Blocked Drains
Drain clearing, CCTV inspection, root removal, no-dig pipe relining. Diagnose properly before deciding to dig.
Diagnose before you dig
Half the time, a blocked drain turns out to be something simple: a wad of paper towel someone shouldn’t have flushed, a hair clump in the shower trap, a build-up of grease in the kitchen line. Twenty minutes with a jetter and a snake clears it.
The other half, it’s a real problem. Tree roots in the sewer line, a collapsed clay pipe, a misaligned joint from years of soil movement. That’s where the camera matters. I won’t tell you you’ve got a broken pipe without showing you the picture of it.
What I use
- High-pressure water jetter: clears most blockages, scours pipe walls clean. Better than a snake for grease and scale.
- CCTV drain camera: live colour footage you can watch on the screen. You get a copy of the recording.
- Pipe locator: tells me where the camera is from the surface, so we know exactly where any damage is.
- Root cutter: rotating blade head for tree-affected lines. Won’t fix the root problem (that needs relining) but buys time.
Pipe relining (no-dig repair)
For broken or cracked sections of sewer or stormwater pipe, traditional repair means digging up your yard. Relining doesn’t. A felt-and-resin liner is fed through the existing pipe, inflated, and cured in place. The result is a new pipe inside the old one, with a 50-year warranty.
It costs more per metre than digging, but cheaper overall once you factor in the cost of putting your garden, driveway or concrete back together. Best fit for: tree-affected lines, long runs under landscaping, pipes under driveways or extensions.
Need this fixed today?
Ring directly. If I can be there same-day I’ll tell you straight. If I can’t, I’ll tell you who can.
Call 0455 092 178 Send a message insteadNewcastle, Maitland, the Hunter Valley, Port Stephens. Check your suburb →
Honest answers.
Most internal blockages (shower, basin, kitchen) are cleared in 20 to 40 minutes. Mainline (gully or sewer) blockages typically 1 to 2 hours with the jetter and camera. If it’s a tree root problem and we’re cutting and inspecting, allow 2 to 3 hours.
Three usual culprits: tree roots growing in through cracks (especially common in older Maitland and Hamilton homes with original clay pipes), pipe collapse or partial collapse from soil movement, or a long-running grease build-up the snake can clear surface-level but not properly remove. The camera tells us which.
No. If the pipe is fully collapsed or completely missing a section, you can’t reline it – the liner needs an existing pipe to sit inside. We’d need to spot-dig and replace that section. For cracks, gaps and root intrusion, relining is almost always cheaper than excavation.
I guarantee my work, but I can’t guarantee what happens after I leave. If a drain blocks again from the same root system within 30 days I’ll come back and re-clear for half the original price. If the camera showed pipe damage and you decided not to reline, that’s a different conversation, the blockage will keep coming back until the damage is fixed.