Common questions
Straight answers about what happens underground, what the standards mean and what you get back. If yours is not here, ring and ask.
- What is utility locating?
- Utility locating is the process of detecting, identifying and tracing underground services before excavation begins. That covers electrical power cables, street lighting and communications conduits, water mains and reticulation, sewer and drainage, gas pipelines, fibre optic networks, irrigation and private service networks. The objective is reliable underground service information that supports safe excavation, design and construction decisions.
- I already have Dial Before You Dig plans. Do I still need a locate?
- Dial Before You Dig plans tell you which authorities have assets in the area and roughly where they run. They are a starting point, not a survey. Plans are frequently out of date, private services are often missing entirely, and an asset can sit metres from where a drawing puts it. A locate reads those plans against what is actually in the ground and marks the services on site, so the crew is digging to reality rather than to a record.
- What is AS 5488 and what do the quality levels mean?
- AS 5488.1 is the Australian Standard that classifies subsurface utility information by how it was obtained, so everyone reading a drawing knows how much to trust it. Quality Level D is existing records and plans. Quality Level C is surface feature correlation. Quality Level B is geophysical detection using electromagnetic locating and ground penetrating radar. Quality Level A is physical verification by potholing. Every Scope Mapping investigation states the quality level it reaches.
- Can you find plastic pipes?
- Not with electromagnetic locating alone, because plastic does not conduct. Many modern networks are plastic water pipe, polyethylene gas main and PVC conduit, and none of them respond to standard EM methods. Ground penetrating radar detects non-metallic services, unknown utilities, voids and other subsurface anomalies, which is why it is run alongside EM locating rather than instead of it.
- What is potholing and when do I need it?
- Potholing is non-destructive vacuum excavation that physically exposes a service so its position, depth, size and material can be confirmed by eye rather than inferred. You need it where a proposed design runs close to an existing asset, at utility crossings, drainage and sewer connections, piling locations, directional drilling routes and congested corridors. It is what takes underground information from a geophysical indication to Quality Level A verification.
- How much does a locate cost?
- No two locates are the same, so there is no online calculator here pretending otherwise. What drives the cost is the extent of works, the size and congestion of the site, which Dial Before You Dig plans have to be ordered, and whether anything has to be physically exposed. Send through the extent of works and the site address and you get a real answer from the person doing the job.
- What do you need from me to quote?
- The site address and the extent of works. A drawing or a scope of works document makes it quicker and more accurate, because it shows where the digging actually is. If you are not sure which service you need, describe the job and we will tell you what it calls for.
- What do the paint colours on the ground mean?
- They identify what is underneath. Red is electrical, orange is communications, blue is water, yellow is gas and green is sewer. The colours follow the standard service marking scheme so any crew arriving on site can read the ground without being briefed.
- What do I actually receive at the end?
- Marks on the ground for the crew, and a record for whoever comes next. Deliverables include DWG and DXF files, PDF plans and mark-ups, CSV coordinate schedules, GIS shapefiles, 3D surface and utility models, and drone orthomosaics and point clouds. Combined with Quality Level A verification through potholing and surveyed utility pickup, these are among the highest quality underground information deliverables available for Western Australian projects.
- Are your locators accredited?
- Locating is carried out by a CERTLOC Certified Locating Organisation. The accreditation is held by the individual locator rather than by the company, which is the correct way to state it. Work is carried out to Dial Before You Dig practice, with plans verified on the ground before anyone digs.
- Do you work outside Perth?
- Yes. Scope Mapping services Perth and regional Western Australia, from metropolitan Perth through to regional Western Australia.
- Do you do land surveying as well?
- No. Land and geospatial surveying is a separate business, Ascon Survey, which we work alongside and share resources with. Scope Mapping does utility survey: the pickup and mapping of located underground services as survey-grade spatial data with CAD and GIS outputs.
Still not sure what your site needs?
Describe the job and we will tell you what it actually calls for. Servicing Perth and regional Western Australia.