By Matthew Baring-Gould, Kingscliff-based drainage plumber. Servicing Tweed Heads for 4 years. 5.0 stars across 173 Google reviews. Licensed NSW 383340C and QLD 15036450. ABN 74 605 392 348.
Blocked drain plumbers vary wildly on how they bill. We charge $480 flat for the first hour on a standard blocked drain call-out. This piece explains what that covers, what it doesn’t, and why we structure pricing this way instead of the “call-out fee plus hourly” model.
What’s included in the $480
- The call-out itself. No separate call-out fee. The $480 includes travel and arrival.
- The hydrojet to clear the blockage. We use a 5,000 psi hydrojetter with swappable nozzles for roots, sand, grease and silt. Not the Karcher pressure cleaner from Bunnings. The hydrojetter is a specialised machine that actually clears drains without damaging them.
- The CCTV camera inspection. We camera every drain job before we leave. Non-negotiable. Reason explained in a separate post but the short version is that a blockage you can’t diagnose will come back.
- Walking you through the footage on site. You stand next to the screen, we show you what caused the blockage and what the pipe looks like now.
- A verbal diagnosis and quote for any follow-up work needed. If repair is required, you leave with a clear picture of what’s wrong and what the fix costs.
What’s not included
- Pipe repair, replacement, or relining. If the camera reveals a cracked pipe, a collapsed line, root ingress through a damaged join, or a council-side fault, that’s quoted as a separate job. Clearing the blockage and diagnosing the cause is the $480. Fixing the structural problem is extra.
- Jobs that run over an hour. If the blockage is harder than expected, we charge $380 per hour after the first hour, billed in 15-minute increments. We stop and tell you at the 3-hour mark before continuing.
- Excavation. If a repair needs the ground opened, that’s quoted separately.
- Weekend or after-hours surcharges. We don’t charge these. Same price regardless of when you call.
Why flat-rate first hour instead of call-out plus hourly
The call-out plus hourly model has a few problems that we didn’t want to carry into our pricing:
- It’s opaque. The customer doesn’t know the final bill until the plumber is leaving. Some plumbers spin up the clock. $480 flat removes that uncertainty.
- It incentivises slow work. If every minute makes more money, there’s no reason to be efficient. Flat first hour means we work faster and move on. Most drain jobs finish inside that first hour anyway.
- Call-out fees feel like a tax. You’ve already decided to pay the plumber. Charging separately for the drive feels like adding insult to injury, especially when the drive is a normal part of the job.
What most jobs actually cost
Rough breakdown from our last year of blocked drain call-outs:
- About 70% of jobs finish inside the first hour. Final bill: $480. Done.
- About 20% go between 1 and 2 hours. Final bill: $480 to $860. Usually silt build-up or multiple small issues in the same line.
- About 10% go longer than 2 hours or reveal a structural problem that needs a follow-up quote. Final bill: $480 to $1,220 for the clearing + camera, plus a separate quote for the structural repair.
If the camera finds a problem we can’t fix on the same visit, you still get the $480 clearing + the CCTV report + the diagnosis + the quote. You can take that quote to another plumber for comparison if you want. We’d rather you make the right call than feel locked in.
Three recent examples
- Standard blocked drain, finished inside the hour. See the Robina silt job. Years of silt build-up, hydrojet stripped it, CCTV confirmed the pipe was still sound. $480. No follow-up needed.
- Clearing + diagnosis + follow-up repair quote. See the Chinderah pan collar job. First hour cleared the surface issue; the camera showed the real cause (poorly installed pan collar). Repair quoted and completed as a separate job.
- Clearing + CCTV + report that saved the customer thousands. See the Paddington council-side case. The first-hour work included the camera report that let the owner escalate to council for reimbursement.
If you want it done
Call Matty on 0447 188 394 or request a quote. Same-day service across Tweed Heads, the Northern Rivers, the Gold Coast and inner Brisbane. We’ll confirm the $480 on the phone before we come out so you know exactly where you stand.
Customer names and addresses have been withheld. Individual results vary. Drain Masters Plumbing is licensed in NSW (383340C) and QLD (15036450).
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