Sewer camera inspection in Great Falls.
In Great Falls a sewer camera inspection costs $89 with another visit or $500 to $1,700 by itself, on lines to a septic tank or a county main.
- Camera before any dig
- Priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
Book a sewer camera inspection
Most Great Falls drains end at a tank in the yard, the rest at a county main.
Start with where your line goes. Fairfax County’s sewer map leaves about 4,100 of the 6,120 home addresses in 22066 outside the area it plans to sewer, so those houses drain to a septic tank on their own lot: the village around Georgetown Pike and Walker Road, and all of Lexington Estates, Hickory Creek, Lockmeade and Oliver Estates. There our camera runs from the house to the tank’s inlet and stops. The tank, its pumping and the drainfield are a septic contractor’s work; SwiftPro doesn’t do septic.
The county’s septic code shapes that inspection. It wants a cleanout brought up to the ground every 50 to 60 feet, so a long run across a big lot should give the camera more than one way in. Within 50 feet of a private well the line has to be pressure-tested water pipe, and never closer than 10 feet. Nearly one in four wells on the Health Department’s county map sit inside the Great Falls Census area, so the well and the tank line often share a yard.
The pipe follows the decade. County records put most of Oliver Estates in the mid-1960s, and a line that age can be Orangeburg, wood fiber pressed with pitch, which sags out of round; today’s septic code bans bituminous fiber pipe outright. Lexington Estates, Hickory Creek and Lockmeade went up mostly in the 1970s, when cast iron, clay and early plastic were all in use. The typical owner’s home here dates from 1986, and in a house that young the line is usually plastic, so the camera hunts for a sag, not a crack.
The other third drains to the county sewer: Holly Knoll and Locust Hill, mostly from the late 1970s and 80s, and Great Falls West from the mid-1990s. There the owner keeps up the private line from the house to the county main, connection included. Under trees this old, roots are the usual trouble. If a plumber cuts them out of your lateral, the county asks you to call its Customer Communications Center so it can clean its main too.
Great Falls houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
Great Falls
- Median home built1986 Census
- Built before 1980about 4 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, nearly all Census
- Heated withgas, about 5 in 10 Census
- Rentedhardly any Census
- 1980s and 90s houses mostly run PVC to the street, where a sag in settled backfill is the thing to rule out.
What a sewer camera inspection costs in Great Falls.
Why we’re at the house decides which price you pay. On its own, the line often has to be cleared before the camera can see anything, and that’s what moves the number.
- Sewer camera inspection, added to a visit$89
- Sewer camera inspection on its own$500 to $1,700
A locator on the camera head marks the spot and its depth on the ground, so if something needs fixing you know where. If the line is fine, nobody talks about digging.
Comfort+ membership is $199 a year for four visits: a dryer vent cleaning, a water heater flush with a sewer camera inspection, a heating maintenance visit and a cooling maintenance visit.
When to put a camera down the line in Great Falls.
An addition, a pool or a generator pad is going in
On a big lot, new work can land on a line nobody has mapped. The county marks its own sewer mains when you call before digging, but not your private lateral, and a pipe to a septic tank isn’t the county’s at all. The camera’s locator marks the path first.
Big trees in the front yard
Roots don’t break a sewer line. They find a crack or a loose joint that’s already there and grow into it, which is why a line under old trees is worth a look before it slows down.
Water comes up the floor drain
When the washer empties and water rises in the basement floor drain, or a toilet gurgles while a sink runs, the main line isn’t carrying it all away. The camera shows why.
How to pick the best plumber for a sewer camera inspection in Great Falls.
Questions to ask anybody who offers to put a camera down your line, us included.
Do they ask about septic before they come out?
Here it decides where the camera stops and who you call next. Say whether there’s a tank out back, so nobody quotes a sewer repair for a tank that’s simply full.
Will they show you what the camera finds?
Ask to see it and to keep a copy. “It’s roots” with nothing to show for it is a guess, and a guess is a bad reason to dig up a yard.
Do they line and dig, or only one?
A company that only digs tends to see a dig, and one that only lines tends to see a liner. We do both, so the footage decides, not the truck.
What our customers say.
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!
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Sewer camera questions from Great Falls.
Can you put a camera down the line to my septic tank?
Yes, as far as the tank. If the pipe is clear and the house still backs up, the trouble is in the tank or the field, and that’s your septic contractor’s call. Fairfax County wants the tank pumped at least once every five years either way.
How much does a sewer camera inspection cost in Great Falls?
$89 added to a visit we’re already making, $500 to $1,700 booked on its own. The difference is clearing: a visit just for the camera often has to clear the line first.
Should I get a sewer camera inspection before I buy a house?
If the house is older or has big trees out front, yes. A standard home inspection usually doesn’t include one, and in most of Northern Virginia the line from the house toward the street is the owner’s to fix.
More from SwiftPro in Great Falls.
More from SwiftPro in Great Falls
See the line before anybody digs.
Call, or book online and pick a window. You get the price in writing first, and if the camera says the line is fine, that’s what we’ll tell you.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Great Falls and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.