When it comes to Dial Before You Dig, one of the most common questions we get asked is,
“How long does it take to get plans back from Dial Before You Dig?”
Now, of course, we are always more than happy to answer any and all questions we get. But as this question does get asked pretty much every second day, we thought why not take the time to produce a video of Ben Minutoli, our manager at Geelong Cable Locations, actually putting in a Dial Before You Dig.
In the video he makes a request for underground service plans through the Dial Before You Dig, online portal, for an intersection in Belmont, which for those of you not from or familiar with Geelong, Belmont is a suburb just outside of Geelong.
He then does a video recording of his screen, which you watch, in realtime, as each email arrives in his mailbox, from the asset holders, who are registered with DBYD to have plans in that particular area.
So the idea of this video is so that YOU, get to see first hand a ‘Dial Before You Dig’ request get made, and then you, get to watch exactly how long it does take for the plans to come back, all in real time, so that you can see exactly how long it does take.
NOTE – Now, I don’t know if we really need to go and say this, as you should know, but hey we better anyway.
This video is just a guide, and we don’t guarantee when you put your Dial Before You Dig request in, that you will get plans back from the asset owners, that are registered with Dial Before You Dig, in the area of works, for which you are digging in, in the exactly the same amount of time, that it took in this video, but it should still give you a pretty good guide.
Quality Warning – This video was just produced in-house, so the visual and audio recording are nothing special, but, for the purpose of the video it should be more than ok, as the only purpose of the video really is for you to see how long it takes for the plans to come back in.
And we do think that a few of you will be quite surprised when you see how long it does actually take, all up.
Ok, so you have now watched the video, so let us know what do you think, did they come back in the time you were expecting? For those of you that have been in and around the construction industry for a few years, I reckon you will have to admit, that the plans do come back today faster than they ever have in the past.
So really, the old excuse of “you can’t wait around for plans to come back from Dial Before You Dig” can’t be used anymore.
Now we also want to let you know, if you are planning a job and would like us to do the locating for you, then we can do the Dial Before You Dig request for you. You will just need to let us know in advance.
But, even if we put a request in, we do advise that it is still recommended that you put your own request in as well, this way you can have a better read over all the documentation that comes out with the plans so that you are more prepared.
To put a request in, simply go to www.1100.com.au
And of course, like always, if you have any questions or even any ideas for other videos you would like us to do for you, then don’t hesitate to contact us, or leave a comment below.
4 Responses
Nice video Ben, well done for taking the time to put this together. Just a note, the plans don’t come back from Dial Before You Dig, they come back from the individual utilities. Keep up the great work.
Graeme.
Hi Graeme,
Thank you for watching the video and making the effort to writing a comment, I really appreciate it.
Yes you are 100% correct, the plans come back from the utility companies that are members of Dial Before You Dig, not Dial Before You Dig themselves. When I watched over the video again I actually thought to myself I should have really explained that part a bit better.
But then I thought to myself I really just want to get the video out there so I can start using it. My idea is that everytime someone replies to one of my emails saying “they haven’t got time to wait for Dial Before You Dig plans” I will just send my normal email saying “most of the utility companies now use an automated system to send plans out and generally don’t take that long”, but now I can also add to that line “and here is a link to a video I did recently, actually showing me waiting for plans to come in and showing how long it really did take”
I’m guessing most of the guys that will watch this video would have used DBYD before so hopefully they should understand the part of DBYD being just a referral organisation and not the ones that do the plans.
But it still is a very good point you have raised, so thank you.
I’m thinking I might also do a beginners video for those that haven’t used DBYD before, just going over how to put a request in, what you can expect to get back and what you won’t get back. Something more aimed at the homeowner rather than the construction worker like this one was. When I do I will definitely breakdown this part of it in more details.
Thanks again,
Regards
Ben
Hi Ben
I have my start date in but get all my plans before this can I legally start works before my requested start date.?
Sorry Shane, can you repeat that question so I can understand it better.
Are you saying you have put in the start date in your Dial Before you Dig request, and have now got all the plans back, but you want to know if you can start the work now, or if you still have to wait till that start date you entered?
Or are you saying something different alltogher?