Drain Lining (Relining) Costs UK 2026 — No-Dig CIPP Repair Price Guide

What Is Drain Lining (Relining)?

Drain lining — also called relining — is a no-dig, trenchless repair method. A resin-impregnated liner is inserted into the existing damaged pipe, inflated against the inner wall and then cured in place to form a new, seamless pipe inside the old one. This is known as CIPP — cured-in-place pipe. Once cured, the liner seals cracks, leaks, open joints and points where tree roots have broken in, and it restores the structural integrity of the pipe.

The work is carried out through existing access points — a manhole or inspection chamber — so in most cases there is no excavation at all. That is the whole appeal: no breaking up the driveway, no trench across the lawn, no reinstating block paving or tarmac afterwards. The repair is done from inside the pipe.

The Main Methods and What They Cost

"Drain lining" covers a few distinct jobs at very different price points. Most quotes start with a survey, then move to either a localised patch or a full-length liner depending on what the camera finds. Here are the main service types with current UK price ranges.

CCTV Drain Survey (Almost Always First)

Before anyone quotes a repair, a CCTV drain survey is run to find the exact fault, its location and its length, and to confirm relining is actually suitable. A camera on a flexible rod or crawler is fed through the drain and the operator records the condition of the pipe. The survey report — with footage and a measured location — is what the relining quote is built from.

• Basic CCTV drain survey: £80–£250
• Pre-purchase / homebuyer drain survey with full report: £150–£350

Many contractors deduct the survey fee from the repair cost if the customer goes ahead. Always quote the survey as a separate line so the customer understands what they're paying for, even if you later credit it.

Localised Patch Repair

A patch repair (sometimes called a localised liner or short liner) seals a single defect — a cracked section, an open joint or a small root ingress point — over a short length, typically up to about a metre. A resin-soaked patch is positioned over the fault on an inflatable packer, cured in place, then the packer is removed. It is the most cost-effective option when the rest of the pipe is sound.

• Single localised patch repair: £350–£800

Price toward the upper end where access is awkward, the pipe is deep, or the patch needs to span a defect close to a junction. A patch is far cheaper than relining the whole run, so it is the right answer whenever the damage is isolated.

Full CIPP Liner (Per Metre)

Where damage runs along most of a pipe — multiple cracks, several leaking joints, or extensive root intrusion — a full cured-in-place liner is installed along the whole run between two access points. This is the core relining job and it is normally priced per metre.

• Full CIPP liner: £80–£150 per metre
• Typical 10m run: £800–£1,500
• Longer 20m run: £1,600–£3,000

The per-metre rate rises with pipe diameter, depth and the number of bends, and where the pipe needs cleaning or jetting first. Most contractors set a minimum charge so that a very short liner is not priced purely on the metre rate.

Junction and Lateral Repairs

Where a branch pipe joins the main run, a standard straight liner cannot seal the connection on its own. A junction repair uses a specialist hat-shaped or top-hat liner that seals both the main pipe and the lateral connection at the same time. These are more technical and need the right access, so they sit above a straight patch.

• Junction / lateral (top-hat) repair: £500–£1,200

Confirm during the survey whether the defect is at a junction — it changes both the method and the price, and quoting it as a plain patch will cost you money.

What Drives the Price

Two relining jobs of the same length can be priced hundreds of pounds apart. The main cost drivers are:

• Access: A drain reachable through an existing manhole or inspection chamber is straightforward. If there is no usable access point, a small excavation may be needed to create one — adding cost and reintroducing some reinstatement.
• Pipe diameter: Standard domestic drains are usually 100mm or 150mm. Larger-diameter pipes need more liner material and resin, which lifts the per-metre rate.
• Depth: Deeper pipes are harder to access and work in, which adds labour and equipment time.
• Length of the run: The per-metre rate is the headline figure, but longer runs also mean more setup, more material and longer cure times.
• Number of bends: Liners are harder to install around bends and tight radii. Multiple bends in a run push the price up and occasionally rule out a full liner.
• Severity of the defect: A single hairline crack is cheaper to address than a partially displaced pipe with heavy root mass that needs cutting out first.
• Pre-works — survey, cleaning and jetting: The pipe must be clean for the liner to bond. High-pressure water jetting and root cutting are often needed first and are charged on top of the relining itself.
• Manhole access vs excavating an access point: Working through an existing chamber keeps the job no-dig. Having to dig down to expose and break into the pipe adds excavation, materials and reinstatement.

Cleaning and Jetting Before Relining

A liner only bonds properly to a clean pipe wall, so most relining jobs include a cleaning stage. High-pressure water jetting clears silt, scale, grease and debris, and root-cutting tools remove any root mass growing through joints. This is genuine work in its own right and is normally a separate line on the quote.

• High-pressure jetting / drain cleaning: £100–£350
• Root cutting (where significant root ingress is present): £150–£400

If the survey shows heavy root growth or a badly silted run, build the cleaning cost in clearly. Customers who only see the per-metre liner figure are sometimes surprised by the pre-works — separating it out keeps the quote transparent.

When Relining Is Suitable — and When You Must Excavate

Relining works when there is a continuous pipe to line against. It is the right choice for cracks, fractures, open or displaced joints, root ingress and general deterioration where the pipe still holds its shape. In those cases the liner restores a sound, watertight pipe from the inside.

Relining is not suitable where the pipe has lost its structure. A fully collapsed pipe, a major displacement where sections have dropped out of alignment, or a pipe that is so badly deformed the liner cannot pass through and cure correctly — these all need excavation and replacement. There is no continuous wall for the new liner to form against, so digging up and laying new pipe is the only reliable fix.

The CCTV survey is what tells you which camp the job falls into. Never commit to a relining price before the survey confirms the pipe can actually be lined.

Relining vs Dig-Up-and-Replace on Cost

The headline reason customers choose relining is cost and disruption. Excavating to replace a drain means breaking out whatever sits above it — driveway, patio, lawn or road — laying new pipe, backfilling and then reinstating the surface. That reinstatement is frequently the most expensive part of the whole job, especially under block paving, resin driveways or tarmac.

Relining avoids almost all of that. There is no trench, no spoil to remove and no driveway or garden to put back, so on a comparable defect relining is usually the cheaper route as well as the faster and tidier one. A full dig-and-replace on a domestic drain commonly runs into several thousand pounds once reinstatement is included, whereas the equivalent relining job is often a fraction of that. The exception is the collapsed or badly displaced pipe above, where excavation is unavoidable regardless of cost.

Durability and Guarantees

A correctly installed cured-in-place liner is a long-term repair, not a temporary patch. The cured resin liner is typically rated for a design life of 25–50 years, and many contractors back the work with a guarantee in that range. The new internal surface is smooth and seamless, which also improves flow and resists future root ingress at the sealed joints.

Quote the expected durability and any guarantee explicitly. For a customer weighing relining against a cheaper-looking temporary fix, a 25-to-50-year design life is a strong reason to choose the proper repair.

Who Carries Out Drain Lining?

Drain relining is specialist drainage work, carried out by drainage contractors with CIPP equipment, jetting kit and CCTV survey gear. It is not general groundwork. Customers searching for "drain relining near me" or "no-dig drain repair" are usually already past the blockage stage and dealing with a confirmed structural fault, so they are high-intent buyers who want a clear, itemised quote.

If you offer relining alongside drain clearance and surveys, package the journey — survey, clean, then repair — so the customer can see how each cost connects. An itemised quote that separates survey, jetting, patch or per-metre liner and any access excavation reads as expertise and wins against a single unexplained number.

Quick Reference: Drain Lining Prices UK 2026

Prices assume a standard 100mm or 150mm domestic drain accessed through an existing manhole or inspection chamber. Larger diameters, deeper pipes, multiple bends or the need to excavate a new access point all push costs above these ranges.