How to hire
Work out whose pipe it is before you call anyone. A drain serving only your home inside your boundary is yours to fix; a shared or public sewer belongs to Severn Trent, and blocked road gullies belong to the council [5]. Waste coming up through more than one home, or a manhole surcharging on shared pipework, means a call to the water company rather than a private firm. When you enquire, say where the water shows, which fittings are affected and whether neighbours see the same.
Drain cleaning carries no mandatory registration, so check voluntary cover instead. For jetting work, look for Water Jetting Association membership, the trade body for high-pressure water-jetting contractors [1]. The National Association of Drainage Contractors runs a contractor finder for firms working to its standards [2]. SafeContractor, CHAS and Constructionline backing is held business by business: ask for the certificate and check its expiry rather than taking a logo at face value.
Homes off the mains sewer play by extra rules. If you run a septic tank or treatment plant you are its operator in law, and GOV.UK sets out what your discharge must meet depending on where it goes and when the system went in [3]. Ask the emptying firm where the sludge goes and agree the interval in writing. For new drains and connections, the work must meet the foul-drainage rules in the building regulations [4].
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same written scope so you compare like with like [9]. Each quote should separate labour, materials and VAT, name the method — rods, jetting, camera survey or repair — and state the call-out fee with what it covers, including any evening or weekend uplift. A deposit for materials is normal, while full payment before completion is not. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question rather than a bargain.
Clear the way before they arrive. Move cars, bins and garden clutter off covers and chambers, and leave room at the kerb for a jetting van or tanker. Tell them about extensions over the drain line, buried cables and any access through a neighbour's garden. Photograph water levels and overflow points while they show, since the pictures help the diagnosis and any later claim.
Finish with paperwork, not promises. A CCTV survey should leave you the footage plus a written report with distances and defect grades; a repair or reline should leave an invoice naming the section fixed and the warranty terms behind it. File everything with your house papers — a buyer or insurer will ask for exactly this. If anything feels rushed or half-cleared, pause and ask for the evidence before you pay the balance.
In Telford and Wrekin, start by sorting council pipes from private ones. The council looks after highway drainage, meaning road gullies and their pipework, plus ditches and culverts on its own land, and takes reports through its online form [10]. Drains serving your own home are generally private, and the council says owners and occupiers upstream of a defect share the repair [10]. Sewers in the road are a different owner again: publicly maintained sewers sit with Severn Trent, so a surcharging manhole on shared pipework means a call to the water company rather than a private firm [5].
A typical unblocking visit runs in a set order. First contact sets the job up: describe where the water shows, which fittings are affected and whether neighbours see the same, and send the photos you took. The visit itself usually starts with rods or jetting to restore flow, then a camera run if the cause is unclear or the blockage keeps returning. Ask the engineer to talk you through the footage on screen before anyone quotes for repairs. Note the arrival time and what was tried, since the invoice should mirror the visit.
Two details separate a solid quote from a thin one. The first is naming who turns up: the firm itself or a subcontractor, with the same cover either way. The second is the paper trail after the visit: any revised figure following the camera survey should arrive as a fresh written quote, not a verbal update, and the start date should sit in the same thread. Keep every version with the final invoice, since gaps in the chain are what stall warranty claims later.
Permits and planning add a Telford layer. New drains and connections must meet the foul-drainage rules in the building regulations, signed off through building control [4]. Eight conservation areas cross the borough, from Wellington's Victorian centre to the Severn Gorge, where extra policies protect character and appearance [13]. Homes in the Gorge face a further layer, with an Article 4 direction removing some permitted development rights [12]. Pipe age and depth vary widely between the borough's new-town estates and its far older streets, so say which street you are on when you enquire, since what lies under it shapes the method.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough Telford ranges run like this: a standard call-out around £60, rising to around £180 for an emergency visit; clearing by rods around £85; high-pressure jetting around £185 [6]. These figures come from a national cost guide updated in 2026 [6].
A basic CCTV survey costs around £85–£235, a full survey with a written report £200–£350, and a survey of a larger property £350–£450 [7]. Patch repairs and relining are quoted per job or per metre — one guide puts relining around £85–£150 per linear metre [6].
What moves the price most is urgency: evening and weekend call-outs run well above daytime rates [6]. Access comes next — drains under patios, extensions or deep chambers take longer — then the method, since jetting and camera work need van-mounted kit where rods need little. A blockage past your boundary on a public sewer can cost you nothing, since the water company owns it [5] [8].
Ask whether VAT sits on top of every figure, since guides quote bare rates. Firms in this round offer free quotes or assessments but publish almost no set rates, so treat any single fixed price for a repair with no breakdown as a question, not an answer. Get the scope in writing — which run, which method, what changes the price if the camera finds worse damage — and keep every quote and invoice together [9].
Emptying a septic tank follows a different logic from clearing a blockage. The interval your tank needs depends on its size and use, and GOV.UK ties your duties as operator to where the discharge goes and when the system went in [3]. Access for a tanker, the distance it travels full, and whether the visit is routine or urgent all move the figure, so the emptying record and the tank location do more for the quote than the postcode alone.
Repairs and relining are quoted per job or by length, and the spread comes from the ground rather than the catalogue. A shallow patch under lawn takes less labour than the same defect under a patio, extension or driveway, and no-dig lining trades excavation for resin and curing time [6]. Depth, access and what the camera grades are what shift the quote, which is why firms price repairs only after a survey rather than over the phone.
Red flags
Quotes jetting, lining or excavation before any camera has been down the line.
Gives one fixed price for a repair with no breakdown of labour, materials and VAT [6].
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms [9].
Starts digging before the scope and price sit in an agreement you both hold.
Cannot name a business address or a phone number that reaches the team doing the work.
Finishes a paid CCTV survey with no footage and no written report [7].
Treats sewage backing up across neighbouring homes as your private job instead of pointing you to the water company [5].
Offers a discount that only holds if you agree before the van leaves the drive.
Arrives for a booked jetting visit carrying rods only, then prices a return trip.