Who to hire for a blocked drain

Short answer

A licensed plumber — specifically one who owns a drain machine or a high-pressure water jetter, which not every general plumber does. If the same drain blocks more than once in a year, ask for a CCTV camera inspection as well, because a drain that keeps blocking has a cause and clearing it again only buys time.

Soon, not tonightIt will not usually get cheaper by waiting, and it is rarely worth an after-hours rate.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Plumber.

  • an arborist

    the camera finds roots. A plumber can cut roots out of a pipe; only removing or managing the tree stops them coming back, and that decision may need council consent.

  • your water authority

    the blockage is in the main sewer rather than your property's drain. Everything from your boundary shaft outwards is usually theirs, and they attend at no cost to you — so if more than one fixture in the house is backing up at once, ring them before you ring anyone.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Stop using water in the house. Every flush and every load of washing adds to what has nowhere to go, and a drain that is merely slow can be made to overflow by a dishwasher cycle.
  2. Find your overflow relief gully — the grate outside, usually lower than the lowest fixture inside. It is designed to spill in the garden rather than in the house, and if it is covered by a pot plant or paved over, uncover it now.
  3. Note which fixtures are affected. One slow basin is a local blockage; every fixture in the house gurgling at once is the main drain or the sewer.
  4. If it has already overflowed, keep people and pets away from it. Sewage is a health hazard and not a mopping job.

What to ask when you book

  • Do you carry a drain machine or a jetter, or do you sub it out? A plunger and a hand snake will not clear a root mass.
  • Is the camera inspection included or extra, and do I get the footage?
  • If it turns out to be in the main sewer, what do you charge me for attending?
  • What is the call-out fee and is it deducted from the job if you do the work?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • Whether the blockage can be reached from an existing inspection opening, or whether one has to be cut in.
  • Root intrusion, which means jetting rather than snaking, and often a second visit with a camera.
  • Collapsed or misaligned pipe, which stops being a clear and becomes an excavation.
  • Clay versus PVC drains. Older clay drains have joints every metre or so and roots find them; that changes how often you will be doing this.
  • Access — a drain under a slab, a deck or a driveway costs what getting to it costs.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Plumbing and drainage is licensed work in every Australian state and territory. The licence exists because drainage connects to the sewer, and a badly made connection contaminates it.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for a blocked drain
A licensed plumber — specifically one who owns a drain machine or a high-pressure water jetter, which not every general plumber does. If the same drain blocks more than once in a year, ask for a CCTV camera inspection as well, because a drain that keeps blocking has a cause and clearing it again only buys time.
Is a blocked drain an emergency?
It becomes one when sewage is entering the house or when the only toilet is unusable. A slow drain that still drains is not, and calling it in as an emergency generally buys an after-hours rate for a job that would have waited until morning.
Who pays if the blockage is in the sewer main?
Generally your water authority, and generally at no charge, because the main is their asset. The dividing line is usually your boundary trap or connection point. This is the reason to ring them before you ring a private plumber when the whole house is affected — a plumber who attends and finds the problem is on their side of the line will still charge you for attending.
Why does my drain keep blocking in the same place?
Almost always tree roots at a joint, a section of pipe that has dropped and holds water, or a partial collapse. All three are visible on a camera and none of them is fixed by clearing. If you have paid for three clears, the fourth one is more expensive than finding out why.

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Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.