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A CCTV drain inspection is a camera survey of your underground pipes. We feed a small waterproof camera through the drain on a flexible rod, watch the live feed, and record exactly what’s going on down there: tree roots, cracks, collapsed sections, grease build-up, or a sagging length of pipe holding water. In Melbourne, a standalone inspection typically costs $250 to $550, and it’s often bundled with drain clearing so you see the cause, not just the symptom.
The camera changed drain work more than any tool in the trade. Before it, diagnosing a blocked drain meant experience-guided guesswork and, occasionally, digging in the wrong spot. Now we can tell you the exact fault, its location and depth, and prove the fix worked with a second pass.
What the camera actually finds
- Tree roots. The number one finding in Melbourne’s established suburbs. Roots slip in through joints and cracks chasing moisture, then mat into a net that catches everything the house sends down.
- Cracked or broken pipes. Older earthenware cracks as the ground moves. The camera shows whether it’s a hairline or a structural break.
- Collapsed sections. Where the pipe has given up entirely and soil is coming in.
- Grease and foreign objects. Kitchen lines don’t lie, and wet wipes turn up far more often than anyone admits to flushing them.
- A bellied pipe. A sunken section that holds standing water, which is exactly why the same spot blocks again and again.
The footage is yours to keep. Buying a house, disputing responsibility with a neighbour or the council, or lodging an insurance claim, the recording is your evidence.
Where the inspection fits when a drain blocks
For a straightforward blockage, we clear the line first, usually with an electric eel or a high-pressure jetter, then run the camera to find out why it blocked. Clearing without inspecting is how people end up paying to unblock the same drain three times in two years, and we’d rather you didn’t. Our post on how plumbers unblock drains covers the clearing side in detail.
As for what plumbers use to unclog drains: the eel, a rotating steel cable with cutting heads, chews through roots and solid blockages; the jetter scours grease and sludge off the pipe walls; and the camera confirms the result. Supermarket drain chemicals do very little against roots and nothing against structural faults, which is why the recurring blockage keeps recurring no matter how much of the stuff goes down.
What it costs
As a Melbourne guide: an inspection on its own runs about $250 to $550 depending on how many lines and how far. Clearing a blockage typically costs $200 to $600, often with camera work included in a package. If the camera turns up structural damage, the options run from a targeted dig-and-replace of one section through to pipe relining, which rebuilds the pipe from the inside without excavation. We’ve covered when relining stacks up in our guide to whether you should reline your drains. Either way, the footage is what makes a fixed quote possible; nobody should be pricing underground repairs sight unseen, and with O’Shea Plumbing you’ll have that fixed price before any digging starts.
If you’ve got a blockage right now, the blocked drains team carries the eel, the jetter and the camera on the same vehicle, and a toilet that keeps backing up has its own page of first steps at blocked toilet.
When the camera is worth booking with no blockage at all
Three situations. Pre-purchase: a few hundred dollars of inspection before you buy can surface a five-figure drainage problem while it’s still the vendor’s problem, and it’s the cheapest building insurance you’ll never regret. Recurring blockages: a drain that blocks more than once a year has something structural going on, and clearing alone won’t end it. Renovations: knowing where the drains run, and what condition they’re in, before you pour a slab over them saves the kind of misery that doesn’t fit in a blog post.
Frequently asked questions
What is a CCTV drain inspection? A recorded camera survey of the inside of your drains, locating blockages, cracks, roots and collapses so the diagnosis is exact instead of a guess.
How much does it cost for someone to unblock a drain? Most straightforward blockages clear for $200 to $600. Recurring or structural problems cost more to fix, but the camera tells you precisely what you’re up against first.
What do plumbers use to unclog drains? An electric eel for roots and solids, a high-pressure jetter for grease and scale, and a CCTV camera to diagnose the cause and confirm the line is properly clear.
Who do I contact for a blocked drain? A licensed drainage plumber. Bring the symptoms (which fixtures, how often, any gurgling) to the phone call and you’ll get a sharper answer faster.
If a drain keeps blocking, stop paying to treat the symptom. Call O’Shea Plumbing on 03 8566 8450 or book an inspection, and we’ll show you exactly what’s going on down there before quoting the fix.
