$350 to $1,500. One line, with a cleanout outside that we can get the cart to, sits at the bottom of that range. Several lines, or a line that has to be worked from inside the building, sits toward the top. Access is what moves it more than anything else.
That is our number for our machine in our market. It is not a national average and it is not a teaser price that changes once somebody is standing in your kitchen.
Why we publish a range and not a price. Nobody can price this job from a web page, and any site that gives you one number is guessing. What we can do is tell you the band our own jobs actually land in, what pushes a job to each end of it, and what we would need to see to give you a real number. That is what this page does.
Why is jetting more than having the drain snaked?
Because it is a different machine doing a different job, and the result lasts differently.
A cable bores a hole through the blockage. Water moves again, and on a hairball in a tub line that is exactly the right fix — ten minutes with a small drum machine and you are done. On a grease-lined kitchen line, boring a hole through the middle leaves the grease on the pipe wall, which is why the same line backs up again on roughly the same interval.
A jetter scours the wall and carries the debris back out. On a line that has been cabled two or three times and keeps failing, that is the difference between another visit and a fix.
What actually moves the price?
- Access. A cleanout outside that the cart can reach is the straightforward version. No usable cleanout is more work, and where that is the case we will tell you what it would take to add one — because it makes every future visit cheaper.
- Inside or outside. Running a line from inside a working kitchen is slower and messier than working from the yard.
- How many lines. Two or three cost more than one, but not three times more. We are already on site with the machine set up.
- What is in the line. Heavy grease and root intrusion take longer than a soft blockage.
Pressure gets advertised. Flow rate does the work - nine gallons a minute is what carries the grease away rather than boring through it.
Do I need a camera inspection too?
Often worth it, and the order matters: jet first, camera after. A camera in a grease-lined pipe shows you grease whatever is behind it, so cameraing a dirty line mostly buys you a picture of the problem you already knew about.
Jetting first and cameraing after does two things: it confirms the pipe is actually clean rather than assuming it because water is moving, and it catches the bellied or broken section the grease was hiding. We do not add it by default — we will tell you when we think it is warranted. See sewer camera inspection.
What does it cost a restaurant that waits?
More, and not mostly in plumbing. Most restaurants call us when the line is already backed up, which is generally a Friday evening with a full dining room and a kitchen that has to stop.
Scheduled jetting — quarterly or twice a year depending on volume — costs a fraction of one weekend emergency call plus the closed kitchen. If you run or manage a restaurant, a school kitchen or a facility with commercial sinks, get in touch and we will work out an interval based on what your line actually does rather than a generic schedule. See commercial plumbing and grease line jetting.
When would you tell me not to jet it?
Three situations, and we would rather say so than take the money:
A one-off blockage in a small line. A hairball in a tub is a drum machine and ten minutes. See drain cleaning.
A line that has already failed. Cleaning a broken or bellied pipe does not stop it being broken. That is a repair conversation, not a cleaning one. See sewer line repair.
A line we have reason to think is deteriorated. We are not jetting blind into pipe that might not take it.
Is your machine the right machine for my job?
For residential sewer, kitchen and laundry lines, and for commercial grease-fed sink lines from two inch up to six inch, yes. Ours is a Jetters Northwest Brute cart unit at 9 GPM and 4000 PSI, and being a cart is an advantage on most jobs — it reaches cleanouts a truck-mounted machine cannot.
Some larger commercial jobs need a bigger machine than a cart. When that is the case we subcontract it rather than turning up undersized and charging you for a partial result. See hydro jetting.
Common questions
How much does hydro jetting cost?
Between $350 and $1,500 for us. A single line with a usable cleanout outside is at the bottom of that. Multiple lines, or a line that has to be worked from inside the building, moves it up.
Why does it cost more than snaking a drain?
Different machine and a different result. A cable bores a hole through the blockage and gets water moving again. A jetter scours the pipe wall at 4000 PSI and 9 GPM and carries the debris out, so grease and roots come away rather than being punched through. On a line that has been cabled three times and keeps backing up, that difference is the whole point.
What makes one job cost more than another?
Access first, then quantity. A cleanout outside that we can get the cart to is the cheap version. No usable cleanout, or a line that has to be run from inside a kitchen, is more work. Two or three lines cost more than one, though not proportionally - we are already there.
Should I have it cameraed as well?
Usually worth it after jetting rather than before, and we will tell you if we think it is warranted rather than adding it by default. Jetting first and cameraing after both confirms the line is clean and reveals the bellied or broken section the grease was hiding.
Do you do scheduled jetting for restaurants?
Yes, quarterly or twice a year depending on volume. Most restaurants call us when the line is already backed up on a Friday night with a full dining room, and a scheduled visit costs a fraction of that.
Is jetting always the right answer?
No. It is not the answer for a one-off hairball in a tub line, which is a small drum machine and ten minutes. It is not the answer for a line that has already broken or lost its fall, because cleaning a broken pipe does not stop it being broken. We will tell you when it is not.
Last updated · written by a licensed master plumber, MPL 38224