The important question is whether the blockage is in the toilet or in the sewer line, because the second one affects the whole house.
No obligation. Takes 30 seconds.
Emergency Plumber Geelong connects Geelong and the Geelong and Bellarine region property owners with qualified, connects Geelong and Bellarine property owners with licensed local plumbers for blocked toilets. Tell us what's happening and whether water is still running, and we'll match it to a licensed plumber covering your suburb. Firm price before work starts.
If only the toilet is affected and other drains run normally, it's a pan blockage — usually straightforward.
If flushing makes water rise in a shower, a floor waste or another fixture, the blockage is out in the sewer line. Stop using every fixture in the property, including upstairs. Each additional flush is going somewhere, and it won't be where you want.
A proper flange plunger, used with a steady rhythm rather than force. That's it.
Don't use caustic drain cleaner in a toilet — it rarely clears an obstruction and it leaves whoever comes next working in caustic water. Don't force wire down the pan either; a cracked pan turns a $150 job into a replacement plus a wet floor.
Wet wipes, whatever the packaging claims — they don't break down and they catch on anything rough in the line. Sanitary products. Children's toys, which is more common than people expect. And in the older suburbs, roots in the sewer line making the toilet the first fixture to show a problem that isn't really the toilet's.
$150 to $400 for a pan blockage cleared on site. More if it's out in the sewer and needs the machine, which puts it into blocked drain territory at $200 to $550.
If it's a recurring problem in an older Geelong property, ask about a camera inspection rather than paying for the same clearance annually.
Geelong.
Where this job typically sits. Access is usually a bigger cost driver than size.
| Job | Indicative price | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency call-out, business hours | $120 – $250 | Attending and diagnosing. Some credit it against the work; ask, because not all do. |
| After hours, weekend or public holiday | $180 – $400 | The call-out premium. Confirm it on the phone before anyone is dispatched. |
| Burst pipe — isolate and repair | $250 – $900 | Depends heavily on access. A pipe in a wall or under a slab costs multiples of one in a roof space. |
| Blocked drain — machine clear | $200 – $550 | Electric eel or high-pressure jet. Root-bound lines take longer. |
| CCTV drain camera inspection | $150 – $400 | Usually the sensible next step after a second blockage in the same line. |
| Blocked toilet | $150 – $400 | Cheaper if it's the pan, more if the blockage is out in the sewer line. |
| Hot water unit repair | $180 – $600 | Elements, thermostats, valves and thermocouples. Worth trying before replacement. |
| Hot water unit replacement | $1,200 – $3,500 | Electric storage at the lower end; continuous-flow gas and heat pump at the upper. |
| Leak detection, non-invasive | $250 – $600 | Acoustic and thermal tracing to find a leak without opening walls or slab. |
| Gas leak — make safe and repair | $250 – $800 | Gasfitting licence class. Never a job to defer or attempt. |
| Tap or mixer replacement | $150 – $400 | Per tap, plus the fitting. Often bundled if several are done at once. |
| Sewer or stormwater repair | from $900 | Excavation dependent. A camera inspection first tells you what you're actually buying. |
Prices are indicative only. What a job costs depends on the fault, how long it takes to find, whether parts are needed and whether it's after hours. You get a firm price before any work starts.
Something has gone wrong now — water running, gas smell, or sewage inside.
Water escaping and not stopping. The one where minutes genuinely count.
Slow, gurgling or backing up — and why the same drain keeps doing it.
No hot water, not enough, or a unit leaking — and repair versus replace.
A gas smell is a life-safety situation, not a plumbing inconvenience.
A bill that's climbed, a damp patch, or a meter that ticks with everything off.
Tell us the suburb and what's happening and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0483 963 438