General information, not safety or electrical advice. Each network sets its own process: check with the electricity distributor, gas network and water authority for your address, and request plans of underground assets through Before You Dig Australia.
Note 1 · The rule
One of the most important parts of planning
The model code calls the location and disconnection of all essential services one of the most important elements of planning a demolition. Its essential services include supplies of gas, water, sewerage, telecommunications, electricity, chemicals, fuel and refrigerant carried in pipes or lines.
It also names the danger. Construction work on or near pressurised gas mains or piping, chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines, or energised electrical installations is high risk construction work, and needs a safe work method statement before it starts. Before demolition begins, all live electrical wiring, apart from temporary supply set up for the work, should be disconnected, isolated, or clearly marked and made safe by a competent person, such as an electrical engineer or, where necessary, the electricity supply authority. A service kept on for the work should be protected as the relevant authority requires, overhead powerlines for example.
In NSW, a complying development certificate for demolition requires every essential service to be disconnected in line with each supplier’s requirements, and the application has to say how.
Note 2 · A service schedule
Three services, as three NSW networks describe them
Each network has its own process. This schedule is a worked example from three networks’ own pages in NSW, one for each service; elsewhere, the distributor or authority for your address sets the steps.
| Service | What is needed | Who does it | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity (Ausgrid) | A permanent disconnection when demolishing with no plans to rebuild. For a knock-down rebuild, usually a disconnection now and a new connection later; in some simple rebuilds that keep the meter on site, only a change to the existing connection. | Written approval from the owner, the occupier and the electricity retailer, for each meter. Many customers have an electrician complete the application. A qualified electrical professional does the work, a final reading is taken, and the retailer removes the meter. | Check whether the property has more than one connection: street lights connected to it, lights on exterior walls, overhead lines, or network equipment on or near the site. |
| Gas (Jemena) | A permanent gas abolishment for demolition or major renovation, whether or not you expect to reconnect later; Jemena says a temporary disconnection is not suitable when renovating or rebuilding. | Requested through your energy retailer. A Jemena representative isolates the supply at the street main and removes the meter; the service pipe stays on the property because it is consumer-owned. | Jemena says it strives to remove meters within 20 business days of the request, and urges customers not to book a demolition until the abolishment is done. |
| Water (Sydney Water) | If a property is demolished and no longer needs a water supply, the service is disconnected at the water main. | A licensed plumber must disconnect it. You or your plumber apply through Sydney Water Tap in. | For a short-term disconnection, Sydney Water suggests weighing ongoing service charges against the cost of disconnecting completely. |
Jemena’s page says only Jemena and its authorised contractors may disconnect or abolish gas on its network, and that interfering with gas meters or pipes without authority is a serious offence under the Gas Supply Act, with penalties that may include up to 5 years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $550,000 for an individual or $1.1 million for a company.
Note 3 · Below the ground
What is under the site, and next to it
Cutting the supply does not clear the ground: even after a gas abolishment, Jemena notes, the service pipe stays on the property. The model code says that before excavation work starts, the person with management or control of the workplace must take all reasonable steps to get current information about underground essential services at the site and in the areas next to it. Before You Dig Australia is the free service the code names for that.
- Lodge an enquirySign up, find the site by street address, lot number or coordinates, draw the work area on the map, and describe the project and its dates. BYDA asks for the request at least one day before the job is due to begin.
- Wait for every asset ownerPlans come from the asset owners, not from BYDA. They typically arrive within minutes, but allow up to two business days, and BYDA says not to proceed until you have the information from every affected asset owner.
- Read them as a guideThe plans show that infrastructure is present, not its exact location, and generally do not show the whole domestic connection, only the services delivered to the property. BYDA suggests a skilled locator for assets on private property.
- Look up as wellBYDA’s Look Up and Live tool gives information about overhead powerlines near a work site.
- Expose before you digBecause service information may not be accurate, the code describes potholing: carefully exposing a short section, by hand tools or vacuum excavation, to confirm where a cable or pipe really runs.
If an underground asset is damaged, BYDA says the asset owner must be told immediately. If the scope of the work changes or the plans’ validity dates pass, lodge a new enquiry.
The Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency says a home built or renovated before 1990 might contain asbestos. It also says it is “not recommended that you handle or remove asbestos yourself”, and in New South Wales the law sets limits: a home owner may legally take out non-friable material covering less than 10 square metres themselves, but must take the same strict safety precautions as professional removalists, and any friable material, or more than 10 square metres, needs a licensed removalist. The national agency adds that asbestos waste can only go to a landfill licensed to accept it. Sheet 03 covers asbestos before demolition.
With services cut, capped and mapped, the building is ready for the work itself. Sheet 05 covers the rules for that work.