- Response
- Right now
- From
- $180 – $290
- Typical time
- How long it takes
- Warranty
- 12 months, in writing
A blocked drain is the one plumbing fault that tells you exactly how bad it is going to be. A slow shower is an afternoon's problem. Sewage coming up through the lowest gully in the yard is tonight's.
We clear it with a high-pressure jetter rather than a plunger and hope, and then we put a camera down the line and show you the footage. That second part is not an upsell — it is the difference between a drain that is clear and a drain that is fixed.
Out the same day, any hour, for sewage or a full blockage
The signs, in the words people actually use
If two or more of these sound familiar, you have almost certainly got this one.
- Water backing up in the shower when the washing machine drains
- A gurgle from the floor waste every time the toilet is flushed
- Smell coming from the overflow gully outside
- More than one fixture draining slowly at the same time
What it turns out to be, most common first
Written in frequencies rather than percentages, because a made-up percentage is worse than an honest 'most of the time'.
- 1
Tree roots through a clay sewer line
By a long way the most common cause in the older southern suburbs. Roots find a hairline crack, drink, and thicken until nothing gets past.
- 2
Fat and food waste in the kitchen line
Builds up over years, then catches one thing and stops. Almost always the kitchen only, which is how we tell it apart from a sewer blockage.
- 3
Wet wipes, nappies and sanitary items
Nothing that says flushable actually breaks down. These sit at the first bend and everything else piles up behind them.
- 4
A collapsed or dropped section of pipe
Less common, and the one that matters. If a drain blocks again within months, this is usually why — and jetting it a third time will not fix it.
What actually happens, stage by stage
No mystery, and nothing that happens out of sight. If there is a camera going down a drain, the screen gets turned around.
- Stage 01
Find where it is blocked
We open the inspection point and work out whether it is one fixture, one branch or the main line. That determines everything else, and it takes about ten minutes.
- Stage 02
Jet it clear
High-pressure water rather than a mechanical eel wherever we can — an eel bores a hole through a blockage, a jetter scours the pipe back to its walls. Roots get cut back with a root-cutting head.
- Stage 03
Camera the line
Once it runs, the camera goes down. You watch the screen with us. We locate and mark anything that is broken, off-grade or root-damaged, and note the depth.
- Stage 04
Tell you what we found
If it is clear and sound, we say so and you do not hear from us again for years. If there is a broken section, you get the footage, the location and a fixed price for the repair — with no pressure to do it today.
Published, with the reasoning attached
Blocked drains are quoted as a job, not by the hour. You hear the number before we take anything out of the van, and if we cannot clear it you are not charged for the attempt.
Single fixture cleared — sink, basin or shower
$180 – $290
One branch, accessible, cleared and tested. Most kitchen blockages land here.
Main sewer line jetted and camera-inspected
$390 – $650
Includes the jetting, the camera run and the footage. The range is about length and how much root there is.
Root cutting on a heavily invaded line
$550 – $900
Where the line is more root than pipe. Takes longer and needs the cutting head rather than the standard nozzle.
After-hours emergency attendance
From $290
Applies between 6pm and 7am and on public holidays. Quoted on the phone before we leave, never added afterwards.
Pipe repairs and relining are priced separately once the camera has shown us what is actually there. We do not quote a repair we have not seen.
How long it takes
Most blockages are cleared and cameraed inside two hours. A badly root-invaded main line can take three or four. If we find a collapse, clearing it is still same-day — the repair gets booked, because digging up a sewer at 11pm helps nobody.
Stopping it happening again
A drain that has blocked once will block again if nothing changes. Three things change it.
- Nothing but the three P's down the toilet. Wipes labelled flushable are the single biggest cause of repeat call-outs.
- Fat and oil into the bin, not the sink — even hot and runny, it sets on the way down the line.
- If the camera showed roots, book a jet every two years rather than waiting for the next blockage. It costs less than one emergency call-out and it never happens at 10pm.
A job of exactly this kind, with the invoice
What it was quoted at before it started, what each line cost, and whether the two numbers matched.
- 01WillettonFebruary 2026
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.
Invoiced$2,190against $2,190 quoted
What people ask about blocked drains
Will jetting damage my pipes?
Not sound ones. A jetter runs at a pressure the pipe is built to take, and the nozzle is sized to the line. On a pipe that is already cracked or collapsed the camera will show it — and that is a repair, not a clearing job.
Do I actually need the camera?
If it is the first time that fixture has blocked and it clears easily, no, and we will tell you so. If it is a main line, or the second blockage in a year, yes — otherwise you are paying to clear the same fault repeatedly.
Who pays if the blockage is on the council's side?
The Water Corporation is responsible from the connection point out. If the camera puts the fault on their side we mark it, give you the footage and the location, and you use it to have them attend. We do not charge you for their pipe.
Ring us about blocked drains
24 hours, 7 days — including public holidays. You get the price before anything comes out of the van, and you are free to say no to it.
Plumbing Contractor PL 7742 · Gas Fitting GF 3318 · 12 months on workmanship, in writing on every invoice