Decision support · 13 guides
Decide with confidence. Compare your options.
Side-by-side comparison guides for the decisions that come up most often. Each guide includes a TL;DR, a feature-by-feature table, a 'when to choose which' decision tree, and FAQs.
Leak Detection vs Plumber
Call a leak detection company FIRST if the leak is hidden (in walls, under slab, underground, or behind a ceiling). Call a plumber FIRST if the leak is visible and obvious (a dripping faucet, a burst ...
Leak Detection vs DIY
DIY is great for confirming a leak exists and narrowing it to indoor vs. outdoor. Use our free meter test, water bill analyzer, and symptom checker at test.leak.ca. But locating a leak's exact positio...
Acoustic vs Thermal vs GPR
Use ACOUSTIC for pressurised supply-line leaks (water mains, risers, irrigation). Use THERMAL for moisture mapping in walls, ceilings, and slabs — especially hot-water slab leaks. Use GPR for subsurfa...
Leak Detection vs Restoration Company
These are complementary, not competing. LEAK DETECTION locates the source — typically called FIRST when the source isn't obvious. RESTORATION dries, removes, repairs, and decontaminates the damage — t...
Leak Detection vs Insurance Adjuster
The adjuster assesses your claim — what's covered, what's not, what the payout is. They do not locate leaks. The detection company locates the leak and provides documentation the adjuster uses to asse...
Concrete Scanning (GPR) vs X-Ray
Use GPR for roughly 95% of concrete investigation: pre-coring clearance, rebar/PT/conduit mapping, voids, and thickness — one-sided access, zero radiation, real-time marks, a fraction of the cost. Res...
GPR vs Chain Drag (Parkade Decks)
Chain drag is cheap, fast, and finds existing delamination — but only what has already debonded, and only on exposed (non-overlaid) decks. GPR maps active corrosion environments before they delaminate...
Drone vs Manual Roof Leak Inspection
For finding MOISTURE — where water has gotten into the assembly — fly the drone first: complete coverage, measurable evidence, no foot traffic, and economics that improve with roof size. Use the walk-...
Noise Loggers vs Acoustic Survey
Crews PINPOINT; loggers RANK. A crew-led acoustic survey is the only option that ends with dig-ready marks — but crew hours are the expensive resource, so on networks beyond a few dozen kilometres, lo...
EM vs GPR Locating
EM finds CONDUCTIVE lines (metal pipes, cables, tracer-wired plastic) precisely and tells you which is which — but is blind to bare plastic and clay. GPR IMAGES the subsurface, catching non-conductive...
GPR vs Cover Meter for Rebar
Use a cover meter when the only question is concrete cover over the top mat of rebar — it's fast, inexpensive, and accurate at shallow depth. Use GPR for anything more: locating deeper bars, distingui...
GPR vs Impact Echo for Slabs
Use GPR when you need a spatial map — where the rebar, conduit, and voids are, and slab thickness across an area — and especially when you'll drill afterward, since only GPR clears the location. Use i...
GPR Scanning vs As-Built Drawings
Drawings tell you what was intended; GPR tells you what's actually there. Reinforcement and tendons shift during placement, drawings go missing or show design (not as-built) reality, and revisions don...