Sewer camera inspection cost
The published national figures, the access point that moves them most, and the point at which renting the equipment yourself stops making sense.
A sewer camera inspection costs a national average of $280, with most jobs falling between $125 and $500. The published floor is $70 and the ceiling is $900.
That is a wide spread for what is, mechanically, the same job everywhere: feed a camera down the line, record what it sees. Most of the variation comes down to one thing.
| Measure | Published figure |
|---|---|
| National average | $280 |
| Average range | $125 to $500 |
| Minimum | $70 |
| Maximum | $900 |
Source: HomeGuide, Sewer Camera Inspection Cost, 2026
Access is the variable that matters
A sewer cleanout is a capped pipe, usually outside near the foundation or in a basement, that opens directly into the main sewer line. If your property has one, the plumber uncaps it and feeds the camera in. If it does not, they have to create access, which normally means pulling a toilet off its flange and putting it back afterwards.
| Scenario | Published cost |
|---|---|
| Home with cleanout access point | $125 to $500 |
| Home with no cleanout access point | $175 to $750 |
| Full home inspection plus sewer camera | $400 to $750 |
The no-cleanout premium is roughly 40 to 50 percent at both ends of the range, for the same inspection.
Source: HomeGuide, Sewer Camera Inspection Cost, 2026
Adding a sewer scope to a home inspection
A full home inspection with a sewer camera is published at $400 to $750. A standalone sewer inspection with cleanout access is $125 to $500.
If you are already commissioning a home inspection, the marginal cost of adding the sewer line is therefore modest, and it covers the one defect a standard home inspection does not look at and which routinely costs five figures to fix. On a property purchase this is close to the highest-value few hundred dollars available.
Source: HomeGuide, Sewer Camera Inspection Cost, 2026
Renting the camera yourself
Camera equipment can be rented, and for a landlord or anyone facing repeated inspections the arithmetic is worth doing.
| Rental period | Cost |
|---|---|
| 4 hours | $70 to $175 |
| Daily | $120 to $225 |
| Weekly | $350 to $780 |
| Monthly | $1,100 to $2,300 |
Source: HomeGuide, Sewer Camera Inspection Cost, 2026
When renting does and does not make sense
A four hour rental at $70 to $175 undercuts the $125 to $500 hired inspection, so on price alone it looks attractive. For a single inspection it usually is not, for two reasons.
The first is that you still need cleanout access, and if you do not have it you are not pulling a toilet yourself. The second, and more important, is that the value of a sewer inspection is not the footage. It is someone who has seen a thousand of these telling you whether a given bend is a defect or a normal fitting, and whether roots at that density are a monitoring item or a repair. A recording you cannot interpret is not an inspection.
Rental makes sense at volume: a landlord with a portfolio, or anyone inspecting several properties in a week, where the weekly rate of $350 to $780 covers what would otherwise be several hired visits.