A slow shower in Lakeland or a kitchen sink that backs up in Bartow is usually the same short list: hair, grease, soap, wipes, or roots in the main. Store-bought cleaner punches a hole through that mess and leaves the rest on the pipe wall. Professional drain cleaning removes the blockage and tests the flow before we leave.
This post is for people who already want the service. It is not a DIY chemical recipe. It also covers what a backup costs if you wait.
We do not publish a True drain-cleaning dollar amount because those jobs are not one job. You get the price after we see the line. True Home members skip the dispatch fee and get 5 percent off repairs. Membership is $24.99 a month on the membership page.
Our drain page already says most cleanings finish in under an hour. Hydro jetting or a camera on a bad main takes longer.
Snake or hydro jet
Mechanical snaking is the right first move on a localized clog: a bath trap full of hair, a kitchen P-trap full of grease. The cable breaks the blockage up and we pull it out.
Hydro jetting is the move when the whole line is coated. High-pressure water scours the wall, which is what you want on restaurant grease, sludge, or roots that a cable only punches through. We use it on homes too when the camera or the repeat-clog history says the pipe is dirty end to end.
We decide that on site. You get the price before we switch tools.
A camera is the extra step when the clog repeats, when more than one fixture is slow, or when we need to see a belly, a break, or roots before anyone talks about a replacement. That is a diagnostic add-on, quoted like the rest of the job.
What we clear
Bathroom sinks, showers, tubs, toilets, kitchen lines, laundry stands, floor drains, and the main sewer line.
Lakeland is first on our list because that is the market we work hardest. The same trucks cover Winter Haven, Auburndale, and Bartow from the four offices on Frontage Road, US-92, and Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road.
Signs it is a service call, not a plunger night
- Water draining slower than last month in more than one fixture
- Gurgling when a toilet flushes or a washer drains
- Smell from a drain that cleaner did not fix
- Water showing up in the tub when the washer runs
- A clog that comes back after you already snaked it yourself
If sewage is coming up, treat it as emergency plumbing and call (863) 667-6364. Do not keep running water.
What happens if you wait
A slow drain that you keep hitting with a bottle is how a same-day cleaning becomes a restoration invoice.
Florida restoration companies in 2026 put a contained sewage cleanup around $2,000 to $10,000. Multi-room black-water jobs, subfloor pull, and HVAC decontamination run $15,000 and up in those same write-ups. Category 3 water is often $7 to $14 a square foot. Mold can start in 24 to 48 hours here.
South Florida slab-on-grade repair write-ups put a collapsed or heavily rooted line under concrete in the $8,000 to $18,000 range, sometimes more. Polk County housing is the same construction: slab, older laterals, oaks. We will not invent a True sewer-replacement price. The point is the gap. Clearing the line early is the cheap side of that gap.
Standard homeowners policies often exclude sewer backup unless you bought an endorsement. Check the declarations page. We do not sell insurance.
Polk County specifics
Hard water leaves mineral scale inside pipes. Older Lakeland and Bartow houses add decades of soap and, on some streets, tree roots in clay or older laterals. That mix is why a chemical that “worked last year” stops working.
A camera is how we tell a dirty pipe from a broken one. If the line is broken, cleaning it is not the fix. We will say that before anyone pays for the wrong tool.
What you should not pour
Grease, oil, coffee grounds, wipes (including the ones labeled flushable), and drain cleaner. Cleaner left sitting in a line is how pipes and fixtures get burned. If you already poured it, say so when you call so the technician is not surprised.
A drain screen that catches hair is the cheapest prevention we can name. Our service page still recommends one. Annual cleaning on a high-use kitchen or a house with long hair in three showers is cheaper than a Saturday backup.
What to tell us when you book
Call (863) 667-6364. Tell us the city, which fixture, whether more than one drain is slow, and whether you used a chemical. We quote on site, same as every other plumbing visit. License CFC1428965.
The service page with the full process is drain cleaning in Lakeland and Central Florida. If you want the cost side of the same question, read plumber cost in Lakeland.
