Pre-Purchase Drain Surveys

A house can look perfect from the outside while hiding a dark secret underneath it. Before you buy, you need to make sure that your dream home doesn’t become a nightmare from blocked or damaged drains.

Even if the drains appear to be working perfectly, it’s still worth carrying out a CCTV pre-purchase drain survey.

If we detect early warning signs of drain damage, we can apply a quick, cost-effective patch treatment rather than have to carry out expensive and invasive excavation works to repair the pipe.

Due to increasing drainage issues from ageing Victorian plumbing, many mortgage providers now require a pre-purchase drainage survey and they are recommended by building surveyors and the Environment Agency.

If a pre-purchase drain survey isn’t mandatory, you should still carry one out to avoid unexpected costs after you move in.

If you discover damage to the drains before you buy the property, and repairs which need to be carried out can be covered by the existing owner’s home insurance or the cost could be negotiated off the purchase price.

But if you discover damage after the keys are in your hands, you’ll have to cover the costs yourself.

Our friendly team of professional drainage engineers will insert a CCTV probe to inspect your entire drainage and sewage system, and can fit through pipes just 70mm wide and at depths up to 100 metres.

You will then receive a detailed report of our findings, including full video of the survey and photos of any signs of blockage or damage. Should further works be recommended, we can provide a quote for cleaning, unblocking or repairs.

We use cutting edge, reliable CCTV cameras and our reports are legally recognised documents created using regulation-compliant reporting software provided by WinCan.

There are many reasons drains can become blocked or damaged. Most commonly, it’s a simple build up of hair, kitchen waste and toiletries which can be jetted away.

A blockage can also be caused by soil that which entered a pipe through cracks, which will be a reoccurring issue if the pipe isn’t fixed with a patch. These cracks can widen over time, until the pipe becomes so weak it collapses and has to be replaced.

Cracks form through age and erosion (common in old Victorian drains), root ingress from nearby trees or vibration from heavy vehicles or construction work.

The important thing is to catch problems early and not flush away blockages without identifying the cause with a CCTV survey, otherwise we lose all our valuable evidence.