Mature neighbourhoods
Communities built through the 1960s and 1970s often have clay tile laterals with a joint every metre or so. Joints crack and offset over decades.
Serving Calgary & surrounding area
Don't buy a money pit.
See what's underground first.
A sewer scope puts a camera through the buried line between a Calgary house and the City main, inside your condition period. Try one below, then book the real thing before your deadline.
Interactive · run the camera
Push the cable. See what a scope sees.
Hold Push (or the ↑ key) to feed the camera from the basement cleanout toward the City main. It stops at each finding. This is a composite run of common Calgary findings, stitched into one line.
Finding
Illustrative camera views and distances. A provider's report and recorded footage are the record of a specific property's line.
Findings library
What shows up on the monitor, and what it means for a buyer.
Tap any frame. Filter by what a buyer usually does next: price it before firming up, keep watching it, or just note it.
Illustrations, not footage from real properties. Priorities are general patterns; the provider's report and a written quote decide a specific line. Defect codes and detailed footage reading are covered by SewerInspector.ca. All findings, explained →
Interactive · locate & mark
Find the sonde. Then find out who pays.
A distance tells you a defect is about 7 metres out. A locate turns it into a spot on the ground. A small transmitter behind the camera head, the sonde, is found from the surface with a receiver, marked and given an estimated depth.
- Move the receiver across the yard. Watch the signal.
- When it peaks, click or tap to mark the spot.
- See which side of the property line it fell on.
Round 1 of 2 · roots at 7.2 m
Calgary's split: the City owns and maintains the sanitary service pipe from the main to the property line; the homeowner owns and maintains it from the property line to the house. The line on this yard is illustrative. A real property line comes from records such as a Real Property Report. Who pays · City vs. private
Scope day
About an hour on site, when access is easy.
What happens at the house, in order, and what to watch for if you're there. Scope day, step by step →
01Open the cleanout
The camera goes in at the main cleanout, usually in the basement. No usable cleanout means a toilet pull or roof vent instead.
02Run to the main
The cable is pushed toward the City main while the monitor records with a distance counter. Each finding gets a stop and a note.
03Locate and mark
For defects worth pricing, the sonde behind the camera head is found from the surface, marked, and given an estimated depth.
04Video and report
You should leave with, or soon receive, the full video, a written list of findings with distances, stills, and where the camera stopped.
Why Calgary homes are high risk
What you can't see can hurt you.
A renovated kitchen and new flooring say nothing about a 1960s clay tile line under the front lawn. A standard home inspection doesn't send a camera into the buried line. The scope closes that gap.
Tree root intrusion
Poplars and spruce go looking for water. A hairline gap at a joint is enough for roots to get in and grow into a mass that catches everything.
Sewer bellies (sags)
Settlement and poor bedding leave dips where water stands. Grease and solids collect there, and the line blocks again and again.
Tar paper (No-Corode)
Pitch-fibre pipe was used in some older Calgary houses. It can flatten and blister under soil pressure, and the City's records don't define it as a material.
367,397public sanitary service lines in the City of Calgary's open data
≈ 1 in 5coded TIL, generally read as clay tile, clustered in 1960s–70s communities
That record covers only the City-owned stretch from the main to the property line. The private stretch under your future yard may be older, newer or a different material. Only a camera tells you which.
What a scope typically finds, by build era · general pattern, not a prediction for any one house
Condition deadline
Book it the day the offer is accepted.
Alberta purchase contracts give buyers a short window to satisfy or waive conditions. Finding a slot, confirming cleanout access, getting a repair quote and talking it through all eat into the same days.
Pick a date to see your book-by date.
Full Condition Deadline Scope Planner →
- 01
Day of acceptance: book
Send the address, the condition deadline and what you know about the cleanout. Aim for the scope and report done two business days before the deadline.
- 02
Confirm access
Ask the listing side where the main cleanout is and whether it can be opened. No cleanout means a toilet pull or roof vent, which adds time and cost.
- 03
Scope and locate
The camera runs from the cleanout toward the City main, and any defect worth pricing is located from the surface with a sonde and marked.
- 04
Review and decide
Read the report and footage with your Realtor, get a written quote if needed, and waive, negotiate or walk away before the deadline. The Realtor checklist keeps it on one page.
Booking request builder
Write the booking request in 30 seconds.
Buyers and Realtors: fill this in and get a message that asks for the right things up front, including the deadline, access and deliverables in writing. Copy it to any provider, or send it through the HAUSE desk.
Your request
More than a quick look
What a buyer should get from a scope.
Evidence that stands on its own, so a contractor can quote it and your Realtor can negotiate with it. Ask for these in writing when you book. Full report checklist
Calgary planning estimate · 2026
$250–$600
Typical range for a sewer scope, with the spread coming from access, whether a locate and mark is included, and the depth of the written report. Replacing a Calgary lateral typically plans in five figures.
Planning estimates, not quotes. Real prices vary with access, depth, line length, the time before your deadline and the provider. Only a written quote for the property is a price. Scope cost guide
If the scope comes back bad
Four ways a lateral gets fixed.
Which one fits depends on the defect, where it is, the pipe's condition along its length and what's on top of it. Get a written quote that names the method, before the condition deadline. After a bad sewer scope →
Open-cut spot repair
Dig at the mark
A trench at the located defect replaces the damaged section. Fits one bad spot in an otherwise sound line.
Watch for: a spot fix on a line that's failing everywhere.
Lining (CIPP)
A new pipe inside the old
A resin-soaked liner is cured inside the existing pipe. Good for cracks, roots at joints and infiltration.
Watch for: bellies and collapses, which a liner copies rather than fixes.
Pipe bursting
Split it and pull new through
A bursting head breaks the old pipe outward while pulling a new fused pipe in behind it, from two small pits.
Watch for: nearby utilities and a grade problem the new pipe will follow.
Full replacement
Dig and relay the line
A new pipe on proper bedding and grade from house to property line. The only fix for a long belly.
Watch for: permits, landscaping and driveway restoration in the quote.
Method suitability is general guidance. The contractor who quotes the job decides what fits the line, and the City's side of the property line is the City's to repair.
Is a sewer scope part of a Calgary home inspection?
Usually not. Alberta defines a home inspection as a largely non-invasive examination of readily accessible features, and the buried sewer line is neither. Some home inspectors offer a scope as a separate add-on; confirm what is included before assuming it is covered.
How early in the condition period should a sewer scope be booked?
On the day the offer is accepted if possible. Aim to have the scope and report finished at least two business days before the condition deadline, so there is time to get a quote and decide.
Which Calgary houses most need a sewer scope?
Houses built before about 1980, houses with large trees between the house and the street or lane, houses with a history of backups, and any house where the seller cannot say what the line is made of. Newer houses can still have sags or debris.
Does the City of Calgary pay if the scope finds a problem?
It depends where the defect is. The City owns the pipe from the main to the property line and the homeowner owns the rest. A located defect plus property records is how you tell which side it falls on; confirm with the City through 311.
Can a Realtor book the sewer scope for a client?
Yes. Realtors often send the request with the client's permission, the address and the condition date. The client should receive the video and report directly, and any contract wording should be checked with the brokerage.
Is SewerScope.ca an inspection company?
No. SewerScope.ca is part of HAUSE, an independent information and request network. It explains the process and passes requests to independent providers; the provider you book with performs and reports the inspection.
Request a scope
Send the deadline. Get a straight answer.
Requests go through the HAUSE desk, which passes them to independent providers in the Calgary area. A request is not a booking: the appointment exists only when the inspector confirms it, so keep the confirmation with your transaction file.
Outside the city? Service areas covers Calgary communities and surrounding towns.