In your village
Plumber in Bosch en Duin
Municipality of Zeist. Somebody is with you in 35 to 70 minutes, counted from your call and not from the moment the van sets off.
Phone answered
07:00 to 22:00, every day
Travel time to Bosch en Duin
usually 35 to 70 minutes
Call-out charge (voorrijkosten)
€ 25 on top before 08:00, after 18:00 and on Sundays
What we run into here
The faults Bosch en Duin produces
Long supply pipes across own land: a leak soaks into the sand and shows up only in consumption.
Many branches feeding outbuildings, guest wings, outdoor kitchens and pool plant.
Cellars with sump pumps and non-return valves that seize after long periods of standing still.
Several bathrooms, so more isolating valves and more points where a leak can sit.
Wooded plots with mature trees close to the private drain run.
Limescale in hot water appliances, because the ground water on the ridge is hard.
Bosch en Duin belongs to the municipality of Zeist and lies between Den Dolder, Huis ter Heide and the boundary with De Bilt. It is a villa district in the woods: large detached houses on generous plots, along the Ruysdaellaan, the Panweg and the Amersfoortseweg. That character shapes the plumbing here more than the building period does.
On a plot of a thousand square metres or more the water meter often sits tens of metres from the road, and everything from that meter onwards belongs to the owner. A leak in such a long supply pipe is invisible: it soaks away into the sand, with no puddle and no damp wall. It shows up only in consumption. Anyone here with an unexplained water bill generally does not have a dripping tap but a leak under the driveway. The test is simple and worth doing before you call: close every tap, note the meter reading, and read it again an hour later.
The houses usually have several bathrooms, a guest wing or outbuilding, and sometimes a pool or an outdoor kitchen with its own pipework. That means many branches, many isolating valves, and during a breakdown a first job of working out which part of the house can be shut off without leaving the rest dry. Cellars are also more common here than elsewhere, with sump pumps and non-return valves that only announce themselves on the day they stop working.
The whole village is inside the area, along with the streets running across towards Huis ter Heide. Reckon on 35 to 70 minutes.
Can this wait until tomorrow?
Then there is no reason to sit in a queue. Put your number in the form with a line about what is going on, and the call back comes at an hour you name yourself. Write it in English.
Problems
What we come to Bosch en Duin for
Leak repairA patch that keeps growing, a puddle by the meter cupboard, or a bill that does not add up.
Blocked drains and sewerWater standing still, a gully overflowing, or the same blockage for the second time.
Boiler and central heatingA code on the display, radiators that stay cold, or hot water that never arrives.
Taps and toiletsSmall work that grows expensive while it waits: dripping, running, smelling.
Amounts
What it costs in Bosch en Duin
One set of figures across the whole area. The travel time changes from village to village; the invoice does not.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Call-out charge | € 45 |
| Hourly rate | € 65 to € 85 |
| Out-of-hours surcharge | € 25 |
| After the first hour | per 15 min |
| Parts | separate |
One call-out charge covers the visit. Tap and sanitary work bill at the lower hourly figure; jetting, camera work and boilers at the higher one. A flat amount joins the bill before 08:00, after 18:00 and on Sundays, never a percentage of anything. Quarter hours are counted after the first hour, and every part gets its own line.
If the job takes longer than estimated. On the doorstep you are told what looks necessary and roughly what that comes to. Should the job turn out bigger, you hear it while the panel is still off, not two weeks later on paper. Nothing past € 400 happens until you have said yes to it.
Not sure whether this counts as an emergency?
Water standing on a floor, nothing working at all, a drain backing up over the rim: ring. Anything that can stay as it is until tomorrow can go through the form, and it will be at the top of the list early in the morning.
When would somebody reach Bosch en Duin?
Usually within 35 to 70 minutes. If there is a leak you cannot isolate, the first thing we ask on the phone is where the main valve is: on a large plot that is more often in a chamber outside than in the meter cupboard, and finding it while we drive saves the most damage.
My water bill is much higher and I cannot see anything leaking. Is that possible?
Yes, and in Bosch en Duin it is the most common version of this problem. The supply pipe from the road to the house is long and lies in sand, so a leak gives no puddle and no damp wall: the water simply disappears into the ground. The test is straightforward. Close every tap, note the meter reading, and read it again after an hour; if the meter has moved, something in the pipe is leaking. We locate that with a correlation measurement rather than by opening up the whole driveway.
There is a valve I do not recognise. Can I close it?
During a leak, yes: closed is always better than open. A valve that has not been moved for years can have a seized spindle, and forcing it is the classic way to create a second leak. If it will not turn by hand, leave it and close the main valve instead. We replace a seized valve and label it, so nobody has to guess next time.
The other places in the area
Not urgent
Leave us your number
This is for anything that can keep until tomorrow. Standing water, or nothing working at all, belongs on the phone instead: nobody watches this form all evening. English is fine.