Cleared the same day where we can. And on a block that drains away from the road, we tell you where the water is actually allowed to go before anyone proposes a fix.
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Como was subdivided as river blocks from 1914, sold for the outlook rather than laid out to a grid, so a great many properties sit below the road they front.
Sutherland Shire's requirement is that stormwater reaches a recognised drain by gravity. Where your land falls toward the street that is a non-issue and you will never think about it.
Where it falls away, the drain that can take your water is downhill, and downhill belongs to somebody else. That needs a legally created easement over the downstream property, which is a negotiation and a registered instrument rather than a plumbing decision.
Pumping it back up is not the workaround, because pump-out and charged systems are prohibited outside basement car parks. So the honest first step on a sloping block is establishing where the water can legally go, and we would rather do that before you spend anything.
On ground that falls away from the road that is usually a drainage rights question rather than a blockage. Worth establishing before anyone digs.
Sutherland Shire requires stormwater to be disposed of by gravity to a recognised drainage system. That is the standard, and everything else is an exception to it.
On a level block with the street above the house that is straightforward and nobody ever thinks about it.
On ground that falls away from the road it is the whole problem, and it is the reason drainage here is a planning question as much as a plumbing one.
Where gravity to a drain cannot be achieved on your own land, the water has to get to a lawful discharge point some other way, and there are only a few ways that are acceptable.
A great many blocks on this side of the river step down from the street towards the water, which puts the house below the road and the drain above it.
So the question stops being how to clear a line and becomes where the water is legally allowed to go.
Pump-out and charged drainage systems are prohibited here, other than for basements. So the obvious engineering answer to a low block is not available to you.
That surprises people, and it is worth knowing before designing anything, because a solution built around a pump will not be approved.
It is also why the alternatives below matter more here than they would in another council.
Infiltration systems such as absorption pits and level spreaders are accepted in some circumstances rather than as a general substitute for a gravity connection.
Whether one suits depends on the soil, the slope and what is downhill of it, and it is assessed rather than assumed.
So an absorption pit is a possible answer rather than the answer, and it is worth having that assessed before it is relied on.
Where an easement is required and cannot be obtained, a Complying Development pathway can fall over on the drainage alone, with everything else about the proposal perfectly acceptable.
That is a genuinely common outcome on blocks that fall away from the road, and it is the sort of thing people discover late.
If you are planning work on a low block, the drainage question is worth answering first rather than last.
Some drainage here has to cross a downstream property, and doing that lawfully means a registered easement agreed with that owner.
That is a legal arrangement rather than a plumbing one, and it can take time or fail entirely if the neighbour is unwilling.
Where one already exists on your title, it is worth knowing about, because it changes what is possible and what any future work has to respect.
Everything above concerns stormwater. A blocked toilet or a slow shower is the sewer, and none of the discharge rules apply to it.
Trouble indoors on a dry day is sewer. Water in the yard during rain is stormwater. They are separate systems and must not be connected.
Saying which one you have when you ring gets the right equipment to a property that may be a genuine walk from the road.
An open joint, a root entry, a lost section of fall, or a junction added during a renovation. Those four account for almost every recurring blockage.
All four are visible on camera in seconds and all four have a repair rather than a schedule of visits.
On a long indirect run down a slope, locating precisely matters more than usual, because opening the ground here is not a small undertaking.
Roots do not break sound pipe. They enter at an opening the ground has given them, and bushland-edge blocks give roots plenty to work with.
Ground movement on a slope opens joints more readily than it does on flat ground, so the two factors compound.
The durable repair removes the opening rather than this season's growth, and it does not require anybody to clear vegetation.
Wipes remain the largest single cause of what we cut out of drains regardless of what the packet claims. They stay intact, they snag, and they hold everything behind them.
Kitchen fat is the slower version, cooling onto the wall and narrowing the bore until a line that had been getting worse for a year finally stops.
Neither has anything to do with the slope. They are simply the answer most of the time, and both are cheaper to deal with while the line still moves.
Quoted at a fixed price before anyone starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges. Where the answer is a survey or an approval rather than a repair, we say so before taking any money.
Through an existing access point, cleared and flow tested before we leave.
Footage handed over. On a drain that keeps returning, the spend worth making.
Roots and hardened build-up take longer than a soft blockage.
Where the fall goes, where the water currently ends up, and what your options actually are.
What is there, what it can do, and what would need an approval or an easement.
Toward the street or away from it. On a Como property that answer shapes everything that follows.
Through the existing access point, then run properly to confirm the line is genuinely clear rather than just moving again.
If it has happened before, we film it rather than clearing it again and taking your money twice.
Including when the honest answer is that the next step is an easement or a Council approval rather than pipe.
We will get it running today. And if the underlying problem is where your stormwater is allowed to go, we will tell you that plainly rather than selling you a repeat visit.
Call 1300 381 569Sutherland Shire requires stormwater to be disposed of by gravity to a recognised drain, subject to Council approval. If your land falls toward the street that is straightforward. If it falls away, the drain that can take your water sits below you, on somebody else's property, and getting it there needs a legally created drainage easement over that land. That is a legal instrument registered on title rather than something a plumber can install.
No. Pump-out and charged drainage systems are prohibited here, other than for basement car parks. It is the first thing most people suggest and it is genuinely not available, so it is worth knowing before it is designed into a plan.
Possible in some cases, but not the easy answer people expect. Infiltration systems such as absorption pits and level spreaders are accepted only in limited cases and must be formally approved by Council. Steep ground is exactly where they struggle, because runoff is fast and it erodes. Worth asking properly rather than assuming.
Because where a drainage easement is required and cannot be obtained, a Complying Development Certificate is not possible. So a project can be stopped by where water is allowed to go, and that is usually discovered late, after drawings have been paid for. Establishing it early costs almost nothing.
No, and it is worth separating them. Sewer drainage connects to Sydney Water's system and is a different set of rules entirely. The easement question is about stormwater: rain off your roof and your paving, which has to reach a drain rather than a sewer. A blocked sewer line here is cleared much like anywhere else.
Rarely, and on older pipework they do harm. They sit on top of an obstruction rather than passing through it, they generate heat, and they attack the pipe about as readily as the blockage. If somebody has already poured one in, please say so when you ring rather than after we open the line.
A standard clear through an existing access point is $150 to $400. A camera inspection is $250 to $450 with the footage handed to you. A jetter on a stubborn or root-filled line is $400 to $700. A stormwater assessment on a sloping block, which is where the fall actually goes and what your options are, is $250 to $500.
Tell us whether it is sewer or stormwater, and which way your block falls. Those two answers narrow it down more than anything else you could say.
Fixed price agreed first, footage handed over, and an honest answer about whether this is a plumbing job at all.
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