Plain-English guides
Understand your drains before you spend
Written for owners of older Sydney homes — no jargon, no upsell. Just honest explanations so you can make a good decision about your drains.
Ten guides, ten questions people ask before they call
Cost, responsibility, prevention, smells, overflow gullies, Sydney Water, tree roots, relining versus replacement, what a camera inspection actually pays for, and how to tell whether a quote is fair.
How much does a blocked drain cost in Sydney? (2026 ranges)
What Sydney plumbers actually charge to clear a blocked drain, what pushes the price up, and the ranges we publish so you can judge any quote you’re given.
Who pays for a blocked drain: tenant, landlord or Sydney Water?
Where responsibility sits under NSW tenancy law and the Sydney Water boundary rule, and why a camera report usually settles the argument in one visit.
How to prevent blocked drains in an older Sydney home
A handful of habits and one annual check that stop most blockages in houses with clay lines and big trees. Written for people who’d rather not see us twice.
Sewage smell in the house or yard: what it means
The five common causes of a sewer smell, from a dry trap to a cracked line under the garden, and how to tell which one you’ve got before you call.
The overflow relief gully: the grate in your yard that saves your house
What the gully is, why it’s overflowing, and why you should never cover it, raise it or pave over it.
Is the blockage on my side or Sydney Water’s?
How the boundary works, what Sydney Water fixes for free, and how to find out in one visit rather than paying for the wrong repair.
Is this drain quote fair? How to read a plumber’s quote
What should be itemised, the numbers that are warning signs in Sydney, and the questions to ask before you say yes to anything.
Tree roots in your sewer pipe: what to do
Roots are the single most common cause of blocked sewers in older Sydney homes. Here’s how they get in, what they do, and the order to deal with them in.
Who these guides are written for
Most of our customers own a home built before 1980, somewhere between the Northern Beaches and the Sutherland Shire, and have never had to think about the pipes under it until something backed up. These guides are written for that person. They avoid trade jargon, they name real Sydney prices, and they say plainly when a cheaper option is fine.
If a guide answers your question, good. If it raises a new one, the next step is the same as it would be for us: a camera down the line. It costs less than a wrong guess and it is the only way to know what you are dealing with.
The footage and a written report are yours to keep, whether or not you go ahead with any repair.
Blocked drain? See what’s wrong before you spend a dollar.
We clear it today, put a camera down, and show you the footage. No quote forms, no pressure, and the price range is published before we come.