The short answer
A standalone CCTV drain inspection in Melbourne costs $300 to $550. Bundled with clearing the line, expect $370 to $945, with around $580 being typical. Access is the biggest variable: a job reached through an external cleanout costs less than one where a toilet has to come off the floor first.
We carry our own camera, so an inspection here isn't subcontracted out or added to a later invoice.
Melbourne prices, checked in September 2026.
| The job | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Standalone inspection, clear line, easy access | $300 - $550 |
| Clearing and inspection together | $370 - $945, typically $580 |
Standalone figures from Pressure Works, a Melbourne drainage operator trading since 1998; combined figures from What’s The Damage, September 2026. This sits under our guide to how much a plumber costs in Melbourne, and next to the blocked drain work it usually comes attached to.
Why the quotes vary so much
Two numbers a few hundred apart usually aren’t two prices for the same job. They’re two different jobs.
The biggest variable is how the camera gets into the pipe. A property with an external cleanout is straightforward: the cover comes off, the camera goes down, and a standalone inspection is 45 minutes to an hour. A property without one means finding another way in, and sometimes that means lifting a toilet off the floor.
The second is whether the line is clear. A camera can’t see through a blockage, so on a blocked drain the clearing has to happen first. That’s why so many quotes bundle the two, and why the bundled range runs higher.
- No external cleanout, so access has to be made
- A blocked line that needs jetting before anything can be filmed
- Obstructions that turn a one-hour job into two or three
- Locating and marking the fault on the surface as well as finding it
- After hours, which carries the same premium as any other plumbing call-out
What you should get for the money
A number on its own isn’t the deliverable. The footage is.
The normal standard for a CCTV drain inspection is a timestamped recording with the findings on it, and you should expect to keep a copy. That’s the part that still has value in six months, when you’re talking to an insurer, a builder, a strata manager or somebody buying your house.
The other half is the location. A camera that tells you there’s a cracked joint somewhere in thirty metres of pipe is interesting. A camera with a sonde in the head, paired with a locator above ground, tells you it’s eleven metres out and eight hundred deep, marked on the driveway in chalk. One of those is a conversation and the other one is a quote.
- A timestamped video recording you keep
- Plain-language findings, not just the file
- The fault's position and depth marked on the surface, if there is one
- A recommendation, with the option of doing nothing if that's honest
When it’s worth paying for, and when it isn’t
Worth it: a drain that has blocked more than once, any drain you’re about to spend real money on, and any house you’re about to buy. A standard building inspection doesn’t look inside the drains, which is why root damage and collapsed pipe are such a common post-settlement surprise.
Less worth it: a single blockage in a kitchen line with an obvious cause, cleared on the first go, in a house with no history of it. We’ll say so rather than sell you a camera run for the sake of it.
- A drain that's blocked more than once
- Any drain you're about to dig up or spend real money on
- A house you're about to buy
- Anything you'll need to prove later, to an insurer or a strata manager
- One kitchen blockage, obvious cause, cleared first go, no history
The honest version of the trade-off is that an inspection costs a few hundred dollars and finds problems that cost thousands. It doesn’t fix anything. It stops you guessing, and guessing is what turns a repair into an excavation.
What we see when we film a line
The thing that surprises people most is that the blockage is rarely the problem. It’s the symptom.
Tree roots don’t get into sound pipe. They get in through a joint that’s already opened up, or a crack that’s already there, and they grow toward the water because that’s where the water is. Clearing the roots gets you a working drain. It doesn’t close the door they came through, which is why the same line blocks again on a cycle.
The second is that people expect the footage to be unreadable. It isn’t. You’ll see the pipe, you’ll see the joint, and you’ll see the root or the crack or the sag as clearly as you’d see it standing over it. Nobody needs it explained twice.
Watch for the cheap headline number
An inspection advertised at $99 or $150 is usually not the whole job. The clearing, the locating, the report and the travel get charged separately, and the total lands where everybody else’s total was.
There’s nothing wrong with itemised pricing. The problem is finding out about the items afterwards. Ask for one written number that covers the full job before anyone starts, and compare that against the next quote rather than comparing headline rates.
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