How much does a new drain cost per metre?
Updated 6 October 2026 · prices for 2026
Typical cost of a new drain run
£950–£1,860
for a 5 to 15 m run of 110 mm pipe, including VAT (£790–£1,550 + VAT)
About £103 to £158 a metre before VAT. Dug by hand 750 mm deep, a pea gravel bed and surround, backfilled, spare soil to a skip. Chambers, bends and the connection are extra.
A new drain run costs about £124 to £190 a metre including VAT (£103 to £158 before VAT) in 2026. That's a 110 mm plastic drain pipe in a 350 mm wide trench dug 750 mm deep by hand, laid on a pea gravel bed and surround, backfilled and compacted, with the spare soil taken away. A 10 m run, typical for taking a drain round a rear extension, comes to about £1,355 including VAT (£1,129 before VAT). Short runs cost more per metre, because the skip, the skip loader and the wacker plate cost the same for 5 m as for 10 m. Chambers, bends and the connection to the existing drain are extra, and they're priced further down.
What's in the price
We priced a 10 m run. This is where the money goes, before VAT.
- Digging: about 8 hours by hand, £243, including levelling and compacting the trench bottom.
- Gravel: three bulk bags of 10 mm pea gravel, £242, and an hour to fill round the pipe.
- Pipe: four 3 m lengths of 110 mm drain pipe, £69, and 2 hours to lay and joint them.
- Backfill: about 3 hours putting the soil back and compacting it in 150 mm layers, with a wacker plate (a vibrating plate compactor) hired for the job, £112 with delivery and fuel.
- Disposal: only the soil the gravel takes the place of goes away, about 1.3 m³. Loading it, a share of a skip and a 1 t skip loader for the day come to about £272.
Labour is about 40% of the price, skip and plant 33% and materials 28%. There are about 15 hours of work in a 10 m run.
Price per metre by run
| Run | Before VAT | With VAT | A metre, before VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 m | £791 | £949 | £158 |
| 10 m | £1,129 | £1,355 | £113 |
| 15 m | £1,552 | £1,862 | £103 |
The extras on a real drain job
- A new uPVC inspection chamber (450 mm, with risers and a cover, in gravel): adds about £647 to the 10 m run, £776 with VAT. On its own it priced at £777, because it then carries the wacker plate and skip loader by itself.
- Bends, junctions and the connection to the existing drain: Bricken's drainage allowance is £350 at cost, £455 with markup.
Priced as one job in Bricken, a 10 m run with a new chamber and the allowance comes to about £2,231 before VAT (£2,677 with VAT).
Pricing it as a builder
Don't price drains at a flat rate per metre. About £370 of skip and plant costs the same on a 5 m run as on a 10 m one, so price those once and the digging, gravel and pipe by the metre.
Dig by hand or by machine? In Bricken, 10 m dug by hand priced at £1,129 and 10 m with a mini digger hired just for the drain at £1,400. On 15 m the digger still cost more, £1,789 against £1,552. A digger only pays on a drain when it's on site anyway for the foundations or the floor dig, so share the hire across those items.
On the site visit, lift the nearest manhole cover. How deep the existing drain is sets the depth of the whole run and the fall it can have. Check what's on top of the route, because a patio or drive has to be broken out and laid again. Ask whether the drain you're joining is shared with next door or is a public sewer, which can mean the water company gets involved. And look for clay, which slows hand digging.
Bricken's drain item also prices gullies (the trapped grids a sink waste or rainwater pipe drains into) and taking out old ones with the old drain capped off, which is most of what moving a drain involves.
Priced on its own, a job like this carries a small premium for travel, setting up, a minimum charge and part-used materials. Done as an extra while you're already on site, the same work usually costs a bit less.
How we priced it
We built the job in Bricken, the quoting app for UK builders, item by item. Merchant and hire prices for the pipe, gravel, chamber, skip and plant, a typical hourly rate (£22 an hour for a groundworker, before markup), and a typical builder's markup of 30% on materials and plant and 35% on labour. The drainage allowance is a round sum for fittings rather than a priced list, so set your own once you've seen the drawings. Your groundworker will price it at their own rates, so get a few quotes.
Priced in Bricken at standard UK rates (a 5 m run for the low figure, 15 m for the high). Each figure is then multiplied by Bricken's regional factor, from 0.90 in the North East to 1.30 in inner London. The factors come from public 2025-26 build-cost guides and our own quotes. Where a region covers two areas, the low uses the lower factor and the high the higher. The factors are set for whole building jobs, so treat small differences as a guide.
Cost by region
| Region | 5 m run | 15 m run |
|---|---|---|
| London | £1,140£949 | £2,420£2,017 |
| South East | £1,060£886 | £2,090£1,738 |
| East of England | £1,000£831 | £1,950£1,629 |
| Midlands | £920£767 | £1,860£1,552 |
| North West | £900£751 | £1,770£1,474 |
| North East and Yorkshire | £850£712 | £1,770£1,474 |
| South West | £1,000£831 | £1,950£1,629 |
| Wales | £870£728 | £1,710£1,428 |
| Scotland | £950£791 | £1,860£1,552 |
What pushes the price up or down
Up
- Deeper runs: a 10 m run at 1.2 m deep priced at £1,352 before VAT, about £223 more than at 750 mm, nearly all of it extra digging and backfill.
- Clay: slower to dig by hand. The 10 m run in clay came to £1,307, about £178 more.
- A new inspection chamber: about £647 more on a 10 m run.
- Bends, junctions and the connection: Bricken's drainage allowance adds £455.
- Hard surfaces on top: breaking out a patio or drive and laying it again isn't in these figures.
- London: about 20% to 30% more, from Bricken's regional factors.
Down
- Longer runs: the skip, loader and wacker plate are mostly fixed, so 15 m costs £103 a metre against £158 for 5 m.
- Sharing the plant: if the skip, wacker plate and digger are on site for the foundations anyway, the drain carries less of them.
- Spoil kept on site: loading, the skip and the loader are about £272 of the 10 m price.
- A shallow existing drain: if the drain you're joining is near the surface, the whole trench can be shallower.
Questions
How much does it cost to move a drain?
Moving a drain for an extension usually means a new run round the footprint, a new chamber and capping off the old line. Priced as one job in Bricken, a 10 m run, one chamber and the fittings allowance come to about £2,231 before VAT (£2,677 with VAT), before any capping or making good.
How deep should a new drain be?
It depends on how deep the drain you're joining is and the fall the new pipe needs to reach it. We priced 750 mm. Your designer or building control will confirm the depth and fall.
Do I need building control for a new drain?
Usually, yes. Building control normally inspect new drains and often want to see them tested before they're covered. A new connection to a public sewer may also need the water company's approval, so check with both before you dig.
How long does a new drain run take?
Our 10 m run has about 15 hours of work in it, about two days for one groundworker, plus the inspection before backfilling.
Why is there so much gravel in the price?
The pipe sits on a bed of 10 mm pea gravel and is surrounded by it, 310 mm deep in all. That keeps it supported and on its fall. On a 10 m run that's three bulk bags, about £242 before VAT.
Is VAT included?
The big figures include VAT at 20%. If your groundworker isn't VAT-registered, the price before VAT is closer to what you'll pay.
Related guides
How we price: each figure is a Bricken quote built from the sizes, at standard UK merchant prices and day rates, with a typical builder’s markup. Your builder’s price will differ: get quotes.