On a good day, the locating takes an hour on site. Around that hour sits everything else: a request in an email, a Before You Dig Australia (BYDA) response pack to read, a locator to send, a report to write, an invoice to raise, and a client ringing to ask whether it has been done. For an owner-operator, most of that happens after dark. For a firm with several crews, it is a desk job of its own.
This article is about the business side: how locating firms price work, what eats the office’s time, what certification involves, and what utility locate management software should take off your hands. It isn’t financial or legal advice.
Who buys locates
Most locates are bought by people about to dig: builders, civil contractors, plumbers, irrigation and fencing contractors, plant hire operators, councils, and engineering firms that need services mapped before design. Each wants three things: the job done before their crew arrives, a clear report, and an invoice that matches their purchase order (PO).
Pricing models
Locating firms commonly quote in one of three ways, and many use more than one:
- By the hour. Simple and fair on complex sites, but clients can’t budget it up front.
- By the site. A fixed price for a defined job, such as a house lot or a single crossing. Easy to sell, and a risk when the site turns out bigger than described.
- By the metre. Suits corridors and long trench runs. It needs a clear rule on what a metre covers.
Whatever the model, write down what is in and what is out. Things worth pricing explicitly include travel, a minimum attendance, after-hours work, time spent reading the BYDA pack, radar scanning, vacuum excavation with a truck and operator, written reports, and a return visit when plans expire or the scope changes before the client is ready to dig.
Where the office time goes
- Retyping the site, client, PO and enquiry number from an email into a job sheet, then again into the invoice.
- Opening every PDF in a response pack to see which asset owners responded and what conditions apply. Our guide to reading a response pack sets out an order for it.
- Moving jobs when rain, a rush call or a late plan changes the day.
- Writing reports at night from photos and notes. Our locating report template sets out what each one needs.
- Answering “has it been done?” calls.
Staying certified
CERTLOC runs a national certification program for locators. It says a Certified Locator passes a theory assessment and a practical assessment with an industry assessor, and that certification lasts two years and is renewed by earning 50 continuing education units. A Certified Locating Organisation must hold an Australian Business Number (ABN), employ at least one Certified Locator, hold public liability and professional indemnity insurance, keep its equipment to CERTLOC’s list, and sign CERTLOC’s agreement. CERTLOC also says organisations can choose to be listed on BYDA’s referral service by service area, where people lodging enquiries can see them. Check CERTLOC’s current requirements before you apply.
Those dates add up across a team: certifications, inductions, insurance renewals and equipment calibration. Losing track of one means a locator you can’t send.
Vac trucks and crews
Firms that pair locating with non-destructive digging carry a second schedule: trucks, operators, dockets and tip runs. Vac truck job software that lives apart from the locating schedule means two boards and double booking. One board for locators and trucks avoids it.
What utility locating software should do
- Turn an emailed request and BYDA pack into a draft job, without retyping.
- Show every locator and truck on one board by day or week, with drag to reschedule.
- Put plans, scope, contact and hazards on the locator’s phone, offline.
- Capture each service in the same structure on every job, with quality level and method.
- Produce the report and the invoice from the same job.
- Give clients a portal to book, track and download.
- Hold each locator’s certifications, inductions and calibration dates, and show who is qualified before you assign them.
How OpsChase runs it
OpsChase’s utility locating software does each of those today. Quote by the hour, site or metre, turn the quote into a job once the client confirms, and invoice from the completed job with no double entry. Locators record markouts with photos and sign-off on their phone, and the report is ready before they leave site.
Clients who need regular locates on the same sites can set them up through planned maintenance scheduling.
OpsChase is independent and isn’t affiliated with BYDA, CERTLOC or Standards Australia.
Where to start
Count last week’s jobs and the hours spent on each outside the locate itself. That number is what the software has to beat. Then see pricing or book a demo.