Clearing a blocked drain is the cheap part of a blocked drain. Finding out why it blocked is what stops you paying for it again in six months.
What it costs
| Job | Price | |---|---| | Clear the drain with the drain machine | $149 first hour, then $88 each hour after | | Clear, inspect with the drain camera, and locate — marking the locations and depths of broken sections | $199 first hour, then $88 each hour after |
All prices are GST inclusive and subject to site inspection.
Most single blockages are done inside the first hour. The hourly rate after that exists because some drains need genuinely more work, not as a default.
Why drains block
In Brisbane, overwhelmingly: roots.
Established trees send roots toward the only reliable water in a dry month, which is the inside of your sewer line. They get in through a crack or a failed joint, and once they are in they keep growing. What you notice is a drain that runs slowly, then blocks, then runs fine after someone clears it, then blocks again the following year.
The other causes are more straightforward — debris, grease, things that went down a toilet that should not have — and they tend to be one-off events rather than a pattern.
That distinction is the whole decision about whether to pay for the camera.
When the drain machine on its own is enough
If this is the first blockage you have had at the property, and it clears easily, the machine is all it needs. A one-off blockage is a one-off blockage. Pay the first hour and get on with your day.
When the camera is worth paying for
Pay the extra for the camera and locating work if any of these is true:
- It has blocked before. A repeat blockage has a cause. Clearing it again without finding the cause is the same money spent twice a year, indefinitely.
- There are established trees anywhere near the line. If you can see a big tree between the house and the street, assume roots until shown otherwise.
- You are about to buy or sell the property. This is the one people wish they had done. A written report on the condition of the drain is either leverage or reassurance, and it is far cheaper than discovering a collapsed line after settlement.
- More than one fixture is affected. If the toilet, the shower and the laundry are all slow, the problem is in the main line, not in a fixture — and you want to know where in the main line.
What the camera and locating work actually gives you
We inspect the drain with the camera and show you what caused the blockage — you look at it on the screen, not at a description of it afterwards.
Then, with the locating equipment, we pinpoint where the damaged section is and roughly how deep, and give you a detailed report on the condition of the drain with the locations and depths of the broken sections marked.
That turns a recurring problem into a quotable repair. "The drain blocks sometimes" cannot be priced. "There is a broken section 11 metres from the inspection point at 600 mm deep" can.
If only one fixture is slow
Worth checking before you call about the main line. If the shower is slow and the toilet next to it flushes normally, the blockage is in the shower waste, not the sewer — different job, smaller job. If everything in the house is slow and the toilet is gurgling when the washing machine drains, it is the main line.
And if sewage is coming up inside the building, stop using every tap, toilet, shower and washing machine in the house. All of it drains through the same blocked line, and everything you run adds to what is coming back up. Then call us — that is an emergency.
Call us
Having the drains blocked in a property can make the premises unusable, so we treat it accordingly. Tell us which fixtures are affected, whether it has happened before, and whether there are big trees on the property.
More on blocked drains. If water is appearing in the yard rather than backing up inside, it may be a supply leak rather than a drain — see leak detection.
More on Blocked drains, including what we charge.