A sewer scope costs $250 to $500 and takes about an hour. On a home built before 1980, skipping it is a bet that the most expensive hidden system in the house is fine. It is the inspection with the highest ratio of cost to what it can save.
For buyers
Order it on any pre-1980 home, and on newer homes with big trees over the line. Book it alongside the general inspection so you have results inside your contingency window. Ask the inspector for the video file, not just a summary; the video is what a repair contractor and a second opinion will read.
Read the report in categories. Urgent findings: collapse, channeling, camera could not pass, backups already happening. Fix-this-year findings: bellies, moderate roots, offsets. Monitor findings: light roots, minor scale, hairline cracks. Our guide to reading a scope report walks through each term.
Get a repair estimate before you negotiate. Send the video to a sewer specialist and ask for a written estimate with the method named. Trenchless lining runs $6,000 to $15,000; pipe bursting $6,000 to $18,000; dig-and-replace $5,000 to $25,000; spot repairs $1,500 to $4,500. Negotiating from a real number beats negotiating from fear.
Ask for a credit, not a seller-managed repair. A seller who is leaving has every incentive to pick the cheapest contractor and the cheapest method. A credit at closing lets you choose the contractor and the method, and lets you decide whether to line now or monitor. Most buyer agents ask for the full estimate; many sellers settle at 50 to 100 percent depending on the market.
If the seller refuses, decide whether the house is worth the cost with the repair added. Walking over a $10,000 line on a $500,000 house is usually wrong; walking over a $25,000 under-slab replacement on a house that was already at the top of your budget may be right.
For sellers
Scope it before listing if the house was built before 1975. You will find out what a buyer’s inspector will find out, and you get to decide how to handle it without a contingency clock running.
If it fails, you have three options. Fix it before listing, using the method you choose and a contractor you vet, then market the house with a post-job video and permit. Disclose it and price accordingly, with the estimate attached so buyers see a bounded number rather than an unknown. Or wait for the buyer’s inspection and negotiate then, which usually costs more because buyers price in uncertainty.
A permitted repair with a post-job video is a selling point. On a street where every other house has an original cast iron line, “new sewer line 2026, lined, permitted, video on file” removes an objection before it is raised.
Do not let a cleaning pass for a repair. Cutting roots and running a jetter makes the line look clean on camera for a few months. Buyers’ inspectors know this, and a “recently cleaned” line with fresh cut roots gets scrutinized harder, not less.
For agents
Order the scope for every pre-1980 listing you take or represent. Keep two or three sewer specialists you trust who will read a video and return a written estimate within 48 hours. That turnaround is what keeps a deal together inside a ten-day contingency.
A fair credit, by finding
| Finding | Reasonable credit ask |
|---|---|
| Light roots, minor scale | $0 to $500 (annual cleaning) |
| Single offset or break | $1,500 to $4,500 |
| Moderate roots or cracks, lineable | $6,000 to $12,000 |
| Belly or sag section | $3,000 to $8,000 |
| Collapse, Orangeburg, channeled cast iron | Full replacement estimate |
Upload the report and the closing date and we will tell you which line of that table you are on, with a range for your city, in time to use it.