Kitchen line blocks every few months
Grease building on the pipe wall between clearings. Jetting scours it back to bare pipe where a cable only punches a hole through, which is why the interval keeps shrinking with cables and not with jetting.
Plumbing & DrainsPriced as an emergency callout16,069 businesses licensed for it
Commercial drain cleaning
A blocked drain in a business is not the same job as one in a house, because commercial lines carry grease, hair, coffee grounds, lint and paper towels in volumes a domestic line never sees. Work covers cabling and jetting the line, camera inspection where it keeps coming back, clearing floor drains and grease-laden kitchen lines, and establishing whether the blockage is yours or the building's. A drain that backs up in more than one fixture is a main line, not a sink.
Enter your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with their phone numbers.
- Free to searchno account, nothing to submit
- Public registersevery listing names its source
- License numberswhere the state publishes one
- Directyou call the business yourself
- Our estimate
- $180-$2,200
- Time on site
- 1-5 hrs
- Fault patterns covered
- 2
- Licensed for this trade itself
- 16,069
What commercial drain cleaning costs
Most of these jobs land near $420. The full spread runs $180 to $2,200, and the gap between those two ends is diagnosis against replacement rather than one business being dearer than another.
What moves it: how much of the job is parts, whether the fault is found in the first hour or the third, access to the equipment, and the hour of the day you call. We never speak to the businesses listed here, so there is no rate card behind any of this. It is our own band for the category, and there is no regional index: the figure does not change with your metro.
| How soon you need it | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled visitBooked in advance, no urgency multiplier applied | $420 | $180 to $2,200 |
| Same dayOur band multiplied by 1.12 | $470 | $200 to $2,465 |
| Emergency calloutOur band multiplied by 1.35 | $565 | $245 to $2,970 |
Our estimate from national cost bands, not a quote from any business. Every row is the same band with the urgency multiplier the site applies everywhere else, so this table can never contradict the headline number. Ask for a written price before the work starts.
Who is licensed to do this work
In California the classification that squarely covers this is C-36 plumbing, and the register says who holds it. Every listing on this site shows the classification, the license number and the date we read it, with a link back to the register entry so you can check it against the state rather than against us.
Overlapping classifications exist and are labeled as overlapping rather than as a match: C-42 sanitation system and C-55 water conditioning. A general building contractor may hold the job and subcontract the trade, which is a real answer and a different one, so the card says which of the two you are looking at.
One thing worth being plain about: CSLB classifications do not distinguish commercial work from residential. There is no separate commercial license to hold and no register field that would prove one. That is why this page describes the equipment rather than the contractor, and why nothing here says a business has been checked out. We read a public record on a stated date. That is the whole claim.
If it is down right now
Everything below is about our mechanism. We hold no hours for any business on this site, have never contacted one, and cannot tell you who is awake, so none of this is a promise that somebody answers.
- Enter the ZIP of your premises. We measure from that ZIP to the address each business filed with its licensing authority and keep everything inside 25 miles.
- The order is distance, nearest first. Nobody buys a position in it and there is nothing here to sell.
- If fewer than three businesses clear the filters, the ring steps out toward 75 miles and the page tells you it widened. The distances you then see are the real ones.
- Each listing carries the phone number the register publishes. You call it yourself. We have no phone line, take no fee and pass nothing on.
- Our band for an emergency callout is the category band multiplied by 1.35. That multiplier is ours and describes our estimate, not a rate anybody has quoted.
Before you pay for a callout
Two minutes of checks that sometimes end the problem
We would rather you did not need a callout at all. These are the checks that end the most calls for this fault.
Try a quick fix first
Some issues resolve without a truck roll. Two minutes now can save the callout.
- 1
Check whether one fixture or several are affected. One is a local blockage and a short job. Several, or a floor drain overflowing, means the main line and a bigger visit.
- 2
Stop putting water down it. Every extra load makes the overflow worse and it clears nothing.
- 3
If it backs up on the same rough schedule every few months, ask for a camera inspection rather than another cable. Repeat blockages are usually a defect in the line, and clearing it again just resets the clock.
- 4
Find your cleanout before the technician arrives. Access is a real part of the time on site.
What the visit actually includes
- Cabling or jetting the affected line to clear the blockage
- Flow test on every fixture on that branch
- Camera inspection where the blockage recurs or the cause is unclear
- Report on what came out, which tells you whether it is behavior or a defect
- Recommendation on whether the line needs repair rather than clearing
Diagnosis
How commercial drain faults usually present
Written from how these faults actually present on a working premises, not from a manual.
Floor drain smells even when it is clear
A dry trap. Pour a bucket of water down it. Drains that are rarely used lose their seal and let sewer gas back into the room.
Listed for this trade
Businesses listed for commercial drain
Read from public license registers, so there is no ranking here and no distance: this page has no location to measure from. Enter your ZIP to sort by who is nearest to your site.
By location
Commercial drain cleaning near you
Local pages show which businesses are listed for that metro, how far out they sit, and the local conditions that drive demand.
Counted from the businesses we have imported for each metro center inside a 25 mile radius, and counting only those whose own license classification names this trade. General contractors licensed widely enough to take it on and subcontract it are excluded here, and still appear in a search. A metro reads “none yet” until we load a register that covers this trade there.
All coverage areasQuestions owners ask
Commercial drain FAQs
Short, specific answers. If yours is not here, ask the business you call before you agree to the visit.
Cable or jet?
Cabling is faster and cheaper and is the right call for a solid blockage. Jetting cleans the whole pipe wall and is the right call for grease and for anything that keeps coming back.
Is this mine or the landlord's?
Read the lease. Most commercial leases put the line inside your demise on you and the shared building line on the landlord, so where the blockage sits decides who pays. Get the camera footage if there is any argument.
How do I stop it happening again?
Strainers in every sink, a real grease trap schedule, and a rule about what goes down the mop sink. Most repeat commercial blockages are a behavior problem with a plumbing symptom.
Do I need a licensed plumber for a blocked drain?
Drain clearing is often done by specialists, but anything that becomes a repair to the line is C-36 plumbing work in California. The listings here show who holds it.
Related work
Often booked in the same visit
Batching jobs into one mobilization is the cheapest way to buy this kind of work.
Water heaterNo hot water, lukewarm supply, leaking tanks, pilot faults and tankless error codes.from $220Water leakBurst pipes, ceiling drips, running meters and leaks you can hear but not see.from $240RestroomRunning toilets, blocked pans, failed flush valves, taps, urinals and sink wastes.from $170Grease trapPumping, cleaning, backed-up interceptors and the paperwork the inspector asks for.from $200
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Ready when you are
Need commercial drain sorted?
Search your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with the license numbers and phone numbers we hold, then call them yourself.
- Cost to search
- Free
- Account needed
- None
- Who you call
- The business