Use the form if you already know what you need. If you are not sure which job you have, the sections below explain what each one involves and roughly what it costs.

Drain unblocking

The most common household drainage job. Water stops flowing, a gully overflows, or waste backs up. Most domestic blockages are cleared with rods or high pressure jetting in an hour or two.

• Typical cost: £80 to £250 for a standard job, more out of hours
• Rodding is cheaper and suits a soft blockage near a chamber
• Jetting costs more and deals with fat, silt, scale and roots properly
• Check first: if neighbours are affected too, the water company may clear it at no charge

Full detail on drain unblocking cost.

Blocked toilets

Water rises instead of clearing, or the bowl refills slowly after a flush. If only the toilet is affected the blockage is usually close to the pan. If a sink or shower is slow as well, the problem is further down the run.

• Typical cost: £75 to £150 for a simple job
• Biggest cause: wet wipes, by a distance, whatever the packet claims

Full detail on blocked toilets.

CCTV drain surveys

A camera is passed through the pipe so the condition can be seen rather than guessed at. Used for repeated blockages, house purchases, insurance claims, and build over applications.

• Typical cost: £150 to £400, depending on the report rather than the camera
• Worth knowing: a quick look and a written report are different products, and only the report is any use to a solicitor or an insurer
• Sometimes required: Severn Trent make a survey compulsory after building over a sewer

Full detail on CCTV drain survey cost.

Drain jetting

High pressure water clears blockages that rods cannot shift, and cleans the pipe wall rather than punching a hole through the middle of the blockage.

• Typical cost: £150 to £250 on a domestic job
• Best for: fat and grease, silt, scale, and root mat
• Often paired with a camera, either before to find the problem or after to confirm it has gone
• Worth knowing: if the same stretch keeps closing, jetting once usually costs less over a year than rodding repeatedly

Drain repairs

Cracked pipes, displaced joints, root damage and partial collapses. A survey normally comes first, because the repair method depends on what is actually wrong and where.

• Patch lining repairs a short damaged section without digging
• Full relining puts a new lining through a longer run, again without excavation
• Excavation is needed where a pipe has collapsed or dropped badly
• Whose bill: the private run inside your boundary is yours. A shared run is normally the water company’s since 2011, which is why the survey matters

Drain cleaning and maintenance

Descaling, grease removal and planned cleaning before a blockage develops. More common on commercial premises, food businesses and older properties with a history of trouble.

• Worth considering where a run has blocked more than once and the cause is known
• Common on shared runs serving several flats or houses

Septic tanks

Emptying, inspections and repairs for properties not connected to the main sewer. Different rules and costs apply compared with mains drainage, and the responsibility sits entirely with the property owner rather than a water company.

• Emptying is the routine job, and how often depends on tank size and how many people use it
• Inspections matter most when buying or selling a property on a tank
• No water company backstop. There is no free clearance because there is no public sewer involved

Local pages

Town and city pages carry local prices, the relevant water company and the housing types that cause most of the trouble in that area. They are listed on the locations page.

Getting a quote

• You describe the problem and give your postcode
• We pass the request to drainage companies covering that area
• You receive quotes and decide whether to go ahead with any of them