Site Water and Power Questions Checklist

Find the main stopcock, note the room and what it sits behind, and check by hand whether it actually turns before anyone needs it in a hurry.

Stopcocks that have not moved in a long time frequently seize, and discovering that during an escape of water is the worst possible moment.

If the stopcock does not move easily, stop and ask a qualified professional rather than forcing it.

Note where the consumer unit and main switch sit, whether they can be reached without a ladder, and whether anything is stacked in front of them.

Access to the main switch matters most at the moment it is needed, and in many houses it is behind coats, boxes or a fitted cupboard.

Record where the water meter, electricity meter and any external isolation point are, including whether a key, code or tool is needed to reach them.

External points are often in a footway box or a locked cupboard, and the absence of a key stops the work rather than delaying it.

Walk the outside and note every tap, socket and light fed from the house, including anything in a shed, garage, greenhouse or garden wall.

Garden and outbuilding supplies are regularly forgotten until something stops working, and they are often the ones a working team would use.

If the property has a well, borehole, storage tank, pump or a private drainage arrangement, write down what you know about it and what you do not.

Private arrangements change what isolation means entirely, and a qualified professional will want to know they exist before anything is planned.

A private supply or private drainage arrangement should be discussed with a qualified professional before any work affects it.

Photograph each supply point in position and mark them on a simple plan that can be handed to whoever works on the property.

A marked plan turns a series of first-morning questions into one sheet of paper, and it stays useful long after the work finishes.

Ask whoever will carry out the work what they expect to draw water and electricity from, and record the answer rather than assuming an outdoor socket will do.

Working arrangements vary widely, and the answer determines whether anything temporary needs arranging before the first working period.

Ask whether any equipment runs continuously, such as drying, dehumidifying or extraction plant, and where each item would be plugged in.

Continuously running equipment behaves differently from occasional tool use, and it usually needs a position agreed rather than chosen at the last moment.

Note which sockets and lights serve the area being worked on, and ask what happens to them once work starts in that part of the property.

Rooms adjoining the work often lose power without anyone expecting it, because a circuit rarely stops where a room does.

Ask whether a temporary supply arrangement is proposed rather than using the existing installation, and who is responsible for arranging it.

A temporary arrangement usually involves other parties and lead-in work, so it is one of the earliest things to establish.

Any temporary supply arrangement belongs with a suitably qualified professional and, where relevant, the supply provider. Nothing here suggests one is or is not needed.

Walk the route a cable or hose would follow from the supply point to the work area, and note every door, threshold and stair it would cross.

Cables and hoses across a threshold are a daily nuisance and a common cause of doors being left open, so the route is worth agreeing early.

Ask whether anything will be left running when nobody is present, and agree how you will be told before that happens rather than after.

Equipment running in an empty property worries neighbours, affects usage records and is a frequent source of avoidable friction.

Identify the nearest tap the work could realistically use, and check whether it works and whether reaching it means passing through the house.

An unusable or awkwardly placed tap pushes water collection indoors, which changes the protection arrangements for the rest of the property.

Ask where water used for washing tools, cutting or mixing is intended to go, and record what you are told rather than assuming it is obvious.

Wash-out water carries fine solids, and where it is put has consequences for drainage that appear long after the work has finished.

What may be discharged to a drain, a gully or the ground is governed locally. Confirm the position with the relevant authority or a qualified professional.

Note where gullies, drainage covers and downpipes sit along the working route, and mark them so nothing is stacked or parked on top of them.

Covers and gullies are broken by wheels and stacked material more often than by anything else on a domestic project.

Ask whether water will be needed inside the property, and if so at which sink or basin, so the arrangement is agreed rather than assumed on the day.

A household sink used for mixing and washing out is one of the most common sources of avoidable damage and irritation.

Ask what happens to an outside tap and any exposed pipework during colder conditions while the property is open to the weather.

Exposed pipework in an open building behaves differently from pipework in a heated house, and the consequences are not always visible immediately.

Protecting pipework in an open or unheated property is a matter for a qualified professional rather than something to judge yourself.

Ask who turns the water back on after any isolation, and how you would know it had been done before the household relies on it.

Supplies restored without anyone saying so, and supplies left off once everyone has gone, both cause problems that one agreed arrangement prevents.

Write down everything in the household that stops working when the water is off, including heating, hot water, a toilet and a washing machine.

Seeing the list makes clear whether an interruption is an inconvenience or a reason to be elsewhere, and that changes what you agree to.

Write down what stops when the electricity is off, including a boiler, a fridge freezer, a door entry system, an alarm and any care equipment.

Owners usually think of lights and forget the systems that quietly depend on power until the moment they fail.

Agree how much notice you receive before a planned isolation, and by what route that notice reaches you if you are not at the property.

Notice is what turns an interruption into an arrangement, and agreeing the route matters as much as agreeing the notice.

Note anyone in the household who depends on continuous power or water for health reasons, and raise it before any isolation is planned.

This changes the whole arrangement and needs to be known by everyone involved rather than mentioned on the morning it matters.

Where someone depends on a supply for medical reasons, raise it with the supply provider and a qualified professional well before work is arranged.

Decide in advance what the household does during an interruption, including where you would wash and what you would do about food and heating.

Deciding this calmly beforehand is far easier than improvising it at the point when the supply has already gone off.

Ask what happens if an isolation cannot be reversed at the end of the working period, and who is responsible for telling you and for putting it right.

Most difficult interruptions are the ones that were meant to be brief, and the arrangement for that case is rarely agreed in advance.

Take a dated photograph of every meter reading before work begins, and again when it finishes, so both parties can refer to the same record.

A dated image settles a question that is otherwise argued from memory, and it takes almost no effort at the right moment.

Agree in writing whose responsibility the water and electricity used by the work is, and record that agreement before anyone starts drawing on it.

This is settled easily in advance and awkwardly afterwards, particularly where equipment has been running continuously.

Note whether any meter needs a physical key, card or code to operate, and who would deal with it if the supply cut out during a working period.

A supply that stops mid-morning with nobody at home to restore it wastes a working period and is entirely preventable.

Ask whether any part of the work would draw from a neighbouring or communal supply, and treat that as something to agree before work begins.

Drawing from a communal or neighbouring supply without agreement is one of the quickest ways to lose goodwill in a shared building.

Using a communal or neighbouring supply is a matter for the managing party or the other owner. Ask them directly rather than assuming it is acceptable.

Write down the account references for each supply and where the paperwork is kept, so a query can be raised without hunting through a drawer.

Every conversation with a supply provider begins with these, and having them to hand shortens what is otherwise a long phone call.

Keep the meter photographs and the usage agreement with the rest of the project papers rather than loose on a phone.

Records that live in one place are the ones that are still findable when a question comes up after the work has ended.

Ask whether the stopcock serving your property also serves another, and note where it sits in relation to the boundary between you.

Shared stopcocks are common in older terraces and conversions, and turning one off affects a household that was never told.

In a shared building, find the communal intake cupboard or meter room, note who holds the key and how access to it is arranged.

Access to a communal intake is usually controlled by a managing party, and arranging it takes longer than most owners expect.

Note any pipe, cable, gutter or duct that appears to cross a boundary, and raise it as a question rather than acting on an assumption.

Services crossing boundaries raise both practical and consent questions, and they are usually discovered when something stops working.

Anything crossing a boundary is a matter for a qualified adviser and the other party. Do not assume a right to work on it.

Ask the managing party or freeholder what they expect to be told before any communal supply is isolated, and record their answer in writing.

Managing parties normally have their own arrangements, and they are the first place a complaint from another resident will be directed.

Where a supply is shared, agree who tells the affected neighbours and how far in advance, rather than leaving it to whoever is holding the tool.

An unannounced loss of water next door does more lasting damage to a neighbour relationship than the noise of the work itself.

Write down what you were told about shared supplies, who told you, and when, since these answers are often given verbally and then forgotten.

Answers about shared supplies are given casually at a doorstep and remembered differently, so the note made at the time is what settles it.

Note where the gas meter and its isolation control are, whether anything blocks reaching them, and who at the property knows where they sit.

Knowing the position is owner-side knowledge worth having, entirely separately from anything being done to the supply.

Never carry out or arrange any work on a gas supply yourself. Anything involving gas belongs with a suitably qualified and registered professional.

List which appliances are fed by which supply, including anything in a garage or outbuilding, so nothing is overlooked when isolation is discussed.

Appliances outside the main house are routinely forgotten, and an isolation that seemed complete turns out not to have been.

Ask what is intended for any existing flue, vent or air brick in the work area, and record it as a question for a qualified professional.

Flues and ventilation openings serve appliances and rooms in ways that are not obvious from looking at them.

Anything affecting a flue, a vent or the air supply to a fuel-burning appliance must be established by a suitably qualified professional first.

Note any oil tank, solid fuel store, heat pump or other arrangement at the property, and write down who currently looks after each.

These are frequently omitted from a conversation that focuses on water and electricity, and each has its own handling questions.

Ask what happens to smoke and other detectors while dust is being created, and who is responsible for restoring them afterwards.

Detectors taken down for dust and never replaced is a well-known pattern on domestic projects, and nobody notices until far later.

Detection arrangements belong with a qualified professional. Do not decide yourself what may be removed or left disabled, or for how much of the work.

Write down who currently services each system at the property and how to reach them, so they can be contacted before anything is disturbed.

The person who last serviced a system usually knows things about it that are not written down anywhere else.