PlumbingBossPro Blog — Quotes & Estimates

Drain Cleaning Estimates: Quoting Clogs, Main Lines and Hydro-Jetting

Drain calls are the bread and butter of a lot of plumbing companies, and they are also where quoting gets fuzzy. “We'll clear the drain” can mean a ten-minute sink auger or an afternoon on a main line with a camera at the end. When the estimate does not say which, the customer assumes the cheap one and the tech gets the argument.

Start From the Service Call

Most drain calls start with the service call fee covered in Pricing Your Plumbing Service Call Fee and Showing It on the Estimate. Once the tech knows what is actually clogged, the drain work gets its own lines on the estimate.

The key is that “drain cleaning” on your service list should not be one item. It should be several, each describing a different kind of job.

Split Drain Work Into Clear Lines

A drain section of the service list that works for many residential shops:

• Secondary drain clearing. A kitchen sink, a bathroom sink, a tub or shower. One fixture, accessible trap or cleanout.
• Toilet clearing. Auger through the toilet, and a separate line for pulling the toilet if the auger does not do it.
• Main line clearing from the cleanout. Accessible outdoor or indoor cleanout, standard length.
• Main line clearing without a usable cleanout. Through a pulled toilet or the roof vent. More time, more risk, more mess.
• Hydro-jetting. For lines with grease, scale or roots that keep coming back after cabling.
• Camera inspection. To see what is in the line after it is cleared, or to diagnose a recurring backup.

With separate lines, the estimate tells the customer exactly what the tech plans to do. If the job turns out bigger, the tech has a clear next line to quote rather than a vague “additional work” charge.

When to Quote Before and When to Quote After

Drains are tricky because you often do not know the full job until you are into it. A few practices help:

• Quote the first step clearly. “Main line clearing from the outdoor cleanout” is a defined job with a defined price.
• Say what happens if it is not enough. If the cable does not clear it or the line backs up again, the next step might be jetting or a camera. Mention it so it is not a surprise.
• Quote the camera separately. Some customers want to know what caused the backup. Others just want the drain working. Let them choose.

For homes with recurring main line trouble, a camera inspection often turns into a bigger quote for a sewer repair. That process is covered in From Camera Inspection to Quote: Turning What the Plumber Saw Into a Written Estimate.

Hydro-Jetting Deserves Its Own Explanation

Many homeowners have never heard of hydro-jetting, and the price is usually higher than a cable clearing. If the estimate just says “hydro-jet,” the customer has no way to judge it. A line description like “Hydro-jetting of main line to remove grease and buildup, cleanout access” does a lot of the selling for you.

It also helps to say why jetting is being recommended instead of cabling: the line has been cabled before and backed up again, or the camera showed heavy grease. Customers approve more readily when they can see the reason.

Notes for Next Time

Every drain call teaches you something about the house. Where the cleanout is, whether it is accessible, whether there was a root problem. In PlumbingBossPro the sewer cleanout is one of the equipment items a house can keep, with its location and access notes. When the tech records “Cleanout is behind the azalea on the left side of the house,” the next tech at that address sees it on the job card.

That matters for quoting too. A house with a known accessible cleanout can be quoted with more confidence the next time it calls with a backup.

Restaurants and Recurring Drain Work

Commercial drain work often turns into recurring service. A restaurant with a grease-heavy line might need jetting every 14 or 30 days. Instead of quoting each visit, you can quote the recurring service once and set it up with a minimum number of days between visits. Each visit then comes due on its own on the Waiting List. Quoting restaurants specifically is covered later in this series.

For residential customers, a drain estimate that clearly separates the clearing, the jetting and the camera work is easier to approve and harder to argue with later. The approved estimate becomes the scheduled job with those lines already on it, and the invoice carries the same lines. For how drain quotes fit with the rest of the system, see the plumbing estimate software overview.