Drain unblocking Cost Calculator
Clearing a blocked drain costs £80–£250 for most call-outs, a CCTV survey £90–£350 and high-pressure jetting £150–£400. The first question is free: a blockage past your boundary in a shared sewer is usually the water company's job, not yours.
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2 steps, using the figures from our cost guide.
How this calculator works
Every figure in this calculator is the one published in the cost table on our drain unblocking guide. Pick the option that matches your job and the calculator returns that published range, adjusted for your region - it does not model anything the guide does not already say.
That is deliberate. A calculator whose rates drift from the page it sits under is worse than no calculator, because two numbers on the same site disagree.
What it cannot know: access, the condition of what is already there, and anything structural. Those are what separate three real quotes from each other.
Published drain unblocking costs (2026)
| Option | Typical 2026 cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rodding a simple blockage | £80–£180 | |
| High-pressure jetting | £150–£400 | |
| CCTV drain survey | £90–£350 | |
| Patch lining a cracked section | £300–£900 | |
| Excavated drain repair | £600–£2,500 | |
| Root cutting | £200–£500 |
These are the figures from our drain unblocking cost guide.
What drives the price of clearing a drain
Most blockages clear with rods for £80–£180, and that is the figure to expect for a single gully or a slow toilet in normal working hours. The number climbs when the drain needs high-pressure jetting rather than rods, when the call is out of hours, or when what looks like a blockage turns out to be a collapsed or root-filled pipe. The drain unblocking cost guide breaks each of those out.
Out-of-hours and emergency call-outs run 50-100% above the daytime rate, so if the drain is not backing up into the house it is usually cheaper to wait for a booked morning slot. Where the same drain blocks again and again, pay for a CCTV survey before more clearing: £90–£350 tells you whether the cause is habit or a defect, and stops you paying to rod the same fault twice.
Before you pay anyone, work out whose drain it is. Lateral drains beyond your boundary and shared sewers have been the water company’s responsibility since 2011, and they clear those for free. For trouble caused by poor surface drainage in the garden, the garden drainage cost guide and the plumbing hub are the places to look next.
Drain unblocking calculator — FAQs
Around £80–£250 for a standard daytime call-out with rods, and £150–£400 if it needs high-pressure jetting. Out-of-hours emergency rates run 50–100% higher.
You own the drains inside your boundary that serve only your home. Lateral drains beyond the boundary and sewers shared with neighbours have belonged to the water company since 2011 - report those to them, free.
For a recurring blockage, yes - £90–£350 to find out whether the cause is habit or a defect. Buyers also use them on older houses before exchange, and insurers ask for the footage on subsidence-adjacent claims.
Buildings insurance usually covers accidental damage to underground services for the section you own; wear and tear and blockages themselves are usually excluded. Home emergency add-ons often cover the unblocking call-out.
A straightforward rodding job is usually 30–60 minutes, and most daytime call-outs are done inside the hour. Jetting a stubborn blockage or one further down the run takes longer, and a CCTV survey to find a recurring fault adds another 30–60 minutes on top.
Fat, wipes and other things that should not be flushed cause most household blockages, followed by root ingress into older clay pipes and, outside, silt and leaves in gullies. Recurring blockages in the same spot usually point to a defect - a crack, a dip or a collapse - rather than one-off misuse.
Related cost guides
- Drain unblocking cost guide — The full price guide
- All plumbing services — Browse the hub
- All BestBuilders services — Every trade we cover
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