How does a relining day actually break down?
The bulk of a relining day goes into cleaning and preparing the host pipe, because the liner is only as good as the surface it bonds against. A typical single-section residential job runs like this:
| Stage | What happens | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| CCTV survey and measure | Confirm defect location, length and pipe condition | 30 to 60 minutes |
| Cleaning and root cutting | High-pressure jetting back to bare pipe wall | 1 to 3 hours |
| Liner preparation | Liner cut to length, resin mixed and impregnated | 30 to 60 minutes |
| Installation and curing | Liner inverted or pulled in, inflated, cured in place | 1 to 3 hours |
| Final CCTV and reinstatement | Junctions reopened, finished pipe recorded on camera | 30 to 60 minutes |
Add those together and you land in the 4 to 8 hour window that covers most of the jobs we do.
Can I use my water and toilets during relining?
Water use is restricted while the liner is curing, but only for hours, not days. Once the liner goes in, nothing can flow through that section until curing is complete, so we ask the household to hold off on toilets, showers and washing machines for the curing window. With ambient-cure resins that window is a few hours; with UV or steam-assisted curing it can be under an hour for the cure itself. We schedule the no-water window and tell you exactly when it starts and ends, and by the evening the drain is back in normal service. Compare that with excavation, where a trench across the sewer can leave facilities compromised for days.
What can stretch a relining job past one day?
Long runs, multiple junctions, heavy root infestation and bad weather are the usual reasons a job runs past a single day. A 20 to 30 metre line with several branch junctions takes longer than a 6 metre section, because each junction must be reopened and finished properly after lining. A pipe packed solid with years of root growth can take most of a day just to clean back to a linable surface, pushing lining to day two. Torrential rain matters too: a surcharging stormwater or sewer line cannot be lined until flow is controlled. We tell you at quote stage whether your job is a one-day job, and as of 2026 the price is fixed per the quote either way, at $400 to $600 or more per metre installed, so a second day is our problem rather than a variation on your invoice.
Is relining really faster than dig-up replacement?
Yes, and the gap is bigger than most people expect once reinstatement is counted. The pipework part of an excavation might only take a day or two, but the whole job includes breaking out concrete or pavers, trenching, shoring where depth requires it under safety regulations, backfilling, compaction, and then re-pouring or re-laying whatever was above the drain. Under a driveway or slab that sequence spreads across a week or more, plus concrete curing time before you can drive on it. Relining compresses all of that into a day because the surface is never opened. That time saving is a large share of why relining at $400 to $600 or more per metre so often beats a $5,000 to $15,000 plus replacement on total cost.
How long does the finished liner last?
A properly installed cured-in-place liner is a structural pipe with a design life of around 50 years, so the one-day install is not a one-year patch. The liner is jointless, which removes the entry points tree roots were using, and it is resistant to the ground movement that opened the original joints in Gold Coast sandy soils. We record the finished pipe on CCTV at handover so you can see the result, and that footage is yours to keep alongside the invoice and warranty.
How quickly can relining be booked?
Diagnosis can usually be done within days, and lining follows once the liner is matched to your pipe size and length. If your drain is blocked right now, that gets attended first: a machine clear is $250 to $400 as of 2026, and a camera add-on at $120 to $180 while we are on site confirms whether relining is even needed. If it is, we measure everything on that first visit, so the relining day itself arrives with no surprises and the drain is permanently sorted by dinner time.
Want the drain fixed without losing the driveway? Call Hills Plumbing & Gas on 0472 657 042. Camera diagnosis first, fixed price before work starts, most jobs done in a day, QBCC licence 15243081. Full details on our pipe relining service.