Cleared the same day where we can, at a price written down before we start. And you get the camera footage, because a drain is underground and you should not have to take anyone's word for what is in it.
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A blocked drain is the easiest plumbing job in the world to overcharge for, because the problem is underground and the customer cannot see it. Whatever the plumber says is in that pipe is simply what the customer has to believe.
We would rather remove that problem entirely. On any camera inspection we run, the footage is handed over. It is yours. Keep it, watch it properly, show it to another plumber if you want a second opinion on what we have recommended.
The price is written down before we start, with our licence number on it, and nothing begins until you have read it and agreed. If what we find underneath changes the job, you get a new figure to approve rather than a different number at the end.
None of that is complicated. It is simply harder to argue with than a description, and on work nobody can see it should be the normal way of doing things.
Ask to see the footage before you agree to anything. If there is no footage, there is no reason to be confident, whoever is quoting.
It is underground, it is invisible, and you are being asked to believe a stranger about something you cannot check for yourself.
That is an unusual position to be in, and it is worth saying plainly rather than pretending it is not the case.
Everything on this page is about how you verify what you are told, and none of it requires you to know anything about plumbing.
Every licensed plumber in NSW has one. Ours is 368473C and NSW Fair Trading publishes a register anybody can search in under a minute.
It is not rude to ask and nobody legitimate minds. A tradesperson who is reluctant to give you a number has told you something.
Check it before the work rather than after, because afterwards it is a great deal less useful.
A number said out loud in a hurry is very hard to hold anyone to afterwards, and it is the single most common source of disputes about plumbing work.
Written does not mean formal. A text message with the figure and what it covers is enough, and it takes a minute.
If the scope changes once somebody is on site, get the change in writing too, before it happens.
Making a leak or a backup safe is genuinely urgent and should be done immediately. Deciding on thousands of dollars of repair work is not urgent and never has to happen the same day.
Those two get bundled together, and separating them is the most useful thing you can do for yourself.
Anybody who tells you a major repair has to be authorised this afternoon is describing their schedule rather than your drain.
A camera records what is actually in the pipe, and there is no good reason for a plumber to describe it to you instead of showing you.
Ask for the file rather than a viewing on a tablet in your driveway. A recording you still have next month is worth something. One you watched once is not.
We hand ours over as a matter of course, whatever it shows and whether or not there is any work in it for us.
Something went down, we clear it, done. That is most call-outs and we will say so rather than turn a straightforward job into a bigger one.
The camera earns its place on the second or third blockage in the same year, when the question stops being what is in the pipe and becomes why it keeps happening.
Anybody recommending a survey on a first easy clearance is worth asking why.
Wipes, well ahead of everything else, whatever the packet claims about flushability. They stay intact, they snag, and they hold everything behind them.
Then kitchen fat, which cools onto the pipe wall and narrows the bore until a line that had been getting worse for a year finally stops.
Then roots, which do not break sound pipe but enter at a joint that has already moved. That is the honest list and it covers the great majority.
A single slow basin is that fixture and its trap. Several, or the lowest fixture in the house, is the main line out telling you so.
Once is an event. Three times in a year at the same point is a defect describing itself, and that is the trigger for filming rather than clearing again.
Keep a rough note of the dates. It is a stronger piece of information than an impression and it costs nothing.
A sewer blockage is indifferent to the weather. Trouble that only arrives in a downpour and eases when it stops is the stormwater side, and they are separate systems.
That distinction decides what equipment comes and roughly what it costs, so it is worth establishing on the phone.
If you are not sure, say so. It is a better answer than a guess.
On anything running into thousands, getting another quote is sensible and nobody legitimate will be offended by it.
It is easier when you hold the footage, because the second plumber is looking at the same evidence rather than starting again.
That is another reason to insist on the file, and it is the main reason some people are reluctant to hand it over.
Every figure below is agreed in writing before work starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges, published so you can hold any quote against them, ours included.
Through an existing access point, cleared and flow tested before we leave.
Footage handed over, yours to keep, whether you go ahead with anything or not.
Roots and hardened build-up take longer than a soft blockage.
Where the fault sits, marked at the surface, including whether it is past your boundary.
What we found and whether it is yours to fix, in a form you can show anyone.
If it is backing up we stop that first. Nobody should be agreeing to a price while standing in it.
A fixed figure with our licence number on it. Nothing begins until you have read it and said yes.
If this has happened before we put a camera down and record what is actually there.
The recording is yours. So is a written note of what we found and whether it sits inside your boundary.
We will get it under control first and talk about money afterwards. A licensed plumber answers at any hour.
Call 1300 381 569Not on the spot, and this is worth saying plainly. There is nothing wrong with a tradesman knocking, but nothing underground becomes an emergency in the hours it takes to get a second opinion, and urgency is the standard way unnecessary work gets sold. Ask for the licence number and write it down. Ask for the quote in writing. Say you will ring back tomorrow. A genuine plumber will not mind that at all, and how someone reacts to it tells you most of what you need to know.
Ask for the footage, and do not accept a description instead. A drain camera records what is in the pipe, and there is no reason for a plumber to keep it. We hand it over on every inspection whether you go ahead with anything or not, so you have something you can look at, keep, and show to another plumber if you want a second opinion. A fault you can see on a screen is a very different conversation from one you are being told about.
Usually not, and we will say so. Something went down the drain, we clear it, that is the job. A camera earns its money on a drain that has blocked before, because then the question is whether something is wrong with the pipe itself rather than what went into it. Being sold a camera inspection on a first, simple blockage is a reasonable thing to push back on.
No. They clear the bowl, which is all the label really promises, then fail to break down the way toilet paper does. They catch on anything slightly rough inside the line and build from there. They are the single most common avoidable cause of the blockages we attend, and the bin costs a great deal less than the call-out.
Rarely, and they can make things worse. They sit on top of the blockage rather than passing through it, they generate heat, and in older pipework they attack the pipe about as readily as the obstruction. They also leave us working in caustic water. If someone has already poured one down, please say so when you ring rather than after we open the line.
Then it is not your bill, and we will tell you. The line from your house to the boundary is yours; past that it is generally the water authority's. We locate where the fault actually sits and put it in writing, so if it is outside your boundary you have something concrete to hand over rather than paying for a section that was never your responsibility.
A standard clear through an existing access point is $150 to $400, agreed in writing before we start. A camera inspection is $250 to $450 with the footage handed to you. A jetter on a stubborn line is $400 to $700. If we think clearing will only hold for a few months, you will hear that before you pay, not afterwards.
Tell us what is happening and whether anyone has already quoted you. We are happy to give a second opinion on someone else's quote, and to explain ours to whoever you want on the call.
Written fixed price with the licence number on it, footage handed over, and no pressure to decide anything on the day.
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