Sydney Drain Price Index
Verified October 2026 · refreshed monthly · how we price
What drain work costs in Sydney, job by job. The ranges are what Sydney homeowners are typically quoted in business hours including GST, compiled from prices Sydney plumbing and drainage businesses publish on their own websites and refreshed every month. Our own fixed price sits in the last column so you can see where it lands. Free to cite.
Prices, October 2026
| Job | Low | Typical | High | Sources | Block Drains |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocked sink or basin | $150 | $220 | $300 | 14 sites | $199 |
| Blocked shower or laundry drain | $150 | $230 | $350 | limited | $199 |
| Blocked toilet | $180 | $260 | $350 | 7 sites | $249 |
| Hydro jetting a blocked drain | $300 | $450 | $650 | 12 sites | $449 |
| CCTV drain inspection | $200 | $330 | $550 | 10 sites | $249 |
| Blocked stormwater drain | $400 | $520 | $650 | limited | $449 |
| Blocked sewer main (jet + camera) | $300 | $520 | $800 | 5 sites | $549 |
| Tree root cutting in a drain | $400 | $800 | $1,500 | limited | Fixed quote |
| Spot dig and drain repair | $1,500 | $3,000 | $5,000 | limited | Fixed quote |
| Pipe relining | $3,000 | $6,500 | $12,000 | 10 sites | Fixed quote |
| Excavate and replace a drain | $10,000 | $17,000 | $30,000 | limited | Fixed quote |
All figures include GST and assume business hours. "Sources" counts the Sydney businesses publishing a price for that job in the latest monthly crawl. Where it says "limited", few businesses publish a price for that work and the range is compiled from quotes and job experience instead — those are the figures to treat with most caution. Last crawl 11 October 2026, covering 29 Sydney sites across 6 of 11 jobs.
What moves a price in Sydney
- Time of day. Most Sydney plumbers add 20–50% at night and on weekends and 50–100% on public holidays. A few, including us, don't.
- What's bundled. The same "drain clear" can mean a machine down the pipe or a jet clear with a camera and a written report. Compare what's included, not the headline.
- Area. Denser, older, harder-access suburbs quote higher than the outer west and south-west. Our cost guides apply an area modifier; our own price doesn't change by suburb.
- Clear versus repair. Clearing a blockage and repairing a broken pipe are different orders of cost. The camera is what tells you which one you have.
Got a quote in front of you?
Enter it in the Quote Checker and see where it sits against these ranges for your part of Sydney — ours included.
Check a quoteQuestions
- Where do these Sydney drain prices come from?
- Prices published by Sydney plumbing and drainage businesses on their own websites. We read what a business says about its own work, cross-check it across sources, and refresh it monthly. We don't copy figures from cost-guide aggregators or lead marketplaces, and we don't use prices from businesses we work with.
- Are special offers included?
- No. Advertised deals like a $99 drain clear are lead offers rather than the price of the work, so they're recorded but kept out of the ranges. Per-metre and hourly rates are also kept separate, because they can't be pooled with whole-job prices.
- How often is it updated?
- The sources are re-crawled monthly. A change in the data doesn't automatically change a published price — a person reviews every proposed move first.
- Can I cite this?
- Yes. Link to this page and use the month it was last verified. If you want the per-job source counts for a specific figure, they're in the table.
Last verified . Guide only — every job is different.