Construction Utilities and Services Questions Checklist

Walk the boundary and note every cover, chamber, meter box, pole and stopcock you can see, marking roughly where each sits on a sketch of the plot.

Owners can gather most of this without equipment, and it gives the design team a starting picture of what a survey will need to confirm properly.

Note which services arrive overhead and which arrive underground, since the two raise very different questions for anything built nearby.

Overhead lines and buried routes both restrict what can happen around them, and the restriction is usually discovered late if nobody asks early.

Never assume the position or depth of any buried or overhead service; only the relevant provider and qualified specialists can establish where they run.

Write down which services you believe are shared with a neighbouring property, and how you came to believe it.

Shared supplies and shared drainage change who has to be consulted and can limit what may be altered without someone else agreeing to it.

Ask whether anything crossing your land serves someone else, and accept that the answer may not be discoverable from what is visible.

A pipe or cable serving another property can constrain where foundations and structures may go, and often carries rights attached to it.

Rights attached to services crossing land are a legal matter to establish from title documents with a qualified adviser, not from what is on site.

Photograph every meter, chamber cover and connection point before any work begins, including whatever is written or stamped on them.

The markings often identify the operator, and photographs taken beforehand settle later questions about what was there and in what condition.

Note where water goes when it rains hard, which downpipes discharge where, and whether any part of the ground stays wet long afterwards.

Standing water and overloaded gullies are visible to an occupant and are exactly the observations a drainage designer wants to hear about.

Ask whether foul and surface water leave the property separately or together, and record that you are asking rather than stating.

How drainage is separated affects what may be added to it, and owner assumptions on this point are frequently wrong on older properties.

What may be connected to any existing drain is determined by the drainage undertaker and qualified professionals and must be confirmed for your property.

Note whether the property drains to a public system, a private system, or something nobody has ever identified to you.

A private system brings maintenance and consent questions that a public connection does not, and it changes early design thinking considerably.

Ask what a drainage investigation would involve here, and whether it should happen before or after a layout is worked up.

Finding a drain in an awkward position after the layout has been settled is a common reversal and an avoidable one.

Record any history of blockage, backing up or flooding at the property, including anything a previous occupant mentioned to you.

History that is not written down is rarely volunteered at the right moment, and it changes what a designer will propose.

Note where the incoming supply enters, where the meter sits, and whether the arrangement looks original to the building or added later.

The entry point constrains what can be built around it and is one of the first things a professional will want to see for themselves.

Ask what the additions you are considering, such as new circuits, heating equipment or vehicle charging, would mean for the existing supply.

Substantial new electrical demand raises questions about the incoming supply, which is a matter for the network operator rather than the design team.

Whether an incoming supply is adequate for anything proposed is determined by the network operator and a qualified electrical professional, never assumed.

Ask who applies to the network operator if any change to the supply is needed, and whether that sits with you or with the contractor.

Applications to network operators often sit outside the building contract, and unclaimed responsibility is what leaves them unmade.

Note whether the meter position would be disturbed by anything you are considering, such as building over or across the entry point.

Moving a meter involves the operator rather than the builder, and it is normally arranged well before work reaches that point.

Write down whether the property has any generation or storage equipment, and ask what its presence means for the works.

Existing generation or storage equipment introduces isolation and reconnection questions that need raising with qualified people early.

Record what currently heats the property and what heats the water, noting whether they are the same system or two separate ones.

This is the baseline every later discussion is measured against, and owners often describe it less precisely than they think they do.

Note whether a gas connection exists, where the meter sits, and whether you are aware of any capped or unused supply anywhere on the property.

An unused or forgotten supply is a serious matter to raise before anyone digs or opens up, and only you may know that it is there.

Any question about a gas supply, whether live, capped or merely suspected, must go to a suitably qualified gas professional and the relevant operator.

If you are considering a change of heating fuel, write down what is driving that and what you would accept losing in order to achieve it.

Changing fuel affects space, servicing, ventilation and the incoming supply, so the reasoning is worth stating before options are discussed.

Ask what space and ventilation any heating option under discussion would need, rather than assuming it can occupy exactly what the old one used.

Replacement equipment frequently needs different space and air arrangements, and that is discovered late if nobody asks the question early.

Note where fuel is stored if the property uses stored fuel, and whether that store would be affected by the works or the access route.

Fuel storage constrains construction access and may need to stay in service throughout the works, which affects how they are planned.

Note where the main stopcock is and where any secondary isolation points sit, and ask a qualified professional to establish whether each one still operates.

An owner who knows where isolation points are answers a question that would otherwise take a professional an unproductive visit to establish.

Do not test an old or stiff isolation valve yourself; whether it still works is for a qualified professional to establish and to deal with if it does not.

Describe the water pressure and flow you actually experience, including whether it drops noticeably when more than one outlet is in use.

Observed behaviour is genuinely useful input to any discussion about extra bathrooms or appliances, without requiring any measurement at all.

Ask what adding outlets would mean for the supply serving the property, and note that the answer depends on things nobody can see yet.

This is a question the design team and the undertaker answer together, and treating it as settled early is a frequent mistake.

Whether an existing supply can serve additional fittings is for a qualified professional and the water undertaker to determine for your property.

Note whether the property has any stored water, tanks or pumps, and where each of them currently sits.

Storage and pumping equipment occupies space that is often assumed to be free the moment a loft or a cupboard is redrawn.

Record whether you know what the incoming supply pipe is made of, and treat not knowing as the normal answer rather than a failing.

The material and route of the incoming pipe affects what can happen at the entry point and is often established only by excavation.

Note where the telecoms line enters the building and where the router and any external connection box currently sit.

The entry point often sits exactly where an alteration is being imagined, and moving it involves the provider rather than the builder.

Ask what happens to the connection if its entry point falls inside an area being altered, and who arranges any move.

Moves of this kind are arranged with the provider and usually need requesting well before the wall in question is touched.

Any relocation of a telecoms or data connection is arranged with the relevant provider, whose process and requirements you should confirm with them directly.

Write down where you genuinely need connectivity in the finished building, including anywhere you might work, study or watch something.

Data routes are simple to plan while the walls are open and disruptive to add afterwards, so the requirement belongs in the brief.

List the small wired items you expect, such as a doorbell, alarm, aerial or external camera, and note where each would need a cable to reach.

These are routinely left out of early discussions and then have to be surface mounted because nothing was provided for them.

Ask when decisions about cable routes have to be made relative to the rest of the work on site.

Cable route decisions have an unforgiving point after which they become disruptive, and knowing where that point falls helps you prepare.

Ask what services the contractor expects to use during the works and whose supply those will be drawn from.

Whether power and water for the works come from your supply or a separate arrangement is far better settled before anyone starts.

Discuss whether you intend to remain in occupation and what that means for keeping services running throughout the work.

Living through the works constrains how and when services can be interrupted, which changes how the work itself has to be planned.

Ask how you will be told in advance about any interruption to water, power or heating, and by whom.

Notice arrangements are easy to agree at the start and impossible to agree pleasantly during an unexpected shutdown.

Note which services must not be interrupted at all, such as anything supporting medical equipment or a business run from the property.

Continuity requirements are obvious only to you and need stating plainly rather than being assumed to be understood by everyone.

If anyone at the property depends on continuous power or water for health reasons, raise it directly with the relevant provider and a qualified professional.

Agree in writing who is responsible for reinstating any service disconnected during the works, and to what condition.

Reinstatement responsibility is frequently assumed by both sides and confirmed by neither until something is left disconnected.

Write down, for each service, who is expected to contact the provider: you, the designer, or the contractor.

Naming a person against each application is the single most effective thing an owner can do about this entire subject.

Ask which applications or enquiries need making before design decisions are finalised rather than afterwards.

Some provider responses shape what can be designed, so making the enquiry late can force an agreed design to be reworked.

Keep a single list of every application made, when it went, and the reference given back by the provider.

Provider correspondence is easily lost across several parties, and the reference is what any chase later depends on.

Ask what information the provider will need from you personally, such as evidence of ownership or account details.

Providers often need something only the account holder can supply, and that request arrives at the worst moment if it is unanticipated.

Note which enquiries have no committed response point, so that nothing downstream is planned around an assumption about them.

Treating an open-ended enquiry as though it will be answered promptly is a common way for an otherwise well-organised project to stall.