Sanitary drainage work is licensed plumbing work in Victoria, anyone clearing or repairing your sewer, stormwater or waste line should hold a current BPC licence. Why this matters past the legal point: an unlicensed operator can rod a line clear and leave you with a hidden compliance issue that emerges at sale time when a building inspector flags it. Insurance claims for water damage from blocked-drain overflow get rejected when the repair was done by an unlicensed handyman. Our licence number appears on every quote, invoice and Certificate of Compliance, your insurer, conveyancer or body corporate manager can verify the work was authorised.
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Every Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting drain call starts with a push-rod CCTV camera into the line. We confirm the blockage type and location before quoting. This rules out scenarios where rodding could damage a cracked pipe further, and means the quote is for the real job, not a guess.
For recurring faults, our CCTV drain inspection service in Melbourne documents the pipe condition and fault location before repair is quoted.Tree roots get a high-pressure jetter with a penetrating nozzle that cuts roots flush with the pipe wall. Grease and fat get a rotating scour nozzle. Silt gets a flushing nozzle. Sectional rodding for soft blockages in good pipe. The right tool for the line condition rather than max-pressure-and-hope.
Sanitary plumbing repair work above the threshold gets a Certificate of Compliance lodged the same day. You receive a digital copy. Insurers, real-estate agents and conveyancers recognise the certificate as proof the work meets AS/NZS 3500.2 sanitary plumbing standards.
On the call we ask what is backing up, what was already running, and whether anything is overflowing. If sewage is overflowing inside the property right now we triage that as urgent and arrange the soonest available Melbourne booking. Slower issues get a normal-hours appointment with a fixed-price quote agreed on site.
The camera goes in from the closest access point, gully, IO point, or roof vent for sewer. We trace the line, find the failure, mark its location on the surface with a locator wand, and capture a short video file. The homeowner sees what we see, there is no verbal-only diagnosis.
Repair scope is quoted in writing on site with the camera footage as the basis. The homeowner approves before any clearing or excavation. Where insurance is involved, we provide the camera video and diagnosis notes formatted for the claims team.
Clearing is done with the method that suits the cause. After the clear, the camera goes back in to confirm the line is genuinely clear, not just passing the dye test. We capture before-and-after footage so you have proof of the outcome for insurance, body corporate, or property sale documentation.
If the camera shows a structural fault, cracked clay, displaced joint, belly in the line, root-damaged section, we include a separate fixed-price repair quote. You are under no obligation to proceed with Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting for the repair; the clearing job stands on its own. Many Melbourne customers proceed because they value the cost certainty of one tradesperson handling the diagnosis and the fix.
For most Melbourne blocked-drain calls, the actions you take in the first few minutes determine how much water damage there is when we get there. The four steps below cover the common scenarios.
If a drain is blocked and overflowing, the more water you run from any fixture upstream of the blockage, the further the overflow spreads. Stop running water from sinks, showers, dishwashers, washing machines and toilets. If sewage is overflowing inside, isolate water at the boundary stopcock until we arrive.
The gully trap (usually a small concrete or PVC dish near the rear of the property with a grate) is where Our camera goes in for sewer work. Clear pot plants, garden bins, garden hose reels off the area around it before we arrive, saves about 15 minutes on site.
Tell us which toilets, sinks or floor wastes started showing the issue first. The pattern tells us where the blockage is in the line, a downstairs floor waste backing up while upstairs toilets are fine usually means a sewer-line blockage near the gully, while only a kitchen sink slowing usually means a localised waste-line issue.
If overflow has already caused water damage to floors, cabinets or walls, take photos before any cleanup. Insurance claims for blocked-drain water damage frequently get reduced because the homeowner cleaned up before documenting. Send photos along with your address when you book, useful for our scope and for your claim.
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It depends on the cause and the line condition. Clearing a soft blockage in good pipe is at the cheaper end. Tree-root intrusion in a clay sewer line that needs a jetter and follow-up repair is at the higher end. Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting quotes a fixed price after the camera inspection, there is no meter-running, surprise-by-the-end pricing. Send your address and a short description of what is backing up and we will come back with a number.
Blocked drains usually present as one of these patterns: water draining slowly from multiple fixtures at once, gurgling from one fixture when you run another, a sewer smell at a gully or floor waste, sewage backing up through a low-point fixture, or stormwater pooling near a downpipe in heavy rain. A single slow sink is usually a localised waste blockage; multiple slow drains is usually a sewer-line issue closer to the gully or further.
Yes, and in Melbourne's inner-east where older homes have old clay (clay) sewer and stormwater pipes, tree roots are the most common cause of repeat blockages. The roots find the slightly-displaced joints between pipe sections, work through the rubber seal, and over years grow into a root mass that traps debris. The fix is to cut the roots flush with hydro-jetting, then either monitor with annual CCTV or do a spot repair at the worst sections.
Rarely on its own. Rodding pushes a hole through the blockage but leaves the underlying cause, root intrusion, pipe damage, grease build-up, in place. It buys time but the line usually re-blocks. The CCTV-first approach Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting uses confirms whether the cause is going to come back. For root-driven blockages we recommend hydro-jetting at the same visit so the roots are cut flush with the pipe wall, not just rodded around.
For a one-off soft blockage in modern PVC, a CCTV check is optional. For any drain that has blocked twice in 12 months, any heritage-home sewer or stormwater line, any pre-purchase or pre-sale check, and any insurance claim, yes, the CCTV is essential. The video file is the diagnosis record and the proof of pipe condition.
Sewer drains carry waste from toilets, sinks, showers and laundries to the council main. Stormwater drains carry rainwater from roof gutters, downpipes and surface pits to the council stormwater main or legal point of discharge. The two are kept separate by law in Victoria. A blocked sewer shows as sewage backing up; a blocked stormwater shows as water pooling near downpipes or on a flat roof during rain.
Yes, body corporates, cafes, restaurants and small commercial sites across Melbourne. Cafes and restaurants frequently get grease build-up that needs scheduled hydro-jetting; body corporates often need a CCTV survey of the shared sewer infrastructure for compliance audits. We bring the same gear to a commercial job that we bring to a residential one.
Stop adding water upstream of the blockage. Move pot plants and bins clear of the gully trap. Take photos of any overflow damage before cleanup. If sewage is overflowing inside the property, isolate water at the boundary stopcock until we arrive, that stops the spread. Tell us on the booking call which fixtures first showed the issue; that helps us scope the job before arriving.
