Camera inspection
Sewer camera inspection in San Jose
The one step that separates a $300 cleaning from a $20,000 replacement is looking inside the pipe. We run a recorded camera from the cleanout to the city main, locate the problem from the surface, and hand you the footage.
What the camera shows
A self-leveling color camera on a push rod, with a transmitter in the head so a locator on the surface can find it. From the cleanout to the main we see the pipe material and its condition: clay joints and whether they're offset, cast iron and whether the bottom is worn, Orangeburg and whether it's still round. Roots, grease, scale, standing water in a belly, a crack, a break, a collapse. The distance counter on the rod tells us where each one is, and the locator tells us how deep.
Then we mark the spot on your lawn or driveway with paint. That mark is the difference between a quote and a guess.
When to get one
- Repeated backups. If a line has been snaked twice in two years, something is catching the cable. A camera finds it.
- Before buying a house in San Jose. Most of the housing stock is 1950s–70s with original clay or cast iron, and a lateral replacement here is a five-figure job. A $250–$500 inspection during the contingency period is the cheapest sewer decision you'll make. Some Bay Area cities require a lateral compliance certificate at sale; San Jose sewer lateral compliance is mostly a matter of what your buyer's inspector finds, which is another reason to look first.
- Before any sewer work over a few hundred dollars. No contractor can honestly quote a repair or a liner without seeing the pipe. If someone quotes a replacement from your description of the symptoms, get a second opinion with a camera.
- After a repair. Every job we do ends with a second camera run and a recording sent to you. Ask any contractor for the same.
- After an earthquake. Nothing dramatic — a joint that was fine before the shake can be offset after it, and the first sign is usually a slow drain months later.
What it costs
Sewer camera inspection San Jose-wide runs $250–$500. The low end is a house with an accessible cleanout and a line that's flowing; the high end is a line that needs clearing first so the camera can see, or a house with no cleanout where we go in through a roof vent or pull a toilet. If we clear it and inspect it in the same visit, that's priced as a cleaning plus a camera, and the camera fee comes off any repair we do within 30 days.
What you get
The recording, with the distance counter visible, in a format you can send to another contractor, a buyer, a seller, or an insurance adjuster. A short written summary: pipe material, length, depth at the problem, what we saw and where. And a recommendation that names the fix — cleaning, spot repair, lining or bursting, or full replacement — with a price for each that applies.
The camera inspection sales trick
Because so much sewer work is quoted from camera footage, some crews use the camera as a sales tool: a blurry shot of grease or a root hair, the word collapse, and a replacement quote before the rod is back on the reel. Two things protect you. Ask for the recording with the distance counter, and ask what a second opinion would see if they ran their own camera tomorrow. A real offset joint, belly or break looks the same to everyone. The what-the-camera-shows post goes through footage frame by frame.
Where a cleanout matters
A lot of older San Jose homes — Naglee Park, the 1920s parts of Rose Garden, some Willow Glen — don't have an outside cleanout, which makes every inspection and every clearing slower and more expensive. Adding a two-way cleanout near the foundation is a $600–$1,500 job that pays for itself the second time anyone needs to get into the line. We quote it on the same visit.
Other sewer services
Sewer Line Repair
One broken section, one root-packed joint, one offset at the property line — replaced without tearing up the whole run, with a written price.
Sewer Line Repair →Sewer Line Replacement
A new lateral from the house to the city main — open-trench where the yard allows it, trenchless where it doesn't — with permits and inspection included.
Sewer Line Replacement →Trenchless Sewer Repair
Cured-in-place lining and pipe bursting: a new pipe through two small pits instead of a trench across the lawn, driveway and street.
Trenchless Sewer Repair →Hydro Jetting & Drain Cleaning
Roots, grease and sixty years of scale cleared from the pipe wall at 3,500 psi — the cleaning that makes a camera inspection honest and a lining possible.
Hydro Jetting & Drain Cleaning →Questions we get asked
How much is a sewer camera inspection in San Jose?
$250–$500. The low end assumes an outside cleanout and a line clear enough to see through. If the line has to be cleared first, or there's no cleanout and we go through a roof vent or pull a toilet, it's toward the top. The fee comes off any repair we do within 30 days, and you get the recording either way.
Should I get a sewer inspection when buying a house in San Jose?
Yes, on anything built before about 1985. Original clay, cast iron and Orangeburg laterals are the norm, replacement here is $15,000–$30,000, and a general home inspection does not look inside the sewer. Get it done in the contingency period and use the footage in negotiation if it turns something up.
Can a camera find where the sewer line is broken?
Yes. The camera head carries a transmitter, and a locator on the surface finds it and reads the depth. We paint the spot on the lawn or driveway. That's how a spot repair is priced as one pit at a known depth instead of a trench looking for the problem.
Need sewer line work in San Jose?
Call for a free estimate. Mon–Sat 7am–7pm.