Why Drain Cleaning Prices Vary So Much Around STL

A drain cleaning in St. Louis typically runs around $190, and a camera inspection of your sewer line averages about $388. Why then do some companies offer a cheap drain clear with a free camera scope? If they’re giving away a few hundred bucks of work, how do they plan to get it back?

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What causes the price discrepancies in drain cleaning?

Some of the gap is the job itself, and where it is. A kitchen sink line is typically much easier and faster to clear than a main sewer line. Shops also have different costs behind the scenes, from what they pay for parts to what they pay their plumbers.

But one of the biggest reasons prices can vary so wildly has nothing to do with your drain. It comes down to how the company makes its money.

How the cheap drain cleaning model works

Some companies treat drain cleaning as a loss leader: a service priced low enough that they lose money on the initial visit, betting they’ll make it back (and then some) on whatever they sell you next. In drain work, it often goes like this:

Step 1: The cheap drain clear. The company offers a drain cleaning well below the Saint Louis average (Angi puts this at about $190 for the Lou), sometimes under $100.

Step 2: The free camera. After the cleaning (especially on main lines), the company offers a free camera scope of the sewer line to make sure nothing else is going to cause a backup. Camera inspections in STL run about $388 on average, which can seem like huge savings.

Step 3: The findings. The camera turns up existing or possible future problems, and the company offers a complimentary quote on a repair.

Step 4: The repair quote. Companies using this model sometimes send a separate tech to quote any potential repair/replace work. According to HomeGuide, most drain technicians are paid by commission, so what that person takes home as pay depends on what they sell.

So what’s the result of this (so far) very inexpensive process? The big number. The repair quote has to cover the loss on the first two visits, account for the tech’s commission, and also turn a profit. This is where the real money is. At the $55 to $250 per foot Angi reports for St. Louis, a typical 40-foot sewer lateral can easily come to several thousand dollars before permits. On long runs, or lines under a basement floor or driveway, HomeGuide puts it as high as $20,000 before the concrete and landscaping are put back.

Why saying no is harder than it sounds

On its face, though, the process itself might not sound so bad. After all, the homeowner has control at every stage to accept or deny further work. Why not go with the cheap route right out of the gate? Well, it can be difficult even for pros to know exactly what they’re looking at on a sewer camera scope. Unless you’re a licensed plumber yourself, you’re even less likely to know whether you really need that work done at all, let alone whether the quote is reasonably priced.

That makes it easier for some companies to use heavy-handed sales techniques that can suck in even the most discerning customers. If a plumbing expert says your basement is likely to flood the next heavy rain unless you get the work done, it may feel like you don’t have a choice. That pressure is what makes the model work, and it’s why these techniques are so common in the industry.

We echo HomeGuide’s advice to homeowners. If the up-front pricing seems too good to be true, you may end up with much higher charges for any needed repairs. And that’s if you need the repair for certain. Deciding whether a repair is necessary can be a judgment call, so you want a plumber whose job is figuring out what works, not closing the quote. A drain clear that saved you $100 up front might cost you thousands later.

Not every company works this way, however. Plenty of shops quote the job you asked for based on what it takes to do it, not what they hope to get out of it. A good and honest plumber will still keep an eye out for bigger problems and tell you if they find one. The difference is they’re not getting paid to convince you.

When a camera inspection is worth it

None of this means a camera inspection is a scam. It’s a great tool, and we use it ourselves. It earns its keep when:

• A clog keeps coming back. Clearing the same line over and over usually means something in the pipe is catching it.
• More than one drain backs up at once, especially a basement floor drain.
• The house has older clay or cast iron sewer pipe.
• Roots are a known problem on the property.
• You’re about to buy the house.

If a tech recommends a camera, ask why. A specific reason, like one of these, is a diagnosis. “Just to be safe” is vague and more likely to be a sales pitch.

Check for a sewer lateral repair program before you sign anything

If the camera does turn up a broken lateral, and you live in unincorporated St. Louis County, your repair may already be paid for. Since 2000, the county’s Sewer Lateral Repair Program has been funded by a $28 yearly fee on residential property tax bills. It covers repairing a broken lateral from your foundation to the sewer main, including seed and straw for the yard. Some cities contract with the county to run the same program. Many others, including the City of St. Louis, run their own, with different cost shares and caps, so check MSD’s list of municipal programs and confirm with your city hall.

There are catches, and if your repair is covered, you may still need to pay for cabling, camera scope, and any landscaping and decorative concrete work that results from it. Even so, having the repair done by the county program could save you the bulk of the total expense. The county picks the contractor from its own approved list, though, so the company that found the problem may not be the one that fixes it.

That’s also why a company whose business depends on the repair has little reason to bring the program up. That big repair job may never be theirs.

Questions to ask before you book a drain cleaning

It’s hard to tell ahead of time which kind of company you’re dealing with, but two questions help. Ask them before you book your next drain cleaning:

Neither answer proves anything on its own. A company that pays incentives on booked work, or won’t hand over footage, may still have good reasons that have nothing to do with emptying your wallet. Treat the answers as clues to weigh alongside everything else you learn.

How Linek answers those questions

Our plumbers are union plumbers, paid at a rate the union negotiates, and nothing about their pay depends on what they sell. When we run a camera, you get a copy of the footage at no extra charge. And if we find a bigger problem, we’ll show you what we found, explain your options, and let you decide. We don’t send salespeople to your house. We send plumbers. And good ones.

We’ve been locally owned and operated since 1916, and we didn’t get here with aggressive growth tactics. We got here by doing the job in front of us well and letting the work bring in the next call.

So the next time you need a drain cleared, a sewer line scoped, or a repair quoted, call Linek Plumbing Company at (314) 962-0956 or request a service visit at LinekPlumbing.com. We’ll send a licensed, bonded, union plumber, not a salesperson. Their job is to make sure you understand what you need so you can make an informed decision, whether that means hiring us or not.