← Hydro-jet and sewer camera bid calculator
The number a homeowner wants is a published “$149 drain special,” or a price they saw for hydro-jetting on a coupon site. That number is not a takeoff. A 50-foot kitchen cable from an existing cleanout is not the same job as a 140-foot main with a toilet pull, roots at the street, 150 feet of hose from the truck, and a camera warranty pass. The trip is the same. The hours are not.
Open the free bid calculatorSeptic-pumping calculators price a tank lid, a hose, and extra gallons. Water-heater calculators price a vent, a gas upsize, and an attic. Kitchen-hood calculators price a canopy and a rooftop fan. Dryer-vent calculators price a lint run and a roof cap. A hydro-jet or sewer camera job is a line: the machine, the footage past the included run, how you get into the pipe, and the camera that proves the work. Quoting all of that from a published special is how the first toilet pull eats the field margin.
Each extra foot past the included run is time that never appears on the coupon. A toilet pull is billed as its own hours and a wax ring. Roots, grease, a second line, and hose distance from the truck are adders that get forgotten on a brochure special. On the sample rates a 140-foot main jet-plus-camera with a toilet pull, roots, and 150 feet of hose prices about $987 ($7 per foot of line, 7.1 crew-hours). The same shop’s 50-foot kitchen cable from a cleanout prices about $309 ($6 per foot, 2.0 hours, walk-away $201). Matching the brochure job’s $149 special on the toilet-pull main is how that job becomes a loss — the walk-away on the special itself is already $201.
An 80-foot commercial kitchen jet with grease, a second line, and a new cleanout is not the 140-foot toilet-pull main plus 100%. On the sample rates that kitchen job prices about $960 ($12 per foot, 6.9 crew-hours) — similar money to the long main, not because the jet is cheaper but because the new cleanout and the second line do not live in a published special. A 75-foot main jet-plus-camera from a cleanout with light grease prices about $632 (4.3 hours). Treating either as a blended add-on is how the special that looked fine turns into a loss after the first wax ring.
A $38/h tech loaded at 32% payroll burden is $50.16. Margin is a share of the price you send, not a markup on cost. The walk-away price is total cost — below that the job makes nothing before you take a dollar home. Replace every rate with your invoices before you send either number.
This is not a plumbing specification, a building-code determination, a permit, an engineering stamp, or a recommended market price. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type. Line footage, access, roots, grease, disposal, and whether a camera pass is required are yours to confirm.
Price your hydro-jet or camera job
Charge from the trip, the machine (camera, cable, or hydro-jet), extra footage past the included run, access (cleanout versus toilet pull versus a new cleanout), roots, grease, hose distance from the truck, loaded labor, overhead, and a margin that is a share of price. A default 50-foot kitchen cable from a cleanout at the sample rates in this calculator prices around $309 — about $6 per foot of line.
Homeowners count the trip. Extra footage, a toilet pull, roots, grease, hose distance, and a camera warranty pass do not scale with that number. Matching a cheaper special written for a 50-foot cleanout cable is how a 140-foot main becomes a two-hour loss.
A camera-only pass is not a hydro-jet. On the sample rates a 75-foot main jet-plus-camera from a cleanout with light grease prices around $632 ($8 per foot, 4.3 crew-hours), while a 50-foot kitchen cable special prices around $309 ($6 per foot, 2.0 hours).