Visit our sister company, HR Surveyors, for precision engineering surveys.

Menu

HR Utilities locating private underground services on a commercial site

Private services

Private Utility Locating for Services Not on BYDA Plans

BYDA plans cover registered asset owner infrastructure. They do not cover private drains, after-meter electrical, fire services, internal site services, or abandoned lines. HR Utilities locates these assets so they do not become surprises during excavation.

We use GPR, electromagnetic induction, visible site evidence, and survey control to investigate private services across Melbourne, Geelong, Victoria, and Western Australia.

The service that strikes your crew may not be on any plan

Project teams often assume a thick BYDA pack means the site is understood. In reality, many services sit outside the public asset owner network. Once excavation starts, those private services become the highest-risk items.

HR Utilities helps identify private and undocumented services before ground disturbance, so supervisors can brief crews on what the plans show and what the ground shows.

Private services we commonly locate

These assets often appear on site but rarely appear on BYDA plans.

equipment icon

After-meter electrical

Consumer mains, sub-mains, and private electrical runs from the meter to buildings or switchboards.

camera icon

Private drains

Site drainage, internal sewer lines, and stormwater pipes installed by owners or previous tenants.

gps icon

Fire services

Private fire hydrant mains, booster assemblies, and sprinkler lines.

data icon

Abandoned services

Old pipes and cables left in place that still react to locators and excavation equipment.

How private utility locating works

Private services need a deliberate field investigation because records are often missing or unreliable.

  1. 1

    Review BYDA plans, site history, as-builts, and any private asset records held by the client.

  2. 2

    Walk the site to identify visible clues: pits, valves, meter boxes, patch marks, conduits, and surface changes.

  3. 3

    Use GPR and EMI to scan for metallic and non-metallic services beyond the BYDA coverage.

  4. 4

    Mark findings and record depth indicators where conditions allow.

  5. 5

    Survey the results and deliver CAD/GIS plans with AS5488 quality notes and clear limitations.

Private utility locating outputs

  • Marked service alignments for site crews
  • Utility plan showing detected private services
  • AS5488 quality level attribution for each detection
  • CAD/GIS-ready data and method notes for project records

Questions project teams ask

Does BYDA cover private services?

No. BYDA is a referral service to registered asset owners. Private services installed by property owners, tenants, or contractors are usually outside that network.

Can private services be located without plans?

Often yes. HR Utilities uses field detection methods, visible site evidence, and inference from nearby known services to investigate private assets. Limitations are documented clearly.

What quality level applies to private service locating?

It depends on the investigation. Records alone are QL-D. Field detection with survey pickup is typically QL-B. Physical exposure through non-destructive digging is QL-A.

Ready for Precision Utility Mapping?

Expert utility locating services with BYDA certified precision.

Serving projects across Australia with advanced subsurface mapping solutions.