Plumber Waikiki

Waikiki WA 6169, City of Rockingham. About 49 km south of the Perth CBD.

Waikiki lies about forty-nine kilometres south of the Perth CBD in the City of Rockingham, gazetted in 1974 as a developer's estate named after the Honolulu suburb, with the Waikiki Village shopping centre on Read Street at its centre. Most of its housing dates from the 1970s and 1980s. For a plumber that means a large body of stock reaching replacement age together, salt shortening the life of anything exposed, and retail tenancies at the centre.

• Estate housing reaching replacement age togetherBecause Waikiki was built out as an estate, the hot water units, cisterns and tapware across whole streets are much the same age. When we see a particular failure in one house, the neighbours are usually a year or two behind it.
• Salt shortening everything exposedThis close to the coast, external tapware, fittings and hot water units age faster than they do inland. Siting a unit out of the worst of the salt and choosing suitable materials adds years to its life here.
• Sandy coastal groundThe sand drains freely, so soakage generally works in Waikiki. That makes a wet patch that will not dry out far more likely to be a leaking line than groundwater, and worth locating rather than tolerating.
• Retail tenancies at the village centreThe shopping centre carries food operators whose grease traps and back-of-house drainage take loads no home kitchen approaches, and none of it can be taken out of service while a tenancy is trading.