A commercial CCTV drain survey is a recorded camera inspection of the drainage serving business premises: every defect logged against its distance along the pipe, with a plan of the runs and chambers the camera passed through. Businesses commission one when responsibility for the drains is about to change hands or be argued over. TrueFlow surveys commercial premises in Berkshire and the neighbouring counties from £120 including VAT, with the exact price agreed before the camera goes in.
When a business commissions a drain survey
Lease start. A repairing covenant is judged at the end of the term against the standard the lease sets, not the state the tenant found, unless a schedule of condition is attached to limit it. A survey dated before completion records which joints were already open and which run already held water, so the schedule can reflect them.
Lease end. A dilapidations claim arrives as a schedule of the repairs the landlord says are owed. If drainage is on it, a survey before the keys go back answers the two questions that decide the money: is the defect real, and did it exist when the term began.
Purchase. A building survey on a freehold unit stops at floor level; the camera picks up the collapsed clay beneath a yard or the cracked run under a slab that it cannot. Using the report in a negotiation is covered in the CCTV drain survey cost guide.
Insurer request. Insurers usually want recorded evidence before any repair; the sudden-versus-gradual line that decides most drain claims is explained in the guide to drain repairs and insurance.
Recurring blockages. A washroom stack or kitchen line cleared every few months has a cause the clearing visits are not reaching: a displaced joint, roots, a dip holding grease. One survey finds it, and the repair ends the call-outs.
Before a refit. Fit-out drawings assume the drainage underneath is where they say and in sound condition. A survey before the screed goes down confirms both, and on a food fit-out shows the state of the run a new grease trap will feed.
What the survey delivers
- Recorded footage of each run, supplied as files you keep.
- A written defect log, each observation recorded against its distance from the entry chamber, so each can be found again.
- A plan of the runs and chambers, showing flow direction and where the private drainage meets the public sewer.
- A repair quote where defects are found, itemised against the log.
Reports follow the national defect coding standard explained in the survey cost guide; the same kit and format serve the domestic CCTV drain survey service.
A survey starts from £120 including VAT. A fouled run is jetted before the camera goes in, and combined jetting and survey starts from £220. Those rates suit a single unit; a parade on shared drainage or an estate with many chambers is priced after a look at the site.
Which drains are yours to survey
Pipes shared between properties, and any pipe past the boundary, belong to the sewerage undertaker, Thames Water across most of Berkshire. Yours is the drainage serving your premises alone, up to the boundary or the first shared connection; on an estate that line is hard to read from the lease, because a run serving several units may have been adopted or may still be the landlord’s. The legal side is in the guide to blocked drain responsibility. A defect on the public side is reported, not quoted for.
Working with agents and facilities teams
Bookings usually come from an agent, a managing surveyor or a facilities manager. To quote, TrueFlow needs the address, the type of premises, a rough count of chambers and the reason for the survey. Keys and access are agreed with whoever holds them, surveys are booked outside opening hours where the chambers are indoors, and the report goes to the instructing party; the reporting side of managed property is set out on the letting agents and property managers page.
The footage exists the moment the camera comes out; the written report follows once every run has been logged, which takes longer on a large site. A realistic date is given at booking rather than a blanket promise, and a fixed completion or dilapidations deadline is worked around if flagged at the outset.
Repairs after the survey
A survey that finds a defect ends with a quote, not a sales pitch. Fractured joints, root ingress and displaced sections can usually be repaired from inside the pipe with a patch liner or a full-length reline, without excavation or closing the premises; collapsed pipes still need digging. The options and costs are in the drain relining guide and on the drainage repairs page. Every repair is quoted from the report, agreed before work starts, fully insured and guaranteed for 6 months.
Commercial drain survey FAQs
Do I need a drain survey before signing a commercial lease?
No law requires it, but this is where a survey earns the most. If the lease defines the premises to include the drains and makes you responsible for their repair, a survey dated before completion is the only record of what you took on below ground, and from £120 including VAT it costs a fraction of one disputed dilapidations item.
What does a dilapidation drain survey show?
The condition of every accessible run at the end of the term: pipe material and size, each defect located and graded, and whether the line flows freely. Set against an entry survey it shows which defects are new; without one, it still separates damage such as a fractured joint from the ageing any pipe of that era would show. The footage is supplied so the landlord’s surveyor can check the findings independently.
Which clauses of a commercial lease cover the drains?
Three, usually: the definition of the premises, which says whether the drains are part of what is let; the repairing covenant, which sets the standard they must be kept to; and any service charge provisions, which deal with pipework shared with other units. The survey report marks which category each run falls into, so the clause is applied to a specific pipe rather than an assumed one.
How long does a commercial survey take?
It depends on the metres of pipe and the number of chambers, not the size of the business. A single retail or office unit typically takes one to two hours. A restaurant with internal chambers, a parade on shared drainage or a site with several buildings can take half a day or more, and a large estate is surveyed in stages. Jetting a fouled run first adds time.
Can a survey be done while the premises are trading?
Often, yes. The camera goes in through inspection chambers, so where those sit outside in a yard or car park the survey rarely disturbs anyone inside. Where chambers are internal, or toilets and taps need running to trace connections, it is quicker once the last person has left, and evening, weekend and closed-day bookings are routine.
Before the lease, the sale or the claim
For a lease, a purchase, a claim or a drain that will not stay clear, call TrueFlow on 0808 175 7440, answered 24/7, 365 days a year, or send the details through the contact page for a priced reply.