Roots through a clay sewer, cut out and relined
Forty years of jacaranda root through a clay line. Jetted clear the same afternoon, cameraed, and the broken section relined without digging up the lawn.
- Rang us
- 1:40pm, Tuesday
- On site
- 3:05pm, same day
- Draining again
- 4:20pm
- Excavation
- None
What we were told on the phone
Verbatim, near enough. It is usually the most useful thing anybody says all day.
- "The shower's filling up when the washing machine goes, and there's a smell out the back near the drain in the lawn. It's been getting slower for about a month and now it's just not going."
- More than one fixture, a smell at the overflow gully, and a month of slow decline. That combination is a main sewer line, not a branch, and in a Willetton street built in 1979 it is roots until proven otherwise.
What we found
The line was blocked solid about eleven metres from the house, directly under the edge of the lawn where a jacaranda had been growing for the better part of forty years.
The jetter cleared it in under half an hour. The camera then showed why: a clay pipe with a displaced joint and a mass of fine root growing back through it. There was also a second, smaller root intrusion three metres further along that had not yet caused any trouble.
We recorded both, marked the positions on the surface with the locator, and showed the owners the footage on the screen at the back of the van before quoting anything.
What was actually done
In order, including the bits that are not billable.
- 1
Jetted the main line clear from the inspection point and confirmed flow from every fixture in the house.
- 2
Ran the camera the full length to the connection point and recorded it, locating and marking two root intrusions.
- 3
Cut the roots back with a cutting head and re-jetted so the pipe walls were clean enough to bond to.
- 4
Installed a four-metre cured-in-place liner across the failed joint and the second intrusion, from the existing inspection opening.
- 5
Cameraed the finished liner and left the family a copy of the before and after footage.
What it cost, line by line
Published in full, against the figure quoted before anything started. This is the only proof a plumber can honestly offer.
Quoted before work started
$2,190 quoted before we started
| Item | Detail | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency same-day attendance | Booked at 1:40pm, on site 3:05pm | Amount$0 |
| Main line jetting and clearing | High-pressure jet, 11 m to the blockage, flow confirmed at every fixture | Amount$490 |
| CCTV inspection and locating | Full line to the connection point, two faults located and marked, footage supplied | Amount$220 |
| Root cutting and preparation | Cutting head over 6 m, re-jetted for bond | Amount$280 |
| Cured-in-place liner — 4 m | Installed through the existing opening, no excavation, cameraed on completion | Amount$1,200 |
| Invoiced | $2,190 | |
The attendance fee is shown at zero because it is credited in full when the work goes ahead on the same visit — it is on the invoice so you can see it was not quietly added. Final figure matched the quote exactly.
Afterwards
The house drained normally that afternoon and the lawn was never opened. Relining cost roughly a third of what excavating, replacing and reinstating the same section would have.
The owners have the camera footage from before and after, which matters more than it sounds: when they sell, it is the difference between a building inspector's note about tree roots and a documented repair.
What they said afterwards
Pinned to this job, so you can read the review and the invoice it refers to side by side.
- Blocked sewer and reline
“Showed me the camera footage of the roots in the pipe on a screen rather than just telling me it was blocked, and marked where it was on the lawn. Quoted the reline right there and did not push me to decide on the spot. Very easy to deal with.”
Other jobs, other invoices
- 02Canning ValeJanuary 2026
Hot water gone on a Sunday, replaced by mid-afternoon
A seventeen-year-old gas storage unit with a rusted-through tank, on the one weekend the house was full. Diagnosed, replaced and certified the same day.
Invoiced$1,750against $1,890 quoted - 03ApplecrossDecember 2025
A slab leak found with a thermal camera, not a jackhammer
A water bill that had tripled and a warm patch on a tiled floor. Located to within a hand-span, then re-routed overhead instead of breaking the slab.
Invoiced$1,680against $1,680 quoted
Want a number like this for your job?
Ring 0491 570 156 and describe it. You get a fixed price before anything starts, and it is the price that ends up on the invoice.
Plumbing Contractor PL 7742 · Gas Fitting GF 3318 · 12 months on workmanship, in writing on every invoice