Underground drains are out of sight, and their condition is invisible until something fails. A camera inspection is worthwhile in these situations:

  • After a recurring blockage. If a drain has blocked more than once, something structural is almost certainly causing it. The camera finds it.
  • Before buying a home. Building and pest inspections do not look inside underground drains. Root-damaged or collapsed sewer lines are a significant repair cost that a pre-purchase drain inspection can reveal before you sign.
  • Before renovating, extending or landscaping. Building over or near a drain with existing damage locks the problem underneath your new work. Councils and certifiers often require knowledge of drain locations too.
  • After clearing a blockage. The best time to inspect is when the line is freshly cleared and the camera can see the pipe walls.
  • After any major repair. Footage verifies the repair was done properly.
  • Slow or smelly drains with no obvious cause. The camera either finds the problem or rules the drain out.

For older properties — particularly pre-1980s homes with earthenware pipes — a periodic inspection every few years is cheap insurance against discovering a collapsed sewer the hard way.