Good technology, for a problem old drainage has. On a house a few years old it is rarely the right answer, and being quoted one is worth a second look.
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Relining is a genuinely good piece of technology. A resin liner cured inside an existing pipe seals every joint and leaves a continuous bore, and on hundred-year-old drainage it is often the best repair available.
It is designed for deterioration. Joints opened by decades of ground movement, roots finding the gaps, corrosion, general age. A drain in Box Hill has not had time for any of that.
So if you have been quoted relining on a house a few years old, it is worth asking what specifically is wrong. If something genuinely is, it is far more likely to be an installation fault or physical damage, and both of those point somewhere different, possibly at a statutory warranty rather than at your wallet.
We would rather tell you that and film the line than sell you a reline. If the footage shows a crushed section that cannot practically be dug up, we will do the work and show you exactly why. If it does not, you will hear that instead.
Ask what is actually wrong with the pipe, and ask to see it. A real recommendation can point at something on screen.
Opened joints, root intrusion, corrosion and decades of ground movement are what relining answers.
None of that has had time to happen in drainage installed within the last few years.
A section crushed by machinery, damage from an unrecorded excavation, or a length installed with a defect.
Those are real and they do occur. They are simply a different diagnosis with a different remedy, and often a different payer.
Building work in NSW carries them under the Home Building Act 1989, broadly six years for a major defect and two for others.
So document before repairing. NSW Fair Trading can advise on your own circumstances, and it is free. We are plumbers, not lawyers.
A crack, a displaced joint, a crushed section, visible on screen. That is what a real case for relining looks like.
General reasoning about age or condition or being cautious does not hold together on a house this new.
Any plumber recommending several thousand dollars of work on a pipe you cannot see should give you the recording.
Take it to somebody else. Anyone unwilling to hand it over has told you what you needed to know.
A resin-saturated liner is drawn into the existing pipe, inflated against the inside wall and cured in place, forming a new pipe inside the old one. Continuous, smooth, and slightly smaller in bore.
It is a repair for a pipe whose material has deteriorated or been damaged. That is the situation it is designed for and it is very good at it.
Which is exactly why it is usually the wrong answer on a house a few years old, and why this page says so rather than selling it.
Landscaping machinery, a driveway pour, a pool excavation or a shed slab genuinely do damage drainage on new properties. A track machine over a shallow line is enough.
That is real damage to sound pipe, and it is the one case on a new house where a liner is frequently the right repair.
It also has a date and usually a responsible party, which is another reason to film it before anybody repairs anything.
It points at something on screen. A crack, a displaced joint, a crushed section, a length holding water where it should be running. Something you can see.
A recommendation that points at the age of the pipe on a house built in the last decade is not pointing at anything, because age is not the problem here.
If several thousand dollars of work is being proposed on a pipe you cannot see, the footage is the minimum you should be shown.
Not shown on a tablet in your driveway and then kept. Handed over, as a file you still have next month.
On a house inside its warranty period that recording is the evidence, and evidence held by the person quoting for the repair is not much use to you.
We hand ours over as a matter of course, whatever it shows and whether or not there is any work in it for us.
A pipe can be entirely intact and still fail because a section has settled and water no longer runs downhill through it. On new fill, that is the most probable defect there is.
No liner fixes it. A liner follows the pipe it forms inside, including the part that has dropped, so lining a fall problem changes nothing at all.
The repair for grade is relaying that section at the correct fall, and identifying it correctly is the difference between a repair that works and one that gets done twice.
On a young estate the ground is frequently open, the runs are short, and a machine can get down the side of the house without taking a fence out.
Where a section has to be relaid at the correct fall, that is genuinely the cheaper and more durable answer, and pretending otherwise to sell a liner would be dishonest.
The reinstatement is also easier. New turf on new fill recovers in a season in a way an established garden does not.
Before and after, plus a written account of what was found and what was done. Yours to keep whatever it shows.
On a house inside its warranty period, file them with the handover documents rather than in a folder of receipts. They belong with the certificates.
If the property is sold before the warranty period runs out, they go to the buyer along with everything else, and they are worth having.
Agreed before anything starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges. On a newer house the inspection is frequently the entire job, and we would rather that than the alternative.
Footage handed over. On a new house this is very often all that is needed.
We look at the line, and at somebody else's footage if you have it, and say what we think.
Where a length is genuinely crushed or damaged and can be reached.
Where the damage is real and excavation is genuinely impractical.
What is actually wrong, in a form you can put to a builder or take elsewhere.
On a newer build it changes the likely diagnosis before we have looked at anything.
So whatever is wrong is something you can see rather than something you are told.
Including the version where the pipe is fine and the answer is that you do not need us.
Yours to keep, to take elsewhere, or to put to whoever built the house.
Get the line filmed independently before you agree. On drainage this age the honest answer is usually that nothing is wrong with the pipe.
Call 1300 381 569It deserves questions, and we would rather say that plainly than take the work. Relining exists to repair pipe that has deteriorated: joints opened by ground movement, roots, corrosion, decades of wear. A drain a few years old has not had time for any of that. If there is genuinely something wrong with it, that is far more likely to be an installation fault or damage, and both of those point somewhere different, including possibly at a statutory warranty. Ask to see the camera footage before agreeing to anything.
Genuine cases exist and we will do the work where it is warranted. A section crushed by machinery during construction or later landscaping. Damage from an excavation nobody recorded. Occasionally a length installed with a defect that cannot practically be dug up because of what has been built over it since. Those are real, and lining is a sensible answer. What they are not is common on a new estate.
A resin-soaked liner is drawn through the existing pipe, inflated so it presses against the wall along the whole length, then cured until it hardens, leaving a continuous jointless pipe formed inside the old one. It is genuinely good technology. It is simply designed for a problem that hundred-year-old drainage has and five-year-old drainage does not.
Ask for the footage and ask what specifically is wrong with the pipe. A legitimate relining recommendation can point at something on screen: a crack, a displaced joint, a crushed section. If the answer is general, about age or condition or being on the safe side, on a house this new that does not hold together. And take the footage to another licensed plumber. Anyone unwilling to hand it over has answered the question.
Usually a targeted repair, and often a claim rather than a purchase. If a section was crushed or installed badly, the fix is normally to expose that section and replace it, which on a new block with a small yard is not the ordeal it would be elsewhere. And if it was a construction defect, the Home Building Act 1989 carries statutory warranties on building work, broadly six years for a major defect and two for others. Document it before repairing.
Where the footage shows a crushed or damaged section and excavation is genuinely impractical, yes, and we would show you exactly why on screen. What we will not do is recommend it on age, on condition generally, or as preventative work, because on a house this new none of those are real reasons.
A sectional patch over a damaged length is about $900 to $2,200 and a full run $3,500 to $7,000, which is exactly why it is worth being certain first. A camera inspection is $250 to $450 with the footage handed over, and on a newer house that inspection is very often the whole job.
Tell us how old the house is and whether you already have a quote or footage. We are happy to look at somebody else's and say plainly what we would do.
Filmed independently, footage handed over, and a straight answer including when that answer is that you do not need the work.
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