Why a Sewer Scope Is a Separate Instruction

ASHI excludes septic and other sewage disposal or wastewater treatment systems. InterNACHI excludes wastewater treatment and septic systems and floor drains. Neither standard asks anyone to establish the condition of the line leaving the house.

So a report can record that every fixture drained freely on the day, which is true, and say nothing about the run underneath the garden.

Source: InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice; ASHI Standard of Practice.

A camera on a push rod travels the line and records it. What it establishes is the condition and the shape of the pipe: whether the run holds its round section, whether it has standing water in it, whether roots have found the joints, and where along the length any of that starts.

What it cannot do is see through the pipe wall, or tell you how long something has been that way.

Age is the honest trigger. On a house old enough that the original line is still likely to be in the ground, the survey is answering a real question. On a recent build it is usually confirming what the drawings already say.

Trees are the other one. A mature tree between the house and the street has had decades to find a joint.

Ask for the footage, not a summary of it. A survey you cannot review is a verbal opinion with a camera attached, and the recording is what a contractor quoting the repair will want to see.

Ask also where the survey started and whether it reached the connection at the street. A run that was entered part-way along has left a length unaccounted for.

It is a fact both sides can look at, which is unusual in a negotiation. What you do with it is a separate decision, and the useful first step is establishing what the repair actually involves rather than what the report implies.