In an older Escondido house, a slab leak is often age catching up with the plumbing. If copper went under the concrete when the house was built, a pinhole can finally open over the years. The signs are small, like a warm spot underfoot, a bill higher than your usage explains, or the sound of water somewhere it shouldn't be with everything off. It doesn't have to turn into a big ordeal, and this is how it usually goes.
The contractor picks the approach on each job, and the equipment can track the leak through the slab, so the fix is based on what's actually found. From there you have 2 paths. One is an opening at the leak when that's genuinely the best route. The other is the reroute, abandoning the failed run and carrying new line overhead through the walls, a fix that never touches the slab, which the contractor may favor where repeat leaks make the case for it.
That part of the conversation happens plainly. One leak might be one leak. Repeat leaks can point to the whole run, and the options, from targeted fix to repipe, get laid out with their real tradeoffs in plain English. You decide, at your pace, with a licensed contractor performing the work when you're ready. Take the time you need to decide.
