Pipe wears from the inside as it ages, and in an older beach cottage, something can eventually give way where nobody can see it, under the slab, inside a wall, or along a line that's been corroding for years. The signs are easy to mistake for something else, like a water bill that jumped with no change in how you use water, a warm spot underfoot, a musty smell that comes and goes, or a meter that spins with everything off.
What that situation needs is a search. Detection equipment is often able to trace a leak through concrete or a wall to a tight spot, sometimes with no opening at all, though the leak and the construction decide that. The situation is laid out in plain English, options included, before a repair decision gets made. In an older beach home, that protects a lot, with fewer exploratory holes in original walls.
Sometimes the search finds nothing, and that's good news. A slab leak is ruled out, and the high bill can be checked somewhere cheaper. Either way, you get an answer, and that's a big part of why people call. The other part is knowing that if something is leaking, it can be tracked down and repaired on your timeline, by your decision.
