No-dig pipe repair on the Lower North Shore.
Cracked or damaged pipe repaired in place in Artarmon — relining a stack or a shared line without opening walls, slabs or common areas.
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Artarmon is 68.4% apartments, so most relining here is inside a building rather than under a lawn. That changes the argument but does not weaken it: opening a wall, a slab or a riser shaft to replace a length of stack is disruptive to every lot on that line, not just the one with the problem. A liner cured in place avoids all of it. On the Federation streets the more familiar case applies — old jointed earthenware under established gardens.
In the apartment stock, scale and corrosion inside a stack, or a cracked section where a branch enters. On the Federation blocks, root mass at an earthenware joint with the barrel either side of it still sound — the condition that makes a liner straightforward.
Because opening up a building is a different order of disruption. This is the part of a drainage repair people do not price until an excavator is already on site.
In the apartment stock, what sits above the pipe is other people’s homes. Excavating a shared stack means access through occupied lots, common areas out of use, and a building disrupted for days. On the older detached blocks it is the usual garden and paving, on a ridge-top suburb where at least the ground is workable.
A liner goes in through an opening that already exists. Nothing above the pipe has to move.
Ridge-top ground at around 88 metres gives reasonable fall and firmer working conditions than the harbourside suburbs east of here — which matters less for relining than for digging, and is part of why the comparison is worth doing properly on any Artarmon house block.
Artarmon sits in the City of Willoughby, postcode 2064.
Local figures sourced from: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats — Artarmon · Artarmon, New South Wales — Wikipedia
Two quite different host pipes. The Federation streets carry salt-glazed earthenware laid in short jointed lengths, which is the classic relining candidate — sound in the barrel, failing at the joints. The apartment stacks are newer PVC or cast iron, where relining addresses corrosion, scale and cracked sections rather than root entry.
No trench, no spoil, and nothing above the pipe disturbed. The whole job runs through an existing access point.
The line is inspected end to end so the damage is located and measured. Nothing is quoted from the surface.
Roots are cut out and the pipe wall is jetted back to bare material — a liner will not bond to a coated pipe.
A resin-saturated liner is drawn into position through an existing access point and inflated against the host pipe.
The resin hardens in hours rather than days, forming a new pipe inside the old one with no joints for roots to re-enter.
Any branch lines are cut back open robotically, and a final camera pass confirms the result.
Not every damaged pipe should be relined, and we will say so. These are the cases where it genuinely wins here.
Replacing one means opening the shaft. Lining it means nobody moves out for a week.
The liner is continuous, so the joints roots used simply stop existing.
Trade-waste lines run under surfaces that are expensive to cut and reinstate.
Relining costs more per metre than excavation. It is usually cheaper overall, and this is why:
| Dig and replace | Relining | |
|---|---|---|
| Excavation | Trench the full length, remove and replace the pipe, backfill | None — the work runs through an existing access point |
| What comes up | Lawn, garden, paving, driveway or slab above the line | Nothing |
| Time on site | Days on a long or deep run | Usually one day for a typical run |
| Reinstatement | Priced separately and often the larger half of the bill | Not applicable |
| Result | New pipe, with joints | A jointless liner inside the host pipe |
| Design life | Depends on material and bedding | 50 years on a correctly installed liner |
The per-metre comparison is the one that misleads. Excavation quotes routinely exclude spoil removal and reinstatement, which is where a dig job gets expensive — and on some properties the reinstatement is simply not possible at any price.
These are typical ranges across the Sydney market — not Voyager’s price list, but a realistic yardstick to judge any quote against, including ours.
| Pipe relining, per lineal metre | $450 – $800 |
| Pipe relining, typical whole job | $4,000 – $10,000 |
| Patch repair, single damaged section | $1,500 – $3,000 |
| Junction reinstatement | $300 – $600 |
| Excavate and replace, per metre | $300 – $600 |
| Driveway reinstatement after a dig job, per sqm | $100 – $200 |
| CCTV drain inspection | $250 – $550 |
| Cutting tree roots from a line | $400 – $1,200 |
Voyager prices by the job, not by the hour, so the number you approve is the number you pay. A camera survey happens before any figure is given — a quote for relining that has not looked down the pipe is a guess.
Most Artarmon properties that ring about relining need a camera first. We will tell you straight — including when clearing the line is the whole job.
A correctly installed liner carries a 50-year design life, and it cures in hours rather than days — so the property is back in normal use the same week rather than the same month.
In a block, the liner outlives the tenancy arrangements around it — which is worth raising with an owners corporation weighing a one-off cost against another decade of reactive callouts on the same stack.
Roots come back through joints. A liner has none.
Voyager covers the whole Lower North Shore. These are the closest to Artarmon:
No. That is the whole point of it. The liner is drawn in through an existing access point — usually an inspection opening or shaft already on the property — and cured in place against the old pipe. In a building that means no opening risers, no common areas closed off and no access through occupied lots. On an Artarmon house block it means the garden and paving stay where they are.
Across the Sydney market, relining runs about $450–$800 per lineal metre, with a typical whole job landing between $4,000 and $10,000 and a single-section patch around $1,500–$3,000. Those are market ranges rather than Voyager’s price list. Whether it is a building or a house. Stack work is priced around access, coordination with the owners corporation and working hours; a house run is priced around length and how far the fault sits from the access point.
Per metre, no — excavation is cheaper per metre. Overall it usually is. A dig figure in a building also has to carry access through occupied lots, common areas out of use and works approvals — none of which appear on the per-metre rate. On some properties the reinstatement is not possible at any price, which settles it entirely.
A correctly installed liner carries a 50-year design life. It outlasts what it replaced because it has no joints along its length — and joints are where roots get in, where ground movement opens a gap, and where old earthenware fails first. For an owners corporation that is the relevant number — one authorised job against another decade of reactive callouts on the same line.
A typical residential run is a single day on site, and the resin cures in hours rather than days. Coordinating building access and notifying affected lots usually takes longer than the installation does.
Most can, but not all — and we will say so rather than sell you something that will not work. A pipe that has collapsed completely, or lost so much of its shape that there is nothing left to line against, needs replacing. In Artarmon the host pipe is usually a good candidate: in the apartment stock, scale and corrosion inside a stack, or a cracked section where a branch enters. On the Federation blocks, root mass at an earthenware joint with the barrel either side of it still sound — the condition that makes a liner straightforward.
Yes, and in Artarmon — 68.4% apartments — it is the more common job. A liner is installed through an existing access point on the stack rather than by opening the riser shaft, which is what makes it viable in an occupied building. The owners corporation authorises it where the line is common property, and we provide the camera footage they need to decide.
The owners corporation, where the line is common property — which generally means any pipe serving more than one lot. We deal with the strata or building manager directly and provide the camera footage they need to approve the work. Where the line serves only your lot, it is your decision.
Camera survey first, a fixed price agreed before the work starts, and no excavation.
Voyager Plumbing · NSW Contractor Licence 476657C
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Page reviewed and updated 20 August 2026
