Owning your own home

Thames water are only liable to replace up to the front of your property. We decided to replace ours at the beginning of our renovation, it cost £800 and fucked up our front steps. But they were shit anyway and needed work. Once they are re-tiled it will look great and we know we now have plastic pipe work. Also increased our flow rate (the lead pipes are tiny) so water pressure will be higher.

Well i would say ask them first they will come out and test it for lead levels I believe and will replace their side plus yours. Case by case

Alternatively new connection will cost (checking Thames website) £1500-£2700

Cost will also be higher if traffic management is required. Ie mains is on the other side or in the middle of the road. You’ll have to wait also for the council to approve the request

An application form required with a plan of the property showing route of service (at least that what we ask for at Severn Trent) ~£150. Get a quote
Then decided how to install the pipe from your house to the boundary. Trench or mole it if the space allows. If trench (750mm depth min) done by yourself. Thames need to inspect it otherwise you can find a plumber who is approved on their scheme to certify the works

Lead pipe sounds about right, any idea about cost or process to replace? Dont think Thames water will touch it (guy said so).

They may do...

I had a leak at my old place. Thames Water a smart meters in and then started telling me I was using a bit much for a regular family of 5. When I told them it was just me then they did a bit of investigating and found that I was using constantly, day and night, hence a leak. They determined it was between the smart meter and the house, and so I had 2 options.
They could fix it, but it might involve them digging up some of the front garden and they wouldn't be able to guarantee how pretty it'd look when they were done (wouldn't go worrying about matching grout etc). But they'd cover the costs.

Or I could fix it, at my cost.
But that it needed to be fixed one way or another.
I had them fix it as they were only digging up some weeds in the front garden.

They got it sorted in a week or two.

Edit:
Though looking at this then it implies I would have been responsible for the cost. I'm confused now. They definitely dug up some of my garden and I definitely didn't pay anything.
https://www.thameswater.co.uk/media-library/home/about-us/governance/our-policies/codes-of-practice/leakage-code-of-practice.pdf