Buying a home · Published 2026-08-09
A standard home inspection covers a great deal. It does not cover the inside of the sewer lateral running from the house to the street — and that line becomes entirely your problem the day after closing.
Why it is not in the standard inspection
Because it needs different equipment and a different trade. A home inspector runs the taps and watches the drains empty. That tells you water leaves the fixtures. It tells you nothing about a line that is cracked, bellied, root-infested or collapsed twenty feet under the front garden — all of which can pass a fixtures test on a dry day.
What it costs against what it saves
Published national ranges for a camera inspection run roughly $125–$500 (HomeGuide), with Roto-Rooter publishing $295–$350 and Angi reporting up to $1,800 for a full sewer line inspection.
Against that, Angi reports sewer line repair at $60–$250 per linear foot with an average job around $3,400, and a full replacement under a driveway or mature landscaping runs a great deal higher.
These are published national ranges shown for context. They are not quotes and they are not our prices.
When it is close to essential
- Mature trees between the house and the street. The single strongest predictor of root intrusion.
- Built before 1980. Clay tile, cast iron, and in some regions Orangeburg — a bituminous fibre pipe that deforms and collapses with age.
- Any sign of past work in the garden that nobody mentions.
- A vacant or flipped property. Nobody has run meaningful water through that line in months, and a partial blockage will not show itself.
- Anywhere the seller volunteers that the drains are "fine." Not because sellers lie, but because they genuinely do not know.
What the camera actually shows
- Pipe material — which sets the expected remaining life more than anything else.
- Root intrusion, and which joints it is entering through.
- Bellies — standing water in a cleared line means the pipe no longer runs downhill. Not fixable by cleaning.
- Cracks, offsets and collapse.
- Where the defect is, located from the surface, so any quote is for a known job rather than an estimate.
How to use it
Ask for the footage. A reputable contractor will hand it over, and it is what lets you get a second opinion on any repair quote — or negotiate. A camera report showing root intrusion at three joints is a concrete number in a price discussion, not a vague worry.
And if the line is clean, you have bought certainty on the most expensive invisible thing in the property for a few hundred dollars.
What a camera inspection involves → · Root intrusion explained →
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