak Detection Inc. (Sunrise) and American Leak Detection, Inc. (Palm Desert); Trustpilot. Checked 26 Sep 2026.

The samples are small, so treat them as a pattern, not a verdict. The repeated complaint is accuracy: a leak marked in one place, and another plumber finding nothing there. The Sunrise complaint describes exactly that after a $400 detection visit, and it went unanswered. Others describe slow follow-up. The praise that does appear is for technicians who found a hidden leak quickly.

Official actions and disputes.

2018 to 2021
The parent buys back its South Florida, Orlando, Central Florida and Northeast Florida franchises.
2025
Several franchise owners take the company to arbitration, saying it blocked a sale of their offices. This is a business dispute, not a consumer case, and no outcome had been reported.
2026
No Florida Attorney General action and no consumer lawsuit found as of this review.

Source: Water Intelligence announcements, 2018 to 2021; Arkansas Business, 10 Feb 2025.

Who it suits, and who should compare

A good fit: a leak you cannot find. A water bill that jumped, a warm spot on a tile floor, a pool that loses water, or an insurer asking for a cause and origin report. A leak specialist with the right equipment can save you from opening walls at random.

Get a second opinion: before anyone breaks a slab or trenches a yard on the strength of one report, and when the office near you has few reviews or unanswered complaints. If you can already see where the water is coming from, a licensed plumber may be all you need. See slab leaks and what repiping costs.

What to ask before you say yes

Ask these on the phone, in this order, and ask the same questions of whoever you compare them with. The spread in the answers tells you more than the spread in the prices.

Is this office company-run or a franchise?
What is the service call fee, and does it include a written report with photos and readings?
If you mark a leak and my plumber finds nothing there, do you come back at no charge or refund the fee?
Do you repair the leak yourselves, and if so, what is your Florida plumbing licence number (it starts with CFC)? Check it free on the DBPR site.
What methods will you use (acoustic, thermal, tracer gas, pressure test), and how sure is the result?
Will the report be written so my insurer can use it for a claim?
If you find water damage or mold in the wall, who do you refer me to, and do they hold a Florida mold licence (MRSR for remediators)?

Local alternatives in Florida

We list local leak detection specialists and plumbers for eight Florida metros, each checked against the state licence register where a number was available. Call one of them alongside American Leak Detection and compare what each will put in writing.

No company pays to be listed on those pages or to rank higher. Each listing links to its own licence check and sources.

Right of reply

American Leak Detection, or the owner of any American Leak Detection location, can correct a fact on this page. Email [email protected] with the fact and a source. We check it and publish the correction here with its date.

Where this comes from

Every figure above is published by the organisation named beside it. Nothing on this page is our own estimate, and where sources disagree we show both.

Show all 19 sources