Getting water onto site

[Stewpot]

I'm getting quotes in for the utility connections to my prospective plot. Scottish Electricity were straight forward and simple enough, with a 'budget quote' arriving within 24 hours.

 

Scottish Water, on the other hand...

 

They don't dig the trench, they don't have a list of approved contractors, and they can't even tell me where the nearest water main is. Two unhelpful phone calls, and I'm none the wiser about any of it.

So, how do I make progress with this? Is there a map of where the water mains run? Even if there is, how do I know what would be suitable for making a new connection to? Who would have this information?

 

Plot is in Scottish Borders.

[Onoff]

A brief read here suggests you can get asset plans from one of their providers:

 

https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/en/Business-and-Developers/Connecting-to-Our-Network/Pre-Development-Information/Asset-Plans

 

£33 did I see?

[Temp]

When you purchased the plot did your solicitor do "searches"? A good solicitor will contact the utilities to get a map as part of that process. Just in case there is an 11kV line or a gas main under the plot.

 

If you can find out where the utility co has their asset mapping office you might blag a map quicker/free. Worked for me. Free map in a few hours but i had to collect it.

[ProDave]

SW did give us a quote okay,  And when pushed for an "all works" quote, turned out to be the cheapest way to get a road crossing done.

[recoveringbuilder]

Your budget quote from Scottish power will give you a price but no planned route for the connection, Scottish water doesn’t do budget quotes , you have to make a proper application for a connection and then they will give you all the details of where the main is and what they expect you to do, unlike @ProDave they wouldn’t do any of the work for us and we had to organise all the ground work and road crossing which was no easy feat, we couldn’t find anyone to do the road crossing at an acceptable price ( only company who were willing to do it wanted iirc £7k) we ended up getting the water pipe in when SP energy dig up the road for their connection.

 I think perhaps Scottish water won’t reveal the whereabouts of the main until you’ve paid the connection charge because previously people were just connecting themselves up!

[Stewpot]

19 minutes ago, Onoff said:

A brief read here suggests you can get asset plans from one of their providers:

 

https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/en/Business-and-Developers/Connecting-to-Our-Network/Pre-Development-Information/Asset-Plans

 

Now that's what I call helpful information. How come Scottish Water themselves couldn't point me in that direction?

 

 

10 minutes ago, Temp said:

When you purchased the plot did your solicitor do "searches"? A good solicitor will contact the utilities to get a map as part of that process. Just in case there is an 11kV line or a gas main under the plot.

 

Haven't completed on the purchase yet, but I've yet to find a conveyancing solicitor who wants to get involved in the utility connections.

 

5 minutes ago, ProDave said:

SW did give us a quote okay,  And when pushed for an "all works" quote, turned out to be the cheapest way to get a road crossing done.

 

That's interesting. How long ago was that? Maybe things have changed recently. I did get the impression that the people I spoke to on the phone didn't really know how to deal with my enquiry, but they were adamant that they do no more than the actual connection of the pipe that somebody else has dug the trench for. They actually told me that I had to dig up the road myself (I'm willing to try, but I doubt I'd get away with that). At the moment, I don't even know if digging the road is necessary, but I'll pursue one of the plans providers Onoff has pointed me to.

[Stewpot]

7 minutes ago, Christine Walker said:

Your budget quote from Scottish power will give you a price but no planned route for the connection

 

Actually, Scottish Power have provided a map with a new connection marked on it - very interesting, as the nearest suitable cable is much nearer than the nearest neighbouring house, so considerably cheaper that I was fearing (still an arm and half a leg, mind).

 

10 minutes ago, Christine Walker said:

Scottish water doesn’t do budget quotes , you have to make a proper application for a connection and then they will give you all the details of where the main is and what they expect you to do

 

They didn't tell me that. At this stage, I don't yet own the plot, so making an application is a bit previous. I just want some idea of the total cost, so that I can put something of a budget together.

 

12 minutes ago, Christine Walker said:

 I think perhaps Scottish water won’t reveal the whereabouts of the main until you’ve paid the connection charge because previously people were just connecting themselves up!

 

Ha! maybe. But the distance to the nearest water main could be the deciding factor in whether to go for a borehole, in these parts. So SW get a grand for nothing.

[Ed Davies]

In my limited experience (of trying to check whether Scottish Water had a pipe by the road where my road opening was going) their official system is broken. When I found their local office (the SW website had an address which was nearly a decade out of date) and went there they couldn't have been more helpful. Few minutes wait in reception then an engineer took me to his office, called up their plans on his computer, confirmed they didn't have a pipe where I wanted a hole then discussed various options if I wanted a connection.

[ProDave]

4 hours ago, Stewpot said:

 

That's interesting. How long ago was that? Maybe things have changed recently. I did get the impression that the people I spoke to on the phone didn't really know how to deal with my enquiry, but they were adamant that they do no more than the actual connection of the pipe that somebody else has dug the trench for. They actually told me that I had to dig up the road myself (I'm willing to try, but I doubt I'd get away with that). At the moment, I don't even know if digging the road is necessary, but I'll pursue one of the plans providers Onoff has pointed me to.

It was about 4 years ago.  Scottish Water did give an "all works" quote on request but on the day it was a sub contractor that they appointed that came and did the work.

[Redoctober]

5 hours ago, Stewpot said:

I'm getting quotes in for the utility connections to my prospective plot. Scottish Electricity were straight forward and simple enough, with a 'budget quote' arriving within 24 hours.

 

Scottish Water, on the other hand...

 

They don't dig the trench, they don't have a list of approved contractors, and they can't even tell me where the nearest water main is. Two unhelpful phone calls, and I'm none the wiser about any of it.

So, how do I make progress with this? Is there a map of where the water mains run? Even if there is, how do I know what would be suitable for making a new connection to? Who would have this information?

 

Plot is in Scottish Borders.

 

Hi @Stewpot we too are in the Scottish Borders and have been since 2018. If you wish to pop along to discuss any aspects of your build etc,. drop me a PM as I would be more than happy to assist.

 

We used Scottish Water and found them to be OK to work with but that said, they were the more difficult to do so out of the utility companies. Like you, we wanted a likely cost of connections before committing to the plot. Our connection to the mains was across a single track country lane. Having identified it made the application a touch easier and I eventually got a cost out of them. 

 

They don't do road trenches etc - that said I found a local company which are Highways approved. They were more than reasonable and I believe the cost of digging up the road etc and making the connection in readiness for SW was about £900 - SW charged me just under £1k for there parts.

 

If you haven't already done so, take a look at my blog - it might be helpful.

[Stewpot]

3 hours ago, Ed Davies said:

In my limited experience (of trying to check whether Scottish Water had a pipe by the road where my road opening was going) their official system is broken. When I found their local office (the SW website had an address which was nearly a decade out of date) and went there they couldn't have been more helpful. Few minutes wait in reception then an engineer took me to his office, called up their plans on his computer, confirmed they didn't have a pipe where I wanted a hole then discussed various options if I wanted a connection.

 

It's often much simpler to speak to someone face to face. So far, in this Big Adventure, most things have been fairly straightforward[1], and most people have been friendly and helpful; even the SW people were friendly, they just didn't seem to be on top of the information, and so were not very helpful.

 

[1] Mind you, I haven't actually started to build anything yet.

[Temp]

13 hours ago, Stewpot said:

Haven't completed on the purchase yet, but I've yet to find a conveyancing solicitor who wants to get involved in the utility connections.

 

No they won't do that but they sghould get utility maps as part of the normal searches they do for any house purchase, eg to check there don't need to be wayleaves or other rights of way/access.

 

Typically it takes a solicitor 3-4 weeks to get them from the utility company. What I did was call them up pretending I was digging on site and had found a cable/pipe. Asked if any chance I could pop into their office later same day to pickup a map. Said I didn't need a meeting of anything. Had a map same day. They need the coordinates and scale you want. 

 

Once you know where the nearest services are you can estimate likely costs. Most of which is usually the cost of digging trenches in the verge/road. If they are in the road past the plot that's about as good as it gets. Any services that are more than say 50m away should start affecting the value of the plot as you could be looking at £5-10k to get them to the site. Main thing to check is that none of the route is privately owned.

 

You can also ask neighbours or physically look for manholes or access hatches.

[Stewpot]

Part of the problem is that the plot is past the last house on the lane. I'm as certain as I can certainly be that there are no utility services going under the site. I can see no reason why a water pipe would come this far up the lane - I've scouted around for stopcock covers, and suchlike, but nothing obvious, and local knowledge was not particularly helpful on this matter. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the route the electricity cable took (it comes up the lane, only to go back down someone's driveway) which provides me with a nearby connection point, albeit on the other side of the road. Maybe I'll get lucky with the water, too. I'll see if the solicitor has any information before I blow thirty quid on a plans service.

[Thedreamer]

15 hours ago, Ed Davies said:

In my limited experience (of trying to check whether Scottish Water had a pipe by the road where my road opening was going) their official system is broken. When I found their local office (the SW website had an address which was nearly a decade out of date) and went there they couldn't have been more helpful. Few minutes wait in reception then an engineer took me to his office, called up their plans on his computer, confirmed they didn't have a pipe where I wanted a hole then discussed various options if I wanted a connection.

 

Definitely agree with this. Make contact with the local utilities crews and all these jobs will be far simpler.

 

Our main is on the other side of a single track road. I was fortunate knew where an existing duct was, we dug down on the verge found the duct and was able to thread the pipe through,  this saved on somebody opening the road and the only cost was a small fee to Highland Council for this.  

 

No point explaining that to head office, but the local road dept and Scottish water team were all happy and this saved time and money.