Dull extension Q's - costs of moving (1) outside gas meter; (2) drain work

[sugarhoops]

Sorry, completely dull questions but need to know the following:

(1) How we go about getting our outside gas meter moved (otherwise it'll be inside our new extension), and approx cost of this?

(2) The extension will be built over access to a drain (also have a side extension built over drains so I don't believe this is a problem, but I guess there will need to be some strengthening work plus moving the manhole cover which is currently slap bang in middle of our patio). Who does this - builders or water co?

If anyone is feeling bored in the summer hols and has managed to make it to end of my extremely dull post, please reply!

Hi Sugarhoops. I can't answer your first question exactly, but we're about to get gas connected to our new house.
The pipework and the box that holds the gas meter are being installed by national grid. And the meter itself will be installed by British Gas (or whoever your supplier is). So to get it moved, I'd talk to your gas supplier first.

We just had gas meter moved, less than a metre, and it cost £724. It also took eleven men in total to get the job done. Start with your gas supplier, and be prepared to speak to a whole chain of people.

We had to have our gas meter moved ax it was in the old extension that wax being demolished. Unfortunately no one had realised this until about a week before the builder was going to start. I called our gas supplied who said big them and pointed me in the direction if Wales and west utilities (had never heard ov them). Anyway horror of horrors, they said 2 months lead time . After a few more calls and tears we managed to get a cancellation and it didn't end up delaying things much. It was moved about 5 meters and cost about £520.

Oops sorry about typos.

(2) extension over manhole

I was reading up about this for my house extension. I believe you can move it providing its not a main drain owned by the water company -a water search should answer this. (in that case you need to find out from the company if this is allowed in your area). You can ask your builder to lift up the cover and found out the number of in/out connections and their angle to the hole. He should be able to advise you the cost of moving it (hole and drains) depending on how far you want to move. The work should meet building reg standard. I haven't done it myself but any builders here can add to this.

Ouch re: cost of the gas meter move - gutting thing is, they only put it on our house last year when they were renovating gas works up the road, if i'd known then that we were going to extend, i could've had it positioned perfectly for free. Gah!

Our drain has one other house connecting into it (neighbours) and DH tells me its ours to maintain apparently, so I guess builders should be able to move cover for us.

Thanks for all the advice though, will bear in mind lead time to get gas meter moved.

We are in the process of having a kitchen extension / side return built. Our existing drain was smack bang where it needed to be built. We were planning to leave it in place but turns out all the pipe work was in crap condition and it was easier to just move it to somewhere easier to access. Our builders handled it all as it was only for our property. Cost (in London mind) was about £1000 for them to completely rebuild the whole thing in the right spot. Took a good 2-3 days IIRC.

Your water searches on the property are worth a look but your builder should be able to advise whether another property empties into it.

HTH.

On another note, thanks to the posters who commented about moving gas meter, that's another job on our list (although budget will need to recover after kitchen is done!)

We had an awkward existing manhole drain besides our new extension and there was much discussion about moving it. From our discussions, if the drain also received waste from a neighbour then the water company had to be informed about the move as it is a common drain under some regulation. The water company may accept the builders doing the work or may want to inspect it, certainly need to gain permission for the move which can cause delay. If you are the sole property draining into it then you are within your rights to move it.

I think if your neighbours are connected to the drain then you need a build over agreement from the water co. I think it costs about £300 to apply (from memory). Should be info/forms on your water co's website.

OK thanks 2plus1 and schmalex, will get investigating - seems like its all going to add up for both jobs [audible sigh], but it needs doing so got to just get on with it really!

We're not starting building work until next year so I thought i'd get organised and do these 2 jobs way in advance.