Plumbing in Salt Lake City is hard water, freeze, and basements that take the spring. Heaters scale until they leak, roar, or go lukewarm, and softeners sometimes become the leak themselves. Pipes in exterior walls and in crawl spaces freeze on nights that are ordinary here. When the snow melts, foundation drains, sumps, and sewer lines get tested, and a backup into a basement bath is the miserable version. Ice dam water can show up as a ceiling stain that is not a supply leak. Secondary irrigation water in the yard is not the culinary main. Mixing those up sends the visit to the wrong valve.
Shut the main if the leak is supply, and say whether that valve works. Separate a burst pipe from a slow drain, and separate both from a basement that only floods when snow is leaving. A cable clears a clog. It does not repair a broken sewer or a root from a park-strip tree. Ask whether a camera is part of the work. If water enters only at the eaves during a thaw, say that, because the roof and the ice dam may be the source and a plumber chasing a supply line will not fix it. If the pipe is in an outside wall, say which wall, because the repair has to change the exposure or it will freeze again.
On a heater, say gas or electric. Ask for a shutoff, a pan, a discharge line, and haul-away. Ask whether mineral finished the tank. A hose bib that has split before will split again. Mention the softener if the wet spot is near it. Older brick houses hide galvanized lines in plaster. Say if you have already found gray pipe.
Do not give the next thaw a second chance at a known leak. Call the number on this page.