Utilities investigation

[JamesM]

Hi All,

I'm currently looking to buy a friend's plot (land next to his property) and have been checking with the service providers if there is anything under the plot, however this seems to be tricky. It seems to be mixed with free services or paid for searches. I have obtained a free map from National Grid, Affitnity Water which shows the gas and water apparatus in my area and also a report from the linesearchbeforeudig website. However these generally only show mains pipes on the road and not on the plot of land itself. Thames water have also confirmed there are no assets of theirs in the plot area.

As i'm trying to be prudent, I know I can either:

1) hire a solicitor to carry out searches which can range up to £600 for a full utilities search.

2) hire a surveyor to carry out a full Underground utilities survey using Ground Penetrating Radar which can range around £1000

Does anyone have any advice on the best way to obtain services information before starting the design process? Did you carry out utilities survey (or anything else?) before investing money into an architect and planning fees? My main aim is to find any potential risks as early as possible.

Many thanks for your help.

[Ferdinand]

Can you hire a conveyancer for this? Are they less expensive?

 

I don't know, but I would like to know too.

 

When I have had services put in, they have usually brought a metal detector type meter gubbins to find (perhaps some of) water, cables and pipes iirc. Can you hire one of those? That may be your GPR.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by Ferdinand

[PeterW]

You don't need a solicitor to do this for you - a utilities search can be done yourself. Premier Energy do them and the price starts around £100 plus the VAT

[Temp]

You can hire cable locators for around £50 a day. Start by finding any cables shown in the road and look for any branches heading your way. Then do a site walk over?

 

I've only used them for tracing an electric cable not water or gas..

https://www.hss.com/hire/p/cable-avoiding-tool-cat3

 

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by Temp

[Declan52]

A CAT will only detect electric cables, no good for water or gas unless they have marker tape above them  which in most cases they don't.

You can look for the obvious signs of manholes , water pipe marker posts etc and if possible you can use a mouse on the end of sewer rods and trace sewer pipes that way. This can get very messy very quick!!

You can also clip the clamp from the Genny around cables leaving telegraph poles and use the signal going down the cable to trace it. 

Even if you do get info back from utility providers it's generally useless as it will be very vague where the actual utility will be. But its always better to have some idea to what is in the ground. 

Do they have a dial before you dig service where you are at??

[ProDave]

17 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

A CAT will only detect electric cables, no good for water or gas unless they have marker tape above them 

Dowsing rods. And no I am not being silly.

[Declan52]

They do work as i have used them before but being sort of "magic" only certain people seem to have the knack/ability to use them. 

Maybe the force isn't strong in james!!!