A standard homebuyer or RICS survey tells you a lot about a property, but it stops at the surface. It rarely tells you what is happening in the drains, and drain repairs are among the more expensive surprises a new owner can face. A pre-purchase CCTV drain survey closes that gap, and on older properties it is fast becoming a routine part of buying. Here is what it covers and how ASAP Drainage, a drain company serving West London, Surrey and Berkshire, handles it.

What a pre-purchase drain survey actually checks

A CCTV drain survey sends a camera through the property's drain runs to record their condition. For a buyer, it answers the questions a valuation cannot: are the pipes sound, is there a blockage building, are tree roots getting in, has a section cracked or collapsed, and is the property connected correctly to the public sewer. On older homes, including many across West London and Surrey, it can also reveal dated pitch-fibre or clay pipework that may need attention.

The output is a solicitor-ready report. ASAP Drainage delivers its homebuyer survey at a fixed £189+VAT, with the findings, the video file and indicative repair costs set out in a document your solicitor can rely on.

Why it is worth doing before you exchange

The value of the survey is timing. Found before exchange, a drainage fault becomes a negotiating point: you can ask the seller to reduce the price, carry out the repair, or share the cost. Found after completion, the same fault is simply your bill. Drainage repairs can run into four figures, particularly where excavation would otherwise be needed, so the survey fee is small set against what it can save or recover.

There is also peace of mind. Most surveys come back broadly clear, and knowing the drains are sound is worth the fixed fee on its own.

The tiers buyers and their solicitors use

Different purchases need different documents, so ASAP Drainage publishes fixed tiers rather than a single vague price:

Homebuyer / pre-purchase survey at £189+VAT, solicitor-ready and aimed at property buyers.
Insurance-grade full report at £225+VAT, compliant with major UK insurers, delivered same-day in the industry-standard WinCan format.
Build-Over Agreement Survey at £325+VAT, water-authority compliant and including a CAD schematic, for properties built over or near a public sewer.
Drain tracing and mapping at £229+VAT, which locates buried drains and produces a property schematic.

There is no call-out charge on top, and the surveys are carried out by WRc-accredited engineers, the recognised standard for this work.

What happens if the survey finds something

A report on its own does not fix a drain, but using a drain company rather than a survey-only firm means the next step is straightforward. If the camera finds a fault, the same in-house team can carry out the drain repairs, frequently using no-dig drain lining that seals a damaged pipe from the inside and avoids digging up a garden, driveway or commercial floor. For a buyer, that means one team can take you from "what is wrong" to "here is the fixed cost to put it right," which is exactly the information you need during a negotiation.

Equally, there is no obligation. The survey is a fixed-fee product you can book purely for the report.

Booking one

ASAP Drainage runs its CCTV drain survey service 24/7 across West London, Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, with WRc-accredited engineers, a 28-day guarantee on repair work, and a 4.9-star Google rating. The full list of survey tiers and what each includes is on the CCTV drain survey page, or you can call 0800 955 4549.

The takeaway

If you are buying a property in London or Surrey, especially an older one, a pre-purchase CCTV drain survey is one of the cheaper forms of insurance available on a purchase this size. It turns an unknown into a documented, costed fact you can act on before you commit. Book it before you exchange, and you keep the leverage; leave it until after completion, and any problem it would have found becomes yours to pay for.

Business Info

Business Name: ASAP Drainage

Contact Person: Matt

Business Address: 1-3 Davis Rd, London W3 7SE, United Kingdom

Mail ID: info@asapdrainage.com