Trenchless vs. open-cut: the real cost comparison

Why we do not publish prices

You will notice there are no figures on this page. That is deliberate, and it is the same reason we will not quote a sewer replacement over the phone.

The price of a sewer job is set by the length of the run, how deep it sits, its diameter, what it is made of, what is above it, whether the street has to be opened, which municipality you are in, and what the camera finds when it goes down. Two houses on the same street can differ by a multiple. Any number published here would be either meaningless or misleading.

What we can do is explain what you are actually buying in each case, which is the part most quotes leave you to work out yourself.

What sits inside an open-cut price

Open-cut means digging a trench along the line, taking the old pipe out, laying new pipe, and filling it in. The work splits into two halves that behave very differently.

The digging half

• Excavation along the run, priced by length and depth. Depth matters more than people expect, because a deeper trench needs a wider one to be safe to work in.
• Removing the spoil. Soil that comes out of a trench does not all go back in, and it has to go somewhere.
• New pipe, fittings, and bedding material.
• Backfill and compaction. Skimping here is why some driveways sink two winters later.
• Permits, and traffic control if the work reaches the road.

The putting-it-back half

This is where quotes diverge, and it is usually the larger number.

• Driveway. Asphalt is the cheap case. Pavers can sometimes be lifted and relaid; stamped or coloured concrete usually cannot be patched invisibly, so matching means redoing a larger area than you opened.
• Sidewalk and apron, often to a municipal specification rather than whatever is there now.
• Road restoration if the trench enters the right-of-way, again to the town's specification, which can mean a full-width cut and repave rather than a patch.
• Landscaping. Lawn is straightforward. A mature tree in the trench line is not replaceable at any price, and stone walls, irrigation and lighting all have to be rebuilt.

Read the quote for what the restoration half actually says. Many open-cut quotes cover backfill and compaction and stop there, leaving the surface to you. That is not dishonest, it is a common way to scope the work, but it means the number you are looking at is not the number you will spend.

What sits inside a trenchless price

Trenchless costs more per foot of pipe. Lining and bursting need specialised equipment, and the materials cost more than a length of PVC. That part is real and nobody should tell you otherwise.

What changes is the second half. Working through one access point or two small pits means the restoration line is close to nothing: two patches instead of a rebuilt driveway, no trench across the lawn, no tree lost, no stone wall dismantled.

The arithmetic is simple. Trenchless charges more for the pipe and almost nothing for the surface. Open-cut charges less for the pipe and the real money for the surface. Which wins depends entirely on what your surface is.

When open-cut is genuinely the better buy

We do trenchless work and we will still tell you to dig in these cases.

• The line is back-pitched. Lining follows the existing grade and bursting follows the existing path. Neither fixes a pipe running the wrong way. Only excavating and re-laying does.
• The run is short and shallow. Twenty feet under a lawn is a morning's digging. Bringing a lining rig to it is using the wrong tool.
• The surface is coming up anyway. If the driveway is due for replacement, the restoration cost you were avoiding is a cost you had already decided to pay.
• The corridor is too congested to burst safely. Bursting displaces soil outward. Where gas, water or electric run tight alongside, that is not safe, and the locate will show it before anyone commits.

How to compare two quotes fairly

Most people put two numbers side by side and pick the smaller one. The numbers are usually not describing the same job. Four questions make them comparable.

1. What surface restoration is included, in writing? Not "we will tidy up". Specifically: which surfaces, restored to what standard, and what is excluded.
2. What happens if you find something unexpected? Underground work regularly uncovers unrecorded utilities, rock, or a collapse beyond the surveyed section. Ask how a change in scope gets priced and whether you approve it before the work continues.
3. Who holds the permits and who deals with the municipality? Especially if the work reaches the street, where the specification is the town's, not yours.
4. What did the camera show? If a contractor has quoted a method without surveying the line, they are guessing, and the difference between their guess and the conditions will arrive as a change order.

The short version

Ask what it costs to put your property back, and get the answer in writing before you compare anything. On a bare lawn, open-cut is often the sensible choice. Under a paver driveway with mature planting either side, the restoration is the job and the pipe is the footnote.

The honest answer for your house comes from footage of your line. That is why every job here starts with a camera.