Nobody can quote a drain properly over the phone, and anyone who does is guessing. But the things that move the number are not a mystery, and knowing them tells you roughly which end you are at before anyone turns up.
Nearly every quote for a blocked drain breaks into clearing and diagnosing, and they are worth keeping apart in your head, because the second one is where the value sits.
Getting the drain flowing again. On most jobs this is high-pressure jet blasting, which cuts through grease and roots and scours the pipe wall rather than punching a hole through the middle of the blockage. It is the part people expect to pay for.
A CCTV camera down the line afterwards. It is the part people are tempted to skip, and it is the part that decides whether you are paying once or paying again in two months. Without it, nobody knows whether they cleared a build-up or temporarily shifted a root mass sitting in a cracked pipe.
In rough order of how much they matter. Most jobs are a combination of two or three of these rather than one.
A trap under a basin is a different job to a blockage six metres down the main line under a driveway. The further from an access point it sits, the more gear and time it takes, and that is the single biggest swing in the price.
Soft build-up moves quickly. Hardened grease and a root mass do not. Roots in particular need cutting rather than pushing, and a root job takes longer than anything else on this list.
An inspection opening at ground level makes the job straightforward. No opening, or one buried under decking or paving, means finding another way in before any clearing starts.
A single slow fixture is usually local. When several are affected the blockage is in the shared line, which means more pipe to clear and more to check afterwards.
This is the one that changes the conversation entirely. If the camera shows a cracked or dropped section, clearing it is a temporary fix on a pipe that is going to keep catching waste. That becomes a repair question rather than a clearing one.
A booked job during the week is the cheapest version. A Sunday night with sewage coming up in the yard is not, anywhere, and any plumber who says otherwise is building it in elsewhere. If you are weighing that up, what counts as a plumbing emergency sets out what genuinely cannot wait until morning.
We would rather tell you what it depends on than give you a number we cannot stand behind.
Two drains described identically on the phone can be an hour apart in practice, because one has an inspection opening at the back step and the other has roots four metres under a driveway. A number given before anyone has looked is either padded to cover the bad case or it is going to move once we are there.
We assess it, tell you what it is, and you decide. No work happens on a number you have not agreed to, and that includes anything the camera turns up once the line is clear.
A fair share of calls are a fixture problem rather than a line problem, and we would rather say so than clear a main line that did not need clearing.
Paying to clear the same drain three times in a year is more expensive than fixing it once, and it is a trap that is easy to fall into one call at a time.
Every few months, same drain, regardless of what is going down it. That is roots or a damaged section, and clearing treats the symptom. A camera tells you which one and roughly what the repair involves.
A blockage that shifts with very little effort and returns within weeks usually means waste is catching on something structural rather than building up.
Cleared at the sink, now the laundry is slow. That is the same blockage further along the line, not a new one.
Three things that genuinely help, and one that does not.
Every flush and every sink full adds to what has to go somewhere. If the toilet is the affected one, that matters most.
The grate in the yard, usually lower than the lowest fixture inside. It exists so an overflow happens outside rather than in your bathroom. If it is covered by pots or mulch, clear it.
Knowing where it is saves time on site. It is usually a capped pipe at ground level near the house, often near the boundary.
A bottle of drain cleaner. It is poor against hardened grease, useless against roots, and on older pipework it can do damage while you wait for it to work. It also means whoever opens the line is dealing with caustic standing water.
Because the two things that drive it most, where the blockage sits and what it is made of, cannot be known until someone is there. A plumber who quotes a firm number sight unseen has either padded it to cover the worst case or will revise it on arrival. We tell you what it depends on, then give you the price once we have looked, before any work starts.
On a first-time blockage with an obvious cause, often not. On a drain that has blocked before, almost always. The camera is what separates a build-up you caused from a cracked pipe you did not, and those two have completely different futures. If you have paid to clear the same drain twice, paying to find out why is the cheaper path.
Yes, and anyone telling you otherwise has built it into their weekday rate. What we will do is tell you honestly whether it can wait until morning. Plenty can. Sewage surfacing or backing up inside cannot, and we will say so.
If it is on your side of the boundary it is yours. If it is in the water authority's main it is theirs. Locating the blockage establishes which, and that matters before anyone starts digging. If it turns out to be one for Sydney Water rather than for us, we will tell you.
Not on sound pipework. Jet blasting is water, and on a pipe in reasonable condition it is the most thorough option available. Where the line is already badly cracked or collapsed, we tell you what we can see before going further rather than after.
The whole Northern Beaches, including Frenchs Forest, Allambie Heights, Forestville, Killarney Heights, Belrose, Davidson, Beacon Hill, Cromer, Narraweena, Wheeler Heights, Brookvale, Dee Why, Balgowlah, Seaforth, Manly, Freshwater, Collaroy, Narrabeen, Elanora Heights, Mona Vale and Bilgola.
We will tell you what it is, what it costs and whether it can wait, before anything starts. More on what the job involves on our blocked drains page.
Licensed & insured · NSW Lic. 322273C · Available 24/7.