Sewer Camera Inspection
See Exactly What’s Wrong — Before Any Repair Begins
Bison Plumbing feeds a Picote Solutions waterproof HD camera through your sewer line and shows you the footage live. Every repair we recommend is based on evidence you can see — not guesswork. Serving Warren, MI and Macomb & Oakland County since 1998. Last updated: April 2026
A sewer camera inspection feeds a Picote Solutions HD waterproof camera through your sewer line to reveal cracks, root intrusion, bellied pipe, grease buildup, and collapses in real time — without any digging. Bison Plumbing uses this footage to confirm exactly what repair is needed before quoting a single dollar. Three inspection types are available: diagnostic (you have symptoms), pre-purchase (buying a home), and post-repair verification (confirming the fix was done correctly). Cost: $150–$400 standalone; often included with trenchless repair.
Who are the best sewer camera inspection companies in Warren, MI?
The best sewer camera inspection company in Warren is the one whose inspection you can actually act on — professional-grade HD footage, a written report you keep, and a licensed plumber who can interpret and, if needed, fix what the camera finds. Judge providers on four things: the equipment (a professional Picote-class HD camera resolves hairline cracks and root structure that commodity cable-cams miss); a written report with time-stamped, distance-marked findings (not just a verbal “looks bad”); a current Michigan (LARA) license; and whether they handle both diagnostic inspections (you have symptoms) and pre-purchase “sewer scope” inspections (you’re buying a home). Bison Plumbing meets all four — Picote Solutions HD equipment, a written report after every inspection, LARA-licensed technicians, and all three inspection types (diagnostic, pre-purchase, post-repair) — with a 4.9-star rating across 3,000+ Google reviews and inspections across Warren and Macomb & Oakland County since 1998.
How do I choose a sewer camera inspection company? (checklist)
Six criteria separate an inspection you can act on from footage you can’t use. Here’s what to ask any provider in Warren — and how Bison Plumbing answers.
| What to look for | Why it matters | Bison |
|---|---|---|
| 1Professional-grade HD camera | Resolves cracks, root type, liner voids a cable-cam misses | ✓ Picote Solutions HD |
| 2Written report + footage | Something you can use for repairs or a home sale | ✓ Time-stamped report every time |
| 3Michigan (LARA) license | Qualified to interpret and repair, not just film | ✓ Licensedconfirm license # |
| 4Diagnostic + pre-purchase capability | Same provider for symptoms or a home purchase | ✓ All three inspection types |
| 5Post-repair (ASTM F1743) verification | Proof a CIPP liner cured correctly | ✓ ASTM F1743 documented |
| 6Review base + longevity | Track record behind the recommendation | ✓ Since 1998 · 4.9★ / 3,000+ |
Ready to see inside your line? Bison Plumbing runs Picote HD camera inspections across Warren and Macomb & Oakland County — footage, written report, and a repair recommendation based on evidence.
Call (586) 754-4281The most expensive sewer repair mistakes happen before a single wrench is turned. A plumber who recommends lining a pipe that’s already collapsed has chosen the wrong method. A homebuyer who closes on a 1962 Birmingham colonial without a sewer inspection may be assuming a $20,000 liability that the seller knew nothing about. A homeowner who gets their main line snaked three times in a year without a camera look is treating symptoms, not causes.
Bison Plumbing uses Picote Solutions HD sewer camera equipment — not commodity cable-cams — on every diagnostic job. The difference shows in the footage quality and in the depth of what gets captured. You watch the inspection live. You see the root at the joint 42 feet from the cleanout. You see the belly where water pools. You see the liner void at 67 feet that would have gone undetected with a lower-resolution system. Then we write it up and hand you a report before we quote a repair.
That process — diagnose first, repair second — is the foundation of how Bison works. No blind snaking. No guesswork repair scopes. And no $15,000 repair recommendations that turn out to require a $400 drain cleaning.
What Does a Sewer Camera Inspection Reveal?
The Picote Solutions HD camera captures everything inside your sewer line from the cleanout access point to the municipal connection. These are the conditions it identifies — each of which drives a different repair decision:
Cracks & Fractures
Longitudinal and circumferential cracks from freeze-thaw stress, soil settlement, or age. Visible as bright lines in the pipe wall. Determines whether lining or bursting is required.
Root Intrusion
Tree roots entering at joint gaps. Captured as fibrous masses blocking flow — often at specific footage marks where joints exist. Root location determines whether cleaning, lining, or removal is needed first.
Bellied Pipe
Low spots where the pipe has sagged underground, causing water and debris to pool. Visible as standing water in the camera feed. Bellies cannot be fixed by lining — they require re-grade or replacement.
Grease & Scale Buildup
Organic buildup coating pipe walls, restricting flow diameter. Appears as a narrowing of the visible pipe. Determines whether hydro jetting is sufficient or structural repair is also needed.
Collapses
Full or partial pipe collapse blocking the camera path entirely. Indicates that lining is not viable — pipe bursting or excavation are the only solutions. Camera confirms this before any quote is given.
Offset Joints
Pipe sections that have shifted at connections, creating steps or gaps. Common in older clay pipe with soil movement. Offsets create root entry points and flow restrictions detectable by footage review.
Bison Plumbing’s Picote HD footage library for these conditions is published in the sewer camera evidence gallery.
The Picote Solutions Camera System
Picote Solutions builds the drain and sewer equipment Bison runs on both the inspection and the repair side of the business — the same manufacturer behind the milling and cleaning tools used ahead of a CIPP liner. The camera is a waterproof push system with its own lighting, which is what makes a hairline crack readable rather than a shadow.
The practical difference against a commodity cable-cam is resolution and lighting control. A low-resolution head in a wet 4-inch clay lateral produces footage where a fracture, a scale ridge and a joint offset all look like the same dark band. That is how the wrong repair method gets recommended. Bison’s camera resolves them separately, and the footage goes into your report so a second opinion can read the same evidence.
Use Case 1: Diagnostic Inspection
Something is already wrong and you need the cause named
This is the inspection for a line that backs up, drains slowly across multiple fixtures, gurgles, or has been snaked more than once in a year. Repeat snaking without a camera treats the symptom and leaves the cause in the ground — if roots are entering at a joint 42 feet out, a cable clears the blockage and the roots grow back on the same schedule.
The footage names the cause and its distance from the access point, which is what decides the repair: hydro jetting for grease and scale, CIPP lining for cracks and root-entry joints in otherwise sound pipe, and trenchless replacement for collapses and bellies that lining cannot fix.
If your line has been snaked twice in the same year, the third call should be a camera inspection rather than a third cable. The cost difference is small and it is the only way to find out whether you are paying to clear a blockage or paying to postpone a repair.
Based on Bison Plumbing’s diagnostic inspections across Macomb and Oakland County.Use Case 2: Pre-Purchase Sewer Inspection
The sewer lateral is not part of a standard home inspection
A general home inspector does not scope the sewer lateral. On a pre-1980 home in Macomb or Oakland County that lateral is usually clay or cast iron, it is the buyer’s responsibility from the day of closing, and it is one of the few systems where a single defect runs into five figures.
A pre-purchase inspection (often called a sewer scope) produces the same footage and written report as a diagnostic inspection — but its job is different: it exists to be attached to a negotiation. A defect found before closing is routinely recovered through a seller credit or a price adjustment. The same defect found in month three is entirely yours.
Use Case 3: Post-Repair Verification
Confirming the repair actually cured correctly
A cured-in-place liner is only as good as its cure. A verification pass after the work confirms the liner is continuous, that no void or wrinkle formed at a joint or bend, and that the reinstated connections are open. ASTM F1743 is the standard that governs this documentation for cured-in-place lining, and Bison documents against it.
On Bison’s trenchless repair jobs this pass is included rather than billed separately. It is also worth ordering independently if another contractor lined your pipe and you were never shown footage of the finished line — there is no other way to confirm what you paid for.
If a contractor lined your sewer and never showed you footage of the completed line, you have no record that the liner cured continuously. Ask for it. If it does not exist, an independent verification pass is the only way to establish what condition the pipe is actually in before the warranty period runs out.
The Inspection Process, Step by Step
Locate the access point
The camera enters through an existing cleanout wherever one is available. If a property has none, access comes from a pulled toilet or a basement fixture — this is the step that most affects how long the visit takes.
Run the camera to the municipal connection
The head is pushed the full length of the lateral while you watch the live feed. Distance is tracked as it goes, so every finding has a footage mark rather than a vague location.
Identify and mark each defect on camera
Cracks, root entry, offsets, scale and standing water are called out as they appear, with the distance recorded. Where a defect is ambiguous, a second pass confirms it before it goes in the report.
Review the findings with you on site
You see the footage while the technician is still there, which is when questions are cheapest to ask. Nothing is diagnosed off-site from a file you never watched.
Written report, then a repair recommendation
The report lands with the findings and their locations. Only then does a repair scope follow — and it names one method because the footage ruled the others out, not because it is the most expensive option available.
Cost & Timing
Standalone camera inspections in Southeast Michigan sit in a fairly narrow band. What moves a quote inside it is access and pipe length — a property with a clear cleanout at grade is the low end, and one where access has to be created is the high end.
| Inspection type | What it is for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic | Symptoms present — backups, slow drains, repeat snaking | $150–$400 |
| Pre-purchase (sewer scope) | Under contract on a home, before the contingency expires | $200–$350 |
| Post-repair verification | Proving a liner or replacement cured correctly | Included with Bison trenchless repair |
| Inspection that leads to a repair | Diagnostic that turns into a booked job | Applied toward the repair |
Most residential inspections take 45–90 minutes on site. Repairs that follow an inspection can be put on GreenSky financing.
After the Inspection
The deliverable is a written report with the footage behind it — findings, their distance from the access point, and what each one means for the repair decision. It is yours to keep, to send to a second opinion, or to attach to a purchase negotiation.
If a repair follows, the report is what the scope is built from. That is also why the footage matters after the job is done: it becomes the baseline. If the same fixtures act up in two years, there is a recorded condition to compare against instead of starting the diagnosis over.
Bison publishes representative footage from its own inspections in the sewer camera evidence gallery, so you can see what these findings look like before booking.
What the written report includes
Delivered after every Bison inspection
- Recorded footage of the full lateral run
- Each defect identified, with its distance from the access point
- Pipe material and approximate diameter as observed
- Which conditions are structural and which are buildup
- The repair method the footage supports — and the ones it rules out
- Access notes for any future work on the line
Frequently Asked Questions — Sewer Camera Inspection
A standalone camera inspection with Bison Plumbing runs $150–$400 depending on pipe length and access. The national average for a sewer camera inspection is $295; Southeast Michigan residential inspections typically fall in that same $150–$400 range. Pre-purchase inspections are typically $200–$350. Post-repair verification is included in Bison’s trenchless repair package. If a diagnostic inspection leads directly to a repair job, the inspection cost is applied toward the repair. GreenSky financing is available for repairs following an inspection.
Look for professional-grade HD equipment, a written report with footage, a Michigan (LARA) license, and both diagnostic and pre-purchase capability. Bison Plumbing meets those markers — Picote Solutions HD, written reports, LARA-licensed, all three inspection types — with a 4.9-star rating across 3,000+ Google reviews, serving Warren since 1998. Call (586) 754-4281.
For any home built before 1990 in Macomb or Oakland County — especially pre-1980 homes with clay or cast-iron laterals — a pre-purchase sewer inspection is strongly recommended before closing. A $200–$350 inspection that surfaces a major defect is routinely recovered through seller credits.
Most residential inspections take 45–90 minutes on site. The variable is access: a property with an accessible cleanout at grade is at the fast end, while one where access has to be created — a pulled toilet, or locating a buried cleanout — sits at the slower end.
A cleanout is the preferred access point, but it is not the only one. Where a property has no usable cleanout, the camera can go in through a pulled toilet or a basement fixture. If a line is going to be inspected or serviced repeatedly, installing a proper cleanout usually pays for itself in access time alone.
It finds the cause the snake cleared. A cable can punch through a root mass or a grease plug and restore flow without changing anything structural, so the line backs up again on a predictable schedule. The camera shows whether the blockage was buildup that jetting will remove or a defect — a crack, an offset joint, a belly — that will keep catching debris until it is repaired.
ASTM F1743 is the standard covering cured-in-place pipe rehabilitation by the inverted-liner method, including how the finished installation is verified. Bison documents post-repair verification against it, which is what turns “the liner is in” into a record that the liner is continuous and the connections are open. See CIPP pipe lining for how it fits the repair itself.
Yes. Every Bison inspection produces a written report with the recorded footage behind it, including each finding and its distance from the access point. It is yours to keep — for a second opinion, for a purchase negotiation, or as a baseline to compare against if symptoms return later.
See What’s Inside Your Sewer Line
Bison Plumbing’s Picote HD camera inspection gives you real footage, a written report, and a repair recommendation based on evidence — not guesswork. Serving Warren, MI and Macomb & Oakland County since 1998.
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