How we chose
We started from the twenty-five drain cleaners Google Maps shows across Telford. Scheme backing was sourced from the registers, each firm's own website and trade platforms. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Four firms met all three. What customers say counts most toward the score, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated 4 September 2026.
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.
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].
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].
The bottom line
For most Telford homes with an outdoor blockage, start with Wrekin Drain Services: one team for diagnosis and repair, scheme backing on record and help on call round the clock. Its site states no insurance detail or rates, so ask for proof of cover and an itemised quote first.
Match the firm to the job otherwise: LMS for blocked drains tied to plumbing and soil pipes, Metro Rod for tankers, pumping stations and commercial-scale work, and Telford Plumbers for blocked sinks and bathroom faults.
Then get two itemised quotes on the same written scope and agree the call-out fee before anyone sets out. If sewage is surfacing from a shared sewer, call Severn Trent first [5].
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.