When a camera is worth paying for
- A drain has blocked more than once.
- Someone has recommended digging or relining and you'd like to see why.
- You're buying an older house, or one with big trees near the drains.
- You're about to build or pave over a drain line.
- The blockage may be on the council's side and you need evidence.
What a drainlayer will do
Get access
A drainlayer will put the camera in through the gully trap, an inspection opening or sometimes a fitting. A fully blocked line is cleared first so the camera can get through.
Record the run
The camera head is pushed along on a semi-rigid rod while the screen shows the pipe wall and, on most units, a running distance.
Pinpoint faults
Many camera heads send out a locator signal, so the drainlayer can mark the ground above a fault and estimate its depth.
Explain it
They should talk you through the video, give you a copy, and say what each fault means for the next step.
What the footage can show
Root intrusion, cracks, breaks, joints that have shifted or opened, sags holding water, grease and scale, and old repairs. It also shows the real route of the pipes, which may not match any plan you have.
The camera doesn't fix anything. It tells you whether the next step is a clear, hydro jetting, a repair or relining.
What changes the job
- Access: a gully trap or open inspection point beside the house, or one that has to be dug out first.
- A full blockage, which means clearing before the camera goes in.
- The run itself: long lines and tight bends take longer to push through.
- Extras: faults marked on the ground, a written summary, or both.
Footage and who pays
In some places the footage is what decides who pays. Christchurch City Council says to call a drainlayer, preferably one with CCTV, who will work out whether a blockage is on the private or council section of the lateral. Costs are reimbursed only if footage proves a structural fault on the council section and the council's reviewer agrees.
Napier City Council, on the other hand, says it won't pay for camera inspections or jet cleaning used to find the cause. In Whanganui, the plumber is responsible for finding where a blockage is, and the council is invoiced if it turns out to be in its network.
Check your provider in who fixes a blocked drain, and see Christchurch, Napier or Whanganui for those rules in context.
What you can do, and what to leave
You can
- Uncover inspection openings and the gully trap, and move pot plants or furniture off them.
- Write down which drains have been slow, and when.
- If you're buying, ask the seller for any earlier footage.
- Ask for the full video file, not just still images.
Leave to an authorised tradie
- Opening up the drain and running the camera.
- Clearing a blockage so the camera can pass.
- Reading the footage and recommending repairs.
- Any repair that follows, since repairing a drain is drainlaying.
Licences
Anyone can buy a camera, but the drain work around it is restricted. Opening up and repairing a drain both fall within the Act's definition of drainlaying, so the person doing it needs PGDB authorisation.
Search their first and last name on the PGDB register and look for a current licence. The register also shows any conditions on the licence, who supervises them, and any Board disciplinary decisions. Our guide shows how to check a PGDB licence, and the drainlayers page covers the licence classes.
Questions to ask about the inspection
- Will I get the whole video file?
- Can you mark each fault on the ground and tell me how deep it is?
- Is the fault on my side of the boundary or the provider's?
- What would you do about each fault, and why?
- If it's council-side, will you report it with this footage?
What we would do
Treat the camera as the step that ends the guesswork. Once a drain has blocked more than once, ask for footage before agreeing to anything bigger than a clear. File the video with your house papers: a provider may want it as evidence, and a future drainlayer can see what has changed. When someone recommends relining or digging, ask them to pause the video at each fault and explain it.