Case study: from idea to a national award-winning product

How a leak detection kit built to fix a problem on my own jobs went to market and won the 2021 SPASA National Gold New Product Award.

Before Wayward Vector, I spent years as a professional leak detector, finding leaks in pools and pipework for owners, builders and insurance companies. The test kits I could buy kept letting me down on the job, so I designed my own. My company, Leaky Finders, turned it into a product called The Professional Leak Detection Kit, sold it through two national pool supply companies, and in 2021 it won the National Gold New Product Award at the SPASA Awards of Excellence.

It's the clearest example I have of the whole journey a client's invention goes through: a real problem, a working design, manufacturing, distribution, an industry award, and an honest business decision at the end.

The problem

To find a leak in a pool's plumbing, you isolate each pipe with plugs and pressure test it. If it holds pressure, it's sound. If it doesn't, you've found the line with the leak.

The kits on the market weren't made for Australian pipe sizes. The plugs didn't fit properly, so they slipped and failed under pressure. A plug that lets go gives you a false result, wastes the job and can mean digging in the wrong place. Kits also didn't cover every pipe size you meet in the field, so you'd end up improvising.

What I designed

• Plugs sized for Australian pipe. The plugs were made to suit the pipe sizes actually used in Australian pools, so they sealed and stayed put under test pressure.
• Every size in one kit. The kit included plugs for all the available pipe sizes, so a technician could test any line on the day without a second trip.
• Air and water injection for louder leaks. The kit let you inject air and water into the line together. That creates a distinctive leak sound that's much easier to pick out with listening equipment over traffic, pumps and other background noise, which makes pinpointing a leak faster.
• A complete, ready-to-use kit. Everything came together in one case with the pressure gauge and hose, ready for a technician to open and use.

Taking it to market

Designing something that works on your own jobs is one step. Getting it into other people's hands is another. The kit was sold through two national pool supply companies, which put it in front of pool technicians and leak detectors around the country. Over three years, more than 50 kits were sold.

Why we stopped making it

After three years, we discontinued manufacturing. Two things decided it: sourcing some of the parts reliably became a problem, and professional leak detection is a niche market, so the volumes were never going to be large.

I think that part of the story is as useful as the award. A product can be good enough to win national Gold and still not be worth making forever. Supply chains and market size matter as much as the design.

What it taught me that I use with clients

• Start with a problem you can see on the job. The kit worked because it fixed something that was failing in front of me every week.
• Check your parts supply early. Every part you depend on is a risk. I now look at where each part comes from, and what the backup is, before a design is locked in.
• Size the market honestly. A niche product can still be worth building, but it changes how you price it, how many you make and whether licensing is the better path. I've written more about that in licensing vs manufacturing your invention.
• Distribution is half the job. Going through established suppliers got the kit in front of the right buyers far faster than selling it alone could have.

If you have an idea at the stage I was at, start with what to do first with an invention idea, or get in touch and we can talk it through.

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