Drains & underground · Northern Virginia
Fix drains and buried sewer lines.
From the kitchen sink, a clog and a broken pipe look exactly the same. They are about ten times apart on price.
So the first job is working out which one you’ve got. A cable or a jetter if it’s a clog, a camera if the line has earned one, and the excavator only when the pipe is really finished. That card is what this work costs here, published before anybody knocks on your door.
5.0 on Google from 884 reviews · VA Class A 2705192276
What this costs here
One fixture cleared$430
Main line cleared$1,069
Camera, on a visit$89
The middle of our own signed jobs. One fixture runs $200 to $800, a main line $862 to $1,630, and yours is its own number once we have looked.
What you’d notice
If any of this is happening, call us.
You don’t have to work out what’s wrong before you pick up the phone. That’s our job. But here is what people describe when they call about a drain, and what each one usually turns out to be.
Gurgling when you run water somewhere else
Flush an upstairs toilet and the basement drain burps or bubbles. That’s air getting pushed back at you, and it means the main line, not the sink.
Main lineMore than one drain is slow
One slow sink is a sink. Two slow drains on different floors are sharing the pipe that leaves the house, and that’s a different job.
Main lineWater coming up at the lowest drain
Basement floor drain, basement shower, basement toilet. Stop running water and call. This one gets worse with every flush upstairs.
Call nowThe same drain, every few months
A line that blocks on a schedule isn’t clogging, it’s regrowing. Roots come back to the same joint they found the first time.
Roots, probablyA smell that wasn’t there last week
Sewer gas gets out where the line is cracked or a trap has dried out. Worth a call even while everything still drains fine.
Worth a lookA wet patch in the yard that never dries
That’s the water line, not the sewer, and there’s usually a water bill that jumped in the same month. Different pipe, same trench.
Water line
Nothing on that list is an emergency except the fourth one. Water coming up at the lowest drain in the house means everything upstairs has nowhere to go, and it gets worse with every flush. The rest will wait for a scheduled visit, and we would rather tell you that than sell you an after-hours call.
Before you call anybody
One fixture, or the whole house? Five minutes.
No tools, no charge, and it changes what you do next more than anything we could say on the phone. One slow sink can wait until Monday. A blocked main line can’t, because every flush upstairs has to come out somewhere. Longer version in the five-minute test.
Go to the lowest drain in the house
Basement floor drain, basement shower, basement toilet. Whatever sits lowest is where a main line problem shows up first. It always is.
Run water somewhere else entirely
Flush an upstairs toilet. Run the kitchen sink for thirty seconds. Start the washing machine. You’re asking the house to send water past that low fixture.
Watch what the low fixture does
Gurgling, burping air, or water rising in it while you run water elsewhere means the main line. Nothing at all, and only one sink or tub slow, means that fixture’s branch.
Then act on the answer
Main line: stop using water, tell everyone in the house, and call. One fixture: you have time, and pulling the hair off a bathroom pop-up stopper costs nothing to try first.
Clearing a line and fixing a line are two different jobs.
Clearing is mechanical. A cable or water goes in, the blockage comes out, water runs, and if the pipe underneath is sound that is genuinely the end of it.
Repair is when the pipe itself has failed, and cabling a broken line buys you weeks rather than years. If we clear your line and it backs up again inside a few months, stop buying clearings and buy a camera inspection. We would rather tell you that now than sell you the fourth one.
Straight answers
What this work costs here.
Real signed jobs off our own books, not a national average. Yours will be its own number and we work it out after we have looked, but you should know roughly where you stand before anybody quotes you. Longer version in the drain cleaning cost guide.
$430
TypicalOne fixture cleared
Kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub, shower, a toilet augered. Most land between $200 and $800. It takes an unusual one to pass $812.
$1,069
TypicalMain line cleared
The pipe carrying the whole house out to the street. Most run $862 to $1,630.
$89
Flat add-onCamera down the main, added to a visit
When we’re already at your house on another call. The cheapest useful hour in plumbing.
$500 to $1,700
RangeCamera or scope visit on its own
The spread is real, because a standalone scope often means clearing the line first so the camera can see anything at all.
$7,500 to $9,000
RangeDigging a sewer line up
Rock and clay are most of the reason. That is the number a liner is there to avoid, and the camera is what tells you whether you can.
Nights and weekends cost more, here and everywhere. If the drain is slow rather than stopped, wait until Monday and keep the difference. Members pay less: the Comfort+ membership is $199 a year and takes 15% off any service.
From the neighbors
The cheap answer first, even when it costs us.
Three Google reviews, as they were written. The first one is the whole approach: somebody had already quoted $800 to go in through the roof vent.
New tenants in the rental property had a problem with their drain. Property manager sent their plumber said they snakeed the drain and could not solve the clog. Wanted $800 to snake the drain through the roof vent. Called Swift Pro and James Milligan solve the problem in 15 minutes saving me hundreds of dollars.
We had Tyson out for our main line leaking underground, he explained the scope of work for replacement and set great expectations. They had the job done in a very timely manner and I couldn’t ask for more professionalism than he provided!
On July 3, I called to have a clogged floor drain cleared. Thankfully they arrived on July 4th which was greatly appreciated. No one else would come out do to the holiday. Thank you
Reviews are shown as customers wrote them. SwiftPro does not write, edit, buy or remove customer reviews, and offers no incentive in exchange for one. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews.
What we do down there
It’s almost always one of three things.
Everything that leaves your house goes out through pipe you can’t see. So when it stops, the question isn’t who can get here fastest. It’s what is actually wrong. One of these is an hour under a sink. Another is a week in the yard.
Drain cleaning and water jetting
A cable clears most clogs. High-pressure water is for the ones a cable would just bore a hole through, which is grease in a kitchen line and roots in a main. One fixture, one branch, or the pipe carrying the whole house out to the street. The prices are on the site before you pick up the phone.
Camera and leak detection
A camera turns a guess into a picture: what the blockage is, how far in, how deep, and whether the pipe around it is sound. That last one is the whole ballgame, because clearing a broken line is renting a fix. When a camera earns its keep, and when it doesn’t.
Underground sewer and water lines
The sewer lateral and the water service line, house to the connection at the street. Both are yours, both are buried, and neither one announces itself until it fails. We renew sewer pipe from the inside where it’ll take it, without a trench across the yard, and we dig where it won’t.
Why it happens here
Northern Virginia is hard on buried pipe.
None of this is bad luck. Three things about this area explain most of what our camera finds under a front yard, and each one has a different answer.
Clay and cast iron under the older neighborhoods
A lot of Northern Virginia went up between the 1950s and the 1980s. Clay sewer pipe comes in short sections with a joint every few feet, and cast iron rusts from the inside until the opening is a fraction of what it was. Both fail predictably, which is the good news.
Trees that are now fifty years into looking for water
Roots don’t break into a healthy pipe. They find a joint that has already shifted, and then they grow. Your sewer line is the wettest, most nutrient-rich thing in the yard.
Rock and heavy clay soil
Ground that doesn’t settle evenly leaves a line bellied, so waste pools in the low spot instead of running downhill and the same place blocks forever. It’s also why digging here costs what it does.
When it’s the pipe, not the clog
Digging is the last answer, not the first one.
If the camera finds a broken lateral, the next question is whether it has to come up at all. Usually it doesn’t. Where the old pipe still holds its shape, a new jointless pipe is cured inside it with ultraviolet light and the lawn stays where it is. We run that equipment ourselves rather than subbing it out, which is why we can look at the footage and tell you honestly when it is the wrong call.
Buried lines, by job and by city
Sewer work, in detail.
- Trenchless sewer repair, all of Northern Virginia
- Sewer line repair in McLean
- Sewer line repair in Woodbridge
- Sewer line repair in Loudoun County
The water service line is the other buried pipe, and it’s yours too. It brings clean water in under pressure, so it fails differently: a wet patch in the yard that never dries, a water bill that jumped for no reason, pressure that dropped across the whole house at once. Same excavation equipment, completely different repair. If the pressure went suddenly, start with knowing where your shutoffs are.
Where we go
Drains and underground lines across Northern Virginia.
Based in Chantilly, so most of Northern Virginia is a short run. Houses, townhouses, HOA common lines and small commercial laterals in and around:
Questions we hear every week
What people ask us about drains.
If yours isn’t here, call and ask. Nobody bills you for a question.
Do you have to dig up my yard to fix a sewer line?
Usually not. Where the old pipe still holds its shape, a new jointless pipe is cured inside the old one with ultraviolet light and the lawn stays where it is. We run that equipment ourselves rather than subbing it out, which is why we can look at the camera footage and tell you honestly when it’s the wrong call. How trenchless works.
Cable or jetter, and who decides?
The blockage does. Grease and roots close back around a cable within weeks, so those want water at pressure. A wad of wipes in a branch line wants a cable. If somebody quotes you jetting before they know what’s in the pipe, they’re quoting a machine, not a repair.
What if my house has no cleanout?
A cleanout is the capped access fitting that lets a machine into the line directly. Without one we get in by pulling a toilet or going through a roof vent, which is real added time and shows up in the price. It’s also worth installing one while we’re there.
Do I need a camera before I buy a house?
If it was built before 1980 and there are mature trees between it and the street, yes. A standard home inspection doesn’t include the sewer lateral, and in Fairfax County the lateral is the owner’s all the way to the county main, the run under the street included.
Is the water service line the same thing as the sewer line?
No, and people mix them up constantly. The water service brings clean water in under pressure, so it fails as a wet patch in the yard or a jump in the bill. The sewer lateral carries waste out by gravity, so it fails as a backup. Different pipe, different repair, same trench equipment.
Do you work nights and weekends?
Yes, and it costs more, here and everywhere. If the drain is slow rather than stopped and you can wait until Monday, wait until Monday. If sewage is coming up anywhere, don’t wait.
Are you licensed?
Virginia Class A contractor, license 2705192276, and it’s on the side of every van. Family owned, based in Chantilly.
Keep reading
More on drains and buried pipe.
- What drain cleaning costs in Northern Virginia
- Clogged drain or main line? The five-minute test
- Sewer camera inspection: when it is worth it and when it is not
- Sewer line repair and replacement cost: trenchless vs. digging
- Does your house need repiping? Polybutylene, copper pinholes, and how to tell
- Sump pumps and battery backups, before the next rainy season
Book it
Find out what it is before you pay to fix it.
If the same drain has backed up twice in a year, you don’t have a clog. You have a pipe, and nobody has looked at it yet. Book the visit, watch the footage, then decide.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing · 4230 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite L, Chantilly, VA 20151 · Virginia Class A contractor 2705192276 · Family owned, serving all of Northern Virginia. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. 24/7 for anything actively backing up.
