CCTV Drain Survey in Southampton: What You Get & Costs
A CCTV drain survey in Southampton is the quickest way to find out what's going on under your drive without digging anything up. We feed a waterproof camera through the pipes from an inspection chamber, record the whole run, and tell you exactly where the problem is and what it'll take to put right.
Most people ring us after the third blockage in a year, a smell that won't shift, or a damp patch nobody can explain. Others need one before an extension goes near a drain run, or because an insurer wants evidence before paying out. Whatever the reason, the survey turns guesswork into a plan, and it's one of the most common jobs our drainage and civil works team carries out across Hampshire.
What actually happens on a drain survey
On a typical Southampton semi the visit takes one to two hours. This is the order we work in:
We lift the inspection chamber covers and check the flow, the levels and the condition of the chambers themselves.
If the line is blocked or heavily scaled, we jet it clear first. A camera can't see anything through standing water and debris.
The camera goes in on a push-rod reel, recording the whole time, with a distance counter so every defect is logged to the metre.
We trace where each run goes, including which sections are yours and which belong to Southern Water.
You get a plain-English summary on the day, then the written report follows.
That fourth step matters more than people expect. Since 2011, most shared drains and lateral pipes outside your boundary have been the water company's responsibility, so knowing where yours ends can stop you paying for a repair that isn't yours. We went through the who-pays question in more detail in our Southampton blocked drains FAQs.
What a proper survey report should include
A video file on its own isn't much use to anyone. A good report lets your insurer, a buyer's solicitor or a building control officer understand your drains without ever seeing them. Ours include:
the full recorded footage, with timestamps and distances
a drawn plan of the runs, chambers and pipe directions
every defect graded by severity, from light scaling up to collapse
labelled stills of each problem, located to the metre
a clear recommendation and a written price for any repair
On jobs around Southampton we see the same culprits again and again: roots from mature trees getting into joints in Bassett and Highfield, displaced clay pipes under the older terraces in Portswood and Shirley, and fat build-up on kitchen runs everywhere. On 1950s to 1970s houses, look out for pitch fibre pipe, which tends to blister and deform with age.
How much a CCTV drain survey costs in Southampton
These are typical 2026 prices for a domestic survey from us in Southampton and the surrounding area:
Basic camera inspection of a single short run, findings explained on the day: £190 to £290
Full domestic survey with written report, drain plan and footage: £290 to £390
Larger homes, multiple runs, or homebuyer surveys with full mapping: £390 to £780
Where you land in those ranges comes down to how many chambers there are, how long the runs are, whether we need to jet before the camera can see, and access. A chamber buried under decking or a patio adds time. We survey and give you a clear written price before any repair work starts, so there are no surprises later.
Repairs are priced separately once we know what we're dealing with, and plenty of defects don't need a digger. A cracked or root-damaged section can often be patch-lined from inside the pipe, which we explain in our guide to no-dig drain relining.
When it's worth booking one
blockages coming back within months of being cleared
smells, gurgling or slow drains with no obvious cause
cracked walls, sunken paving or damp close to a drain run
before an extension, conservatory or new driveway goes over or near drains
when you're buying an older property, especially anything pre-1970
On the extension point: if your plans come within 3 metres of a public sewer, you'll usually need Southern Water's approval to build over or near it, and a camera survey is often the first thing they ask for. We handle this routinely on extension jobs in Southampton, Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford, so the drainage side gets sorted before the footings go in.
And if you're buying, get the survey done before exchange, not after. We've met more than one new owner who inherited a collapsed pipe the sellers knew nothing about.
Related reading
Book a drain survey in Southampton
If your drains keep blocking, smell, or sit right where you're planning to build, we'll come out, find the cause and tell you straight what it'll cost to fix. We cover Southampton, Eastleigh, Totton and the rest of Hampshire and Dorset. Book your CCTV drain survey with Complete Builds and we'll arrange a visit at a time that suits you.
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