How it works
Sixty seconds on the form, no account, no call centre.
We pass it straight to a QBCC-licensed drain plumber who works your suburb.
Free quote, no obligation. You deal with the plumber directly from there.
What a blocked drain usually costs
Most standard blockages across the Redlands clear for between $150 and $400. If tree roots are involved, or the plumber needs a CCTV camera to find the problem, expect $350 to $900 for the camera inspection and jet blasting together. A collapsed or root-broken pipe that needs relining is a bigger job, usually $3,000 and up. The full cost guide breaks down every scenario.
The council's own three-step test
Redland City Council publishes a short diagnostic for working out whether a blockage is yours or the council's, and it is worth running before you call anyone.
- One fixture only. If a single sink, shower or toilet is slow and the rest of the house is fine, the council says the problem is most likely in your home's plumbing. That is a job for a licensed plumber with jet rodding and a CCTV camera.
- The overflow relief gully. If the gully outside overflows while no water is being used anywhere on the property, the council says the blockage is likely to be in its sewer main. Clear any leaves or soil off the grate, check the grate still lifts freely, then contact the council.
- The inspection opening. Run an indoor tap and watch the inspection opening. If it holds water or drains slowly, contact the council. If it stays dry, the problem is in the house plumbing, so call a plumber.
If it does turn out to be the council's main, the council asks that a plumber confirms that first and that you report it straight away to get a reference number, because prompt reporting is one of the conditions attached to its reimbursement process. The full guide to who owns which pipe walks through it, and the council's own sewer blockages page is the authority, because council processes change.
Why Redlands drains block
The Redlands is really four places, and each one blocks differently.
The old bayside spine runs north to south from Thorneside through Birkdale, Wellington Point and Ormiston to Cleveland, and down the coast to Victoria Point. It was developed from the post-war years onwards, so there is a great deal of jointed vitrified clay and earthenware sewer and stormwater line still in the ground, laid in short sections with a joint every metre or so. The mature street trees along those streets, the eucalypts, figs and melaleucas, plus the big established garden trees around Ormiston and Wellington Point, have found every one of those joints. That is the root intrusion, jet blasting, CCTV and relining story.
Thornlands and the newer estates behind Redland Bay are the opposite. The line is PVC, the joints are rubber-ringed, the trees are young, and a blockage there is far more likely to be wet wipes, cooking fat or a nappy than roots. A site that treats Cleveland and Thornlands as the same job has never been to either.
Capalaba is the western commercial and light industrial hub, with more flats, more rental stock and more shared drainage, so grease traps, shared stacks and body corporate lines come into it. Alexandra Hills is the most consistent cohort in the city, street after street of 1970s and 1980s subdivision with the same vintage of clay line the whole way down.
Then there is the unsewered Redlands, which is a much bigger share of the city than most people expect. Russell, Macleay, Lamb and Karragarra islands have no sewer at all. Amity Point has none, and about half the urban areas of Dunwich and Point Lookout are unsewered. On the mainland, the council states that rural non-urban properties in the Redland Bay area and in the Native Dog Creek, Serpentine Creek and Upper Tingalpa Creek catchments use septic or on-site systems, which in suburb terms means acreage Redland Bay, Mount Cotton and Sheldon. On those properties there is no council main to blame, the whole system including the tank is yours, and the diagnosis is different.
Who owns which pipe
The sewer mains in the sewered parts of the Redlands belong to Redland City Council, through its water and wastewater business, City Water (previously Redland Water). The council treats the wastewater at its own plants, which it says sit at Capalaba, Cleveland, Dunwich, Mount Cotton, Point Lookout, Thorneside and Victoria Point. Your own drain line, from the house to the connection point, is yours. On acreage and rural blocks that are not connected, the whole system including the septic tank is yours, and the diagnosis is different.
Flat ground, big tides
The mainland is low-lying bayside land with flat grades and tidal influence. Old stormwater runs with poor fall hold sediment instead of flushing it away, and when a king tide meets a summer storm the water has nowhere to go, so it surcharges. The council maps flood and storm tide hazard and coastal protection erosion prone areas in the Redland City Plan, and those maps are the authority on any particular property. The stormwater and surcharge page covers what is worth doing about it.
The islands, honestly
The Redlands is roughly a third water, and the island demand is real. Coochiemudlo Island is sewered and piped to the Victoria Point plant, and access is a short ferry from Victoria Point, so it is served much like a mainland suburb. Russell, Macleay, Lamb and Karragarra islands, and the North Stradbroke Island townships at Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout, are different. A work vehicle, a jetter or an excavator only reaches them on a booked vehicle barge, tide can delay the crossing, and that is a whole job in itself. We will call you back promptly and tell you honestly whether a local plumber can get to you and when. Some of the trades who work the islands live on them, which is often the fastest answer.
Drain services
Areas we cover
Frequently asked questions
How quickly can someone get to me?
On the mainland, a plumber will tell you when they can be there when they call you back. On Russell, Macleay, Lamb and Karragarra islands, and at Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout, attendance depends on the next available vehicle barge, so we will not pretend otherwise. The callback is prompt. The visit is subject to the barge.
Is the blockage mine or the council's?
Run the council's three-step test above. One slow fixture points at your plumbing. An overflow relief gully running when nothing is in use points at the council's main. A plumber with a camera and a locator settles it with evidence.
Do I need a licensed plumber for drain work?
Yes. In Queensland, plumbing and drainage work requires a QBCC licence at any value, which is stricter than the general building work threshold. Ask for the licence number and check it on the QBCC register before signing anything.
What if my property is on a septic system?
Then there is no council main involved, and the tank, the pump and the disposal trenches or irrigation field are all yours. Tell us what system you have when you send the form, because it changes who we pass the job to.