Same-day appointments · 7 days, 8am–8pm · £225 fixed, no call-out fee
01925 357132 Fixed price · Same day · 7 days
Drainage engineer feeding a CCTV survey camera into a manhole on a residential driveway in Risley
Drain Camera Surveys · Risley (WA3)

The pipe under a Birchwood garden is fifty years old. Nobody has ever looked inside it.

A camera through every accessible run, a graded report and the full footage — yours before we leave. £225 fixed. Someone can be with you in Risley today.

£225 fixed — no call-out fee Report & footage the same day
Every run, on camera
Every run, on cameraFrom the first accessible cover to the boundary, including the shared rear runs the Birchwood estates were built with.
The material named
The material namedPitch fibre, clay or plastic. It is the single fact that decides what a repair would cost, and it belongs in the report.
Yours the same day
Yours the same dayWritten report coded to MSCC5 and the full narrated video, sent before the evening — not a summary a week later.
How we work

We do not fix drains.That is deliberate.

No repair quote at the end of the visit, no liner in the van, no digger arriving on Monday. We are paid to find out what is wrong and to tell you — and nothing about what we find changes what we earn.

Looking is the cheap part

What a survey saves you

Four ways to deal with a drain problem, ranked by cost. The cheapest one tells you what the others are guessing at.

CCTV survey, then a targeted repair of the actual faultKnow the problem. Fix the right thing.
£225
Every time you pay to clear it and it comes backAgain and again, until the cause is found.
£80 each time
Digging blind on a guessExcavate, find nothing, fill it back in.
£2,000+
Discovering it after you've bought the houseThe most expensive way to find a drain fault.
£4,000–£12,000
Most drainage firms in WA3 will not publish a price at all. We publish ours, and we quote it before we attend.
£225 · One visit, one price Quoted before we attend

What that buys

Everything below is included. There is nothing else to pay.

  • A camera down every accessible run, cover to boundary
  • Each defect graded and located to the metre, marked on the ground
  • Written WRc-standard report, in your hands the same day
  • The full narrated video and every defect photograph — yours to keep
  • A straight answer on what, if anything, actually needs doing

What you never get

Not on the day, not on the invoice, not afterwards.

  • A call-out fee, or a charge for locating and marking
  • A price that moves once we've seen the job
  • A repair quote you didn't ask for
  • Any obligation to use us for the work
  • A report we keep hold of, or footage you have to ask twice for

The report is WRc-standard — accepted by solicitors, conveyancers and the major mortgage lenders. Take it to any contractor you like.

Victorian red-brick terraced street in Risley
Risley's drains

The drains are older than the people worrying about them.

Risley carries the history of the whole area — the ordnance factory, then the science park, then the housing that followed. The ground has been worked and re-worked, and drainage laid across made ground behaves differently from drainage laid in undisturbed clay.

Clay cracks, joints displace, roots get in. A camera finds it in an hour.

Also covering the rest of Birchwood — same price, same day.

Inside a WA3 drain

What the camera actually finds

Runs that have lost their fall over a short section and now hold standing water. REC
Runs that have lost their fall over a short section and now hold standing water.
A fracture in the pipe wall. Nothing visible above ground, and the reason the blockage keeps coming back. REC
A fracture in the pipe wall. Nothing visible above ground, and the reason the blockage keeps coming back.
Root ingress at an open joint. Rodding clears the hole through it; the roots are back by spring. REC
Root ingress at an open joint. Rodding clears the hole through it; the roots are back by spring.

Already had a survey and been quoted thousands?

Ring us and we'll tell you for free whether the repair is really needed. If they never gave you footage, that's your answer.

Call 01925 357132
Birchwood and the WA3 side of Warrington

Birchwood areas we cover

All of WA3, plus the WA1 edge at Woolston and Martinscroft. Anywhere in WA3 we can usually be with you the same day.

Before you ring

Questions we get asked

Does the old factory ground cause drainage problems?
Not by itself. What made ground does is settle unevenly over decades, and drainage is unforgiving about that — a run only needs to lose its fall in one short section to start holding water and collecting silt. That is a common finding here and it is usually fixable without a full replacement.
Is the drain mine or United Utilities'?
Most drains serving a single property — up to the point where they join the public sewer — are your responsibility. The public sewer is United Utilities'. We identify the boundary during the survey so you know exactly where your liability ends.
How long does it take?
The survey itself is usually about an hour for a typical Risley semi or terrace. Allow 90 minutes for larger properties or multiple access points.
Do you dig anything up?
No. The camera goes in through an existing cover, gully or, if needed, the toilet. Nothing is dug up, lifted or broken out. There is no mess.
What exactly do I get?
A written report coded to MSCC5 naming each defect, its location to the metre, a severity grade and our recommendation. Plus the full narrated HD video and defect photographs. Everything is sent to your phone the same day.
Will I get a copy of the video?
Yes. The footage is yours — sent to your phone or email the same day. Take it to any contractor for quotes, share it with your solicitor, or keep it for your records.
I'm buying a house — is it worth it?
A RICS HomeBuyer survey does not cover drains. Once you complete, every drain problem becomes yours. A £225 survey before exchange is how you avoid discovering a £4,000–£12,000 repair after you've moved in.
What if nothing is found — is it still worth £225?
Yes. A clear survey is peace of mind before you buy, or confirmation that a recurring blockage is a maintenance issue rather than a structural one. You also get a baseline video to compare against in future.

Don't dig until you've seen it.

£225 fixed. Same day. The footage is yours.

Call 01925 357132