Drainage Repairs & Installations

Poor drainage can quietly cause big problems. We repair damaged lines and install new systems with precision. Small fixes or a full network and everything in between. Let us sort the issues.

Certified drainlayers on the North Shore

Drainage is licensed work in New Zealand for good reason. Get it wrong and you are dealing with contaminated ground, a failed inspection, or a repair that has to be dug up and done twice.

Our drainlaying is carried out by a licensed drainlayer registered with the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board. Work is done to the standard, signed off properly, and documented so you have a record for your property file.

That last point matters more than it sounds. Buyers and their lawyers ask for it at sale time, and being the outfit that hands it over without being chased is a genuine reason to be recommended.

Signs your drainage needs attention

Drainage problems rarely announce themselves. They show up as small things first:

Water pooling on the lawn or against the house after rain

A damp or musty smell under the house, or around a gully trap

More than one fixture draining slowly at the same time

Ground that has sunk, cracked or gone soft in a line across the yard

Gurgling from the toilet when something else drains

Blockages that keep coming back after they have been cleared

Any of these on their own can be minor. Two or three together usually means the line itself is damaged rather than blocked, and clearing it again will not fix it.

Why North Shore drains fail

A lot of it comes down to what is in the ground and what was put in it.

Older North Shore homes were plumbed with earthenware or concrete pipe laid in short sections. Every joint is a weak point. Auckland clay swells and shrinks with the seasons, which shifts those joints out of line, and mature trees do the rest. Roots find the smallest crack, get into the pipe where the water is, and grow until the line is closed off.

Add a few decades of ground movement and the occasional bit of enthusiastic landscaping over the top of a shallow line, and you have most of the drainage work on the Shore.

What we repair

Cracked, collapsed and misaligned wastewater lines

Root-damaged pipework

Sections of old earthenware or concrete pipe replaced with modern PVC

Gully traps that are broken, too low, or sitting below ground level

Stormwater lines, sumps and downpipe connections

Drains that have lost their fall and no longer drain properly

Reinstating ground, paths and lawn after the work is done

What we install

New drainage is its own job, and it usually turns up alongside something else you are already doing.

Wastewater and stormwater for new builds

Drainage for extensions, sleepouts and minor dwellings

Reconfigured drainage for bathroom, kitchen and laundry renovations

Channel and strip drains for driveways, patios and garages that take water

Soakage systems, sumps and detention where the site needs it

Subsoil and retaining wall drainage

Connections to the public network

Because we also do full renovations in house, drainage on a bathroom or kitchen job is handled by the same team running the rest of the project. No coordinating between three trades who each think someone else was booked.

Consent and council sign-off, handled

Most new sanitary drainage work needs building consent, and it needs to be inspected and signed off before it is covered up. Some repairs are exempt, some are not, and the line between them is not always obvious.

We tell you which one your job is before you commit to anything. We handle the paperwork, lodge the consents, arrange the inspection bookings, and provide all full documentation at the end.

How the job runs

We come and look. Drainage cannot be quoted properly over the phone.

You get a written quote with what we found, what we recommend, and what it costs. If there is a cheaper option that will do the job, you hear about it.

Consent if it is needed, sorted before anything gets dug.

The work gets done, inspected where required, and signed off.

The ground goes back. Backfilled properly, compacted, and fully reinstated to its original state including concrete, paving, and lawn.

On the North Shore

We are based in Birkenhead and work across the North Shore: Takapuna, Devonport, Northcote, Glenfield, Beach Haven, Birkdale, Albany, Browns Bay, Torbay, Long Bay, Mairangi Bay, Milford and Campbells Bay.

Qualified tradesmen only. No apprentices running the show, no rushed jobs, and the site left tidy at the end of every day, not just the last one. We are rated 5.0 out of 5 from 12 reviews on Google.

FAQ

Q: Is the drain on my property my responsibility or the council’s?

In most cases the drainage on your property is yours, up to the point where it connects to the public network. Watercare looks after the public wastewater network and Auckland Council manages public stormwater. Shared private drains serving more than one property are usually a shared responsibility between the owners, which is worth knowing before the conversation with the neighbours. We can tell you which side of the line your problem sits on.

Q: Do I need building consent for drainage work?

New sanitary drainage generally does, and it needs council inspection before it is covered up. Straight repairs and maintenance are often exempt. It depends on the job, so we confirm it before any work starts rather than after.

Q: Will you have to dig up my lawn or driveway?

Sometimes, and we will tell you upfront if so. We keep excavation to the smallest area that lets us do the job properly, and reinstating the surface is part of the quote, not an extra that appears at the end.

Q: How do I know if it is tree roots?

Recurring blockages in the same spot, especially in an older home with mature trees nearby, are the usual sign. Roots can be cleared, but they come back unless the crack they entered through is repaired. If you are having the same drain cleared every year, the pipe is the problem, not the roots.

Q: Can you do the drainage for a new build or an extension?

Yes, from the connection through to sign-off. We work with your builder or project manager, or run it ourselves if the drainage is part of a renovation we are already doing for you.

Part of our drainage services across Auckland's North Shore.