No-dig pipe repair on the Lower North Shore.
Cracked or damaged pipe repaired in place in Lane Cove North — relining a stack or a shared line without opening walls, slabs or common areas.
No callout fee on eligible jobs · Free quotes
Lane Cove North began as a post-war veterans’ housing area and is now 70.8% flats across 5,550 dwellings. Some of the original drainage is still in service beneath a suburb that has changed completely around it. Lining suits both halves — an aged post-war run under a house, and a stack in a modern block where opening the riser would disrupt the whole line of lots.
A loaded stack in one of the modern towers, which is most of the suburb, or surviving post-war earthenware in the older veterans’-housing pockets.
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.
Occupied buildings for most of the suburb, with established planting on the surviving post-war pockets. Bounded by the Lane Cove River and the golf course, both of which constrain excavation on the outer edges.
A liner goes in through an opening that already exists. Nothing above the pipe has to move.
Bounded by the Pacific Highway, Epping Road, the river and the golf course, about 11 kilometres from the CBD. The suburb straddles two councils along Mowbray Road, so anything entering the road reserve depends on which side it is.
Lane Cove North sits in the Municipality of Lane Cove and the City of Willoughby, postcode 2066.
Local figures sourced from: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats — Lane Cove North · Lane Cove North, New South Wales — Wikipedia
Post-war earthenware in the older pockets, modern PVC in the towers. Because the suburb only separated from Lane Cove in January 2006, the boundary between the two is not obvious from the street.
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.
A single access point rather than an opened riser.
Seventy-year-old jointed pipe is a textbook host.
Two councils, and neither approval is quick.
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 Lane Cove North 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 tower the comparison for an owners corporation is one authorised job against repeated callouts on a stack that keeps narrowing.
Roots come back through joints. A liner has none.
Voyager covers the whole Lower North Shore. These are the closest to Lane Cove North:
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. It means no riser opened in an occupied tower, and no road opening requiring whichever council the property happens to fall under.
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. Building access and which council. The suburb straddles the Municipality of Lane Cove and the City of Willoughby along Mowbray Road, so road-reserve work depends on the address.
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 Lane Cove North the host pipe is usually a good candidate: a loaded stack in one of the modern towers, which is most of the suburb, or surviving post-war earthenware in the older veterans’-housing pockets.
It depends on the street — the suburb straddles the Municipality of Lane Cove and the City of Willoughby, with Mowbray Road as the divide. For relining within private property through an existing access point it rarely arises. For excavation entering the road reserve it decides who you apply to, which is one more reason the no-dig route is simpler here.
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
