Metro Hydrovac Toronto: Scarborough Sewer Backup Case Study, 6 Hours After-Hours, $3,100 CAD and a Closed Insurance Claim

At 10:40 p.m. on a weeknight in January, the property manager for a small commercial plaza near Markham Rd in Scarborough called our dispatch line. Sewage was coming up through a floor drain in a tenant’s basement storage room, and it wasn’t stopping. By 4:45 a.m. the backup was gone, the blockage was exposed and photographed, and the adjuster had a complete file waiting in their inbox. The invoice came to $3,100 CAD.

This is that job, hour by hour, with what was on the invoice and why. If you manage property in the GTA, it is a fair picture of what a well-run 24/7 emergency hydrovac call looks like.

The Call: 10:40 p.m.

The property manager told us three things: the sewage was coming from a floor drain, the tenant’s stock was at risk, and their insurer had already opened a claim. That last part mattered. When an insurance claim is involved, our crew documents every step for the adjuster from the moment we arrive.

We confirmed the address, asked whether anyone had shut off water use in the building (they had asked tenants to stop using fixtures), and sent the 6,000 gallon unit with a two-person crew from our Toronto yard.

Arrival: 11:55 p.m.

The crew arrived about 75 minutes after the call. Before touching anything, they:

• Took time-stamped arrival photos of the building, the basement and the floor drain.
• Confirmed with the property manager where the building’s sanitary cleanout was.
• Checked for any electrical hazards in the flooded room before entering.

Standing sewage covered most of the storage room floor, roughly 50 mm deep, and the drain was still pushing water up slowly.

Vacuum Removal: Midnight to 2:00 a.m.

With the hose run down the basement stairs, the crew vacuumed the standing sewage into the truck. The 6,000 gallon tank meant the whole job could be done without a dump trip in the middle of the night, which saved roughly an hour of billable time.

Once the floor was clear, the crew opened the building’s main sanitary cleanout. It was full to the cap. The blockage was downstream of the cleanout, somewhere between the building and the municipal sewer connection.

Finding the Blockage: 2:00 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.

From the cleanout, the crew vacuumed the backed-up line and worked the blockage loose. The cause was a buildup of grease and wipes about 4 m from the cleanout, where the lateral dipped slightly. Once it broke free, the line started draining and the water level in the cleanout dropped steadily.

The crew photographed the material pulled from the line and the clear cleanout afterwards. That is the evidence an adjuster uses to settle cause of loss, so it gets taken carefully, with time stamps and a scale reference.

Why the photos matter

Cause of loss decides how a claim is handled. A backup caused by a blockage in the building’s own lateral is treated differently from a municipal sewer surcharge. Clear, time-stamped photos of what came out of the line settle that question quickly.

Clean-Up and Handover: 3:30 a.m. to 4:45 a.m.

After the line was flowing, the crew flushed the floor drain, vacuumed the remaining water from the storage room and washed down the work area. They then:

• Took departure photos of the cleaned room, the drain and the closed cleanout.
• Recorded total volume removed and the hours on site for each crew member.
• Walked the property manager through what was found and where.

The truck left at 4:45 a.m. and went to a licensed facility for disposal first thing in the morning.

The Invoice: $3,100 CAD

The job ran just under 6 hours on site, billed in the after-hours band. Here is roughly how it broke down:

Line	Detail
After-hours emergency response	6,000 gal truck + 2-person crew, ~6 hrs, inside the $450-$650/hr band
Mobilization	One fixed line
Disposal	One load to a licensed facility
Documentation	Included: photo log, hour log, volumes
Total	$3,100 CAD

There was no separate charge for the photo file and no night surcharge on top of the published off-hours rate. The property manager forwarded the invoice and the photo log to the adjuster before 9 a.m., and the claim closed without a follow-up call.

What Made This One Go Smoothly

Looking back, three things kept this job short and the claim clean:

1. The right truck. Sending the 6,000 gallon unit meant no mid-job dump trip.
2. Documentation from minute one. Arrival photos, the blockage, the clean line and departure photos, all time stamped.
3. A property manager who called early. Every hour a backup sits, the clean-up and the claim get bigger.

When to Call Us After Hours

Our 24/7 line is for water main breaks, sewer backups and insurance claims anywhere in Toronto, Mississauga, Vaughan, Markham, Brampton and Oakville. Off-hours rates are $450-$650 CAD per hour and weekends and holidays $500-$700, with a 4-hour minimum. Everything else is scheduled during business hours as part of our regular hydrovac services in Toronto and the GTA.

If your building has had a backup before, it is also worth booking a scheduled sewer and culvert cleaning visit to flush the lateral before the next one.

Sewage coming up right now? Call our 24/7 emergency hydrovac line at (647) 251-8377