You're buying a house in Horsham and the solicitor's chasing you for a completion date. The homebuyer's survey came back clean, but it didn't touch the drains. It never does. A pre-purchase CCTV drain survey tells you what's actually under the garden before you're legally committed to it.
We push a high-definition camera through the accessible drain runs, watch the feed live, and log every defect we find. Cracked pipe, displaced joint, root intrusion, partial collapse, it all gets timestamped and measured to the metre from the access point. You get footage and a written condition report, not a verbal shrug on the doorstep.
Drainsco covers Horsham and the surrounding villages for pre-purchase surveys, with fully insured, DBS-checked engineers. No call-out fee. Jobs are priced individually and agreed on the phone before we arrive.
What the Survey Covers
We survey the drain runs accessible from the property, typically the foul and surface water lines running from the house to the boundary or the nearest manhole. The camera head travels the full length of each run while the operator logs conditions and defects as they appear.
After the survey you get:
- A written report with defect locations, condition codes and a plain-English summary
- Footage you can share with your solicitor, insurer or a builder you've brought in for quotes
- A straight explanation of what we found and whether it needs attention before or after exchange
- A no-obligation quote for any repair work, agreed before we start
Most residential surveys on a single property take 45 minutes to an hour. If the property has a longer run, a commercial element or access to multiple manholes, allow a bit longer. We'll tell you what to expect when you call.
Why Drains Don't Show Up on a Standard Survey
A homebuyer's report covers what a surveyor can see. Drains are underground. Unless there's visible evidence of a problem, a standard survey won't flag anything. The problem is that drain defects can be invisible at ground level while actively causing trouble below it.
Root intrusion, for example, builds up slowly. A tree root enters a joint, catches debris, and the drain blocks intermittently. The previous owners jet it every year and never think to mention it. You move in, it blocks, you call someone out, and then the camera goes in and finds a root mass three metres from the manhole.
A pre-purchase survey removes that gamble. If there's a fault, you know the cost of putting it right before you exchange. That gives you options: renegotiate on price, ask the vendor to repair before completion, or walk away if the problem's serious enough.
Common Faults Found in Horsham Properties
Horsham's housing stock spans a wide range of ages and build types. Victorian terraces around the town centre sit alongside post-war semis in Roffey and North Heath, 1980s estates at Littlehaven, Holbrook and Broadbridge Heath, and newer developments at Trafalgar and Tower Hill. Different eras mean different failure patterns.
| Fault type | Typical cause | Common in |
|---|---|---|
| Root intrusion | Tree roots entering pipe joints | Older estates, Roffey, Denne, Warnham village |
| Displaced joints | Ground movement or settlement | Clay soils, Southwater, Billingshurst |
| Pipe collapse | Age, vehicle loading, poor original lay | Victorian lines, town centre, Forest |
| Cracked or broken pipe | Ground movement, rodding damage | Post-war housing, Broadbridge Heath, Slinfold |
| Grease and scale build-up | Years of kitchen waste | Any domestic or commercial kitchen drain |
| Debris in new pipework | Construction waste left in drain | New builds, Tower Hill, Trafalgar |
Surveys are carried out to MSCC5 condition coding standards, so the written report uses a recognised defect classification that solicitors, insurers and loss adjusters are familiar with.
Working to Completion Timescales
Property transactions don't wait. If a completion date is two weeks away and you've only just thought about the drains, call us. We're used to working around solicitor deadlines and we'll do what we can to fit the survey in at short notice.
We cover pre-purchase surveys right across RH12 and RH13, including Horsham town, Roffey, Broadbridge Heath, Littlehaven, Holbrook, North Heath, Southwater, Tower Hill, Trafalgar, Denne and Forest, and the surrounding villages of Warnham, Slinfold, Cowfold, Rudgwick, Partridge Green and Billingshurst.
If you're not sure whether the property falls in our area, call and ask. It takes thirty seconds to check.
If the Camera Finds a Problem
A fault on the survey isn't the end of the world. It's information. You can use it to negotiate, ask the vendor to fix it before exchange, or factor the repair cost into your offer.
If you decide to go ahead and want us to carry out the repair, we do drain repairs, pipe relining and full pipe replacement. Remedial work carries a 20-year guarantee. The no-dig lining method avoids excavation in most cases, which means driveways and gardens stay intact. You'll get a clear quote before anything starts.
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Engineers are on call 24/7 across RH12 to RH13. Every job is priced individually, agreed on the phone before we arrive, with no call-out fee. Call 01403 807174 to book a pre-purchase survey or talk through what you've found.