Every flat rate TennCo. charges to clear a residential drain or sewer line in West Tennessee, stated before you call.
This guide covers what drain work costs. For how TennCo. approaches drain cleaning and what a call includes, see the drain cleaning service page. The $80 service fee is included in every figure below, not added to it. A $275 drain clear is $275 total.
| Service | Flat rate |
|---|---|
| Standard drain clear, per fixture (sink, tub, shower, or kitchen) | $275 |
| Toilet clog cleared at the bowl | $350 |
| Main sewer line through an existing cleanout | $450 |
| Main sewer line with no cleanout, toilet pull and reset | $650 |
| Exploratory excavation and cut-in, 3 ft depth | $800 additional |
| Two-way cleanout installed, PVC line, 3 ft depth | $1,200 |
| Two-way cleanout installed, cast iron or clay, 3 ft depth | $1,850 |
| Kitchen branch line repipe, Schedule 40 PVC | $1,500–$2,500 |
Camera inspection and line locating are included on every main line call and never billed separately. Fixture branch lines at 1.5 and 2 inches are too small to camera. Excavation and cleanout pricing assumes a 3 foot depth, standard here. Deeper lines are quoted before any digging begins. Work that depends on routing and access, such as upsizing an undersized washing machine standpipe, is quoted rather than flat rated.
The most useful thing you can tell us before we arrive is how many fixtures are affected. Both machines are on the truck on every call. That single distinction determines which one comes off it, the access point we use, and what the work costs.
One slow fixture usually means the blockage is in the branch line serving it. Cleared with the fixture machine. $275.
Multiple fixtures, or water rising in the lowest drain in the house, points to the main line. $450 through a cleanout, $650 without one.
Find the one that matches. The first sentence of each answer is the likeliest diagnosis.
A kitchen sink that drains slowly or not at all is more than likely a grease blockage in the branch line serving that sink, provided the obstruction is past the p-trap in the cabinet and other fixtures are draining normally.
If the trap itself is holding the water, that is a smaller and different repair. Past the trap, grease is the usual answer. It goes down warm and liquid, then cools and hardens against the pipe wall a few feet in. We clear it with a 30 foot cable machine at the sink for $275. When the sink does not drain at all and a large volume of grease comes back on the cable, the line is packed rather than blocked, and our team recommends replacing the branch in Schedule 40 PVC rather than pushing the problem downstream.
Water crossing between basins usually means one blockage past the tee where they join. It is one clog, not two.
Standing water with every other fixture draining normally is often a hair blockage at the strainer or in the trap directly below it.
That is the straightforward case. It can also point to a problem deeper in the system, particularly in older homes with galvanized or cast iron drain lines. Scale and corrosion narrow those pipes from the inside, and hair catches on what is already there. Clearing the trap on a line in that condition buys weeks rather than years, and the fixture will tell you so by slowing down again.
Displaced air. A partial blockage has likely formed in the line both fixtures share. This is the earliest warning a main line gives.
The main line is blocked and waste is backing up to the lowest opening in the house. Stop running water at every fixture and call.
A standpipe that overflows is not always a blocked drain. An undersized standpipe is a frequent cause, and cabling will not fix it.
Modern washers discharge faster than older plumbing was built to receive. A 1.5 inch standpipe cannot carry that volume away quickly enough, so water backs up at the pipe with nothing obstructing it. Two inch is code for washing machine drains now, and upsizing the line is the repair. That work is quoted rather than flat rated, because the cost depends on how the line is routed and how much access we have to it.
Lint buildup in the laundry branch is also possible, and a washer pumps fast enough to expose a main that is only partially open. We determine which of the three it is before quoting anything.
Almost always the main line. A floor drain sits at the lowest point in the system and is where a blocked main surfaces first.
The main sewer line, not the fixtures. If you are on septic, read the septic section below before calling a plumber.
Either a blocked vent starving the line of air, or mineral scale closing the rim jets, which is the common cause on well water.
A dry trap, a failed wax ring, or a vent issue. A trap on an unused fixture evaporates dry in weeks; a gallon of water down that drain usually ends the smell.
In-town addresses in Camden, Paris, Lexington, Huntingdon, Parsons, Milan, Medina, and Jackson are generally on municipal sewer. A large share of rural addresses across all five counties are on septic. Signs pointing to the septic system rather than the drain line:
If you are on septic and the whole house is backing up, have the septic company out first. TennCo. does not schedule a drain call on a septic system unless the tank has recently been pumped. Cabling a line that is not blocked costs you money and fixes nothing, and we would rather tell you that before we come than after. The line from the house to the tank is our work. The tank and the drain field are not.
The year the house was built is the strongest indicator of what is buried in the yard, and the material determines what can safely be done to it.
| Year built | Likely material | How it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1950 | Vitrified clay | Brittle. Cracks with soil movement; joints are the entry point for roots. 50 to 60 year service life. |
| 1945–1972 | Orangeburg fiber pipe | Wood fiber and coal tar pitch. Deforms oval under soil load and delaminates. Recurring backups, yard depressions, outside odor. |
| 1950s–1970s | Cast iron, inside the house | Corrodes and scales internally, narrowing the pipe over decades. |
| After 1975 | PVC and ABS | Smooth walls, tight joints. Handles cabling without issue. |
We run a 5/8 inch cable with 100 feet of reach on main lines and a 30 foot machine on fixture branches, with a range of cutting heads matched to what is in the pipe. The cable bores through the blockage and, with the right head, shears roots without loading the pipe wall.
On brittle clay, corroded cast iron, and Orangeburg, we work the line rather than force it. A clog is worth clearing. It is not worth turning into a repair.
Yes. Roots enter at joints and cracks, not through intact pipe. Cutting them restores flow, but the joint that let them in is still open and still leaking the moisture that drew them. Expect the blockage to return on a cycle until the joint is repaired or the run is replaced in Schedule 40 PVC.
Roots are a common cause of recurring backups in this part of the state, though they are not the majority of what we find and not always hardwoods. Older clay and cast iron lines on in-town lots give them the joints and cracks they need to get in.
Because the cable has to enter through a toilet, which is pulled, run, and reset on a new wax ring.
Before we pull anything, our team goes into the crawlspace and reads the drain layout to know which toilet sits in the right position to reach the blockage. Pulling the wrong one wastes an hour. We do not use roof vents as an access point.
A two-way cleanout drops every future main line call from $650 to $450. That is $200 back on every clear, permanently.
On a house that has backed up more than once, it is the cheapest thing you can do to reduce what the next one costs.
Most lines clear. When one does not, the cable itself typically tells us why.
Mud on the cable or cutting head means soil is entering the line, which points to a collapse. Our team runs the camera with a locator to the blockage, marks the position on the surface, and with your approval excavates and cuts in to scope the repair. That excavation is $800 additional at 3 foot depth. One line we will not cable: visibly cracked pipe. We stop and quote the repair instead.
When the same line blocks on a repeating cycle. Each clearing is a full charge buying a shorter interval than the last.
Three cases where we recommend replacement: a kitchen branch packed with grease, a confirmed belly in the line, and root intrusion at a failed joint in clay or Orangeburg. Replacements are run in Schedule 40 PVC.
No. It is the one thing that can make a drain call more expensive rather than less.
Chemical openers corrode older cast iron, rarely reach the actual blockage, and leave a caustic hazard for whoever opens the line next. If you have already used one, tell us when you call. It changes how we set up.
The hair is often on the pop-up stopper within a foot of the opening. Lift it out, clear it, put it back.
A flange plunger, the type with the extended rubber sleeve, clears the great majority. A cup plunger will not seal on a toilet.
There is a reset button on the underside and a hex socket in the center of the bottom for freeing the plate.
If the fixture is still slow after that, or a second fixture starts acting up, that is a real drain problem and worth a call.
A standard drain clear is $275. A main sewer line through an existing cleanout is $450, or $650 with a toilet pull and reset. The $80 service fee is included in each figure, and on main line work the camera inspection is included at no separate charge.
No. On main line work, camera inspection and line locating are included in the flat rate. Fixture branch lines at 1.5 and 2 inches are too small to run a camera through, so fixture clears do not include one.
No. TennCo. handles the drain line from the house to the tank. The tank and field are a septic contractor's work. On septic with a whole-home backup, have the septic company out first.
