Plumber Byford

Byford WA 6122, Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. About 35 km south-east of the Perth CBD.

Byford sits about thirty-five kilometres south-east of the Perth CBD in the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, at the foot of the scarp on the South Western Highway. Gazetted as a townsite in 1906, it has grown faster than almost anywhere in the state over the last two decades. For a plumber it is really three suburbs at once: an old townsite with ageing drainage, semi-rural blocks on septic and bores, and new estates where the pipework is sound and the fittings are not.

• Three kinds of property in one suburbAn original Byford town house, a semi-rural block and a new estate home need completely different advice about the same complaint. A blocked drain in the old town may be a failing line; in a new estate it is almost always just a blockage.
• Semi-rural blocks still on septicPlenty of Byford remains unsewered, with septic tanks and leach drains rather than a sewer connection. Those systems want pumping out on a schedule, because on the flatter ground here a surfaced leach drain is an expensive problem.
• Clay ground at the foot of the scarpByford sits where the hills meet the plain, and the soil holds water rather than letting it through. Soak wells here perform poorly compared with the sand plain, so stormwater usually needs a proper outlet rather than more soakage.
• A town still under constructionWith estates still being built out, water mains are regularly cut in and worked around. Pressure changes and debris in the supply are common at this stage of a suburb's growth and account for a good share of the calls we attend in Byford.