Does 811 Cost Money? What's Free, What Isn't, and What 811 Won't Mark

No. Calling 811 is free. There is no charge to place the ticket, and no charge for the utility operators to come out and mark their lines. It is funded by the utility operators themselves, not by the person digging.

It is also not optional. Every state requires notification before excavation, and in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana that means at least two full business days before you dig.

What the free call actually covers

811 notifies the utility operators in your area. Each one sends a locator to mark the lines they own, up to the meter. That includes the gas main to your house, the power service from the street, the water main, and the telecom lines running through the right of way. You pay nothing for any of it.

Where costs can appear

The call is free, but three things can cost money:

Damage. If you dig without calling and hit a line, you can be liable for the repair, the lost service, and any penalty the state applies. Repairs to a fibre trunk or a gas main run into five figures quickly. This is the expensive way to find out where a line was.

Digging outside your ticket. Tickets cover a described area for a limited window, commonly around 21 days. Dig outside that area, or after the ticket expires, and you are effectively unlocated again.

Private utilities. This is the one that catches people out, and it is not an 811 charge at all — it is simply work 811 does not do.

What 811 will not mark, at any price

Operators mark what they own. They stop at the meter. Everything past that point belongs to the property owner and stays unmarked:

Electrical to a shop, barn, well pump, pool or outbuilding. Irrigation and sprinkler lines. Gas to a pool heater, fire pit or detached garage. Septic tanks, drain fields and sewer laterals. Private water lines between buildings. Landscape lighting. Anything a previous owner installed and never documented.

On a rural property or any site with outbuildings, the private lines often outnumber the public ones. A free 811 locate can come back with two marks on a property that has ten buried lines. The marks are correct — they are just not the whole picture.

So when do you pay for locating?

You pay a private locating company when you need the lines 811 will not mark. That is a paid service because no utility owns those lines, so nobody is funding the locate. Cost depends on the size of the site, how many utilities need locating, access and travel, so it is quoted per job rather than by a rate card.

The sequence that works: call 811 first, because it is free and required. Then look at what came back. If the marks do not account for the buildings, meters and equipment you can see on the property, the rest is private and needs locating separately.

Who to call

For 811 in the states we serve: Washington 811, Oregon Utility Notification Center at 811 or 800-332-2344, Digline or Password Inc in Idaho, and Montana One Call at 800-424-5555.

For private utilities, Advanced Underground Utility Locating Inc has located across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and northern California since 2002, using electromagnetic locating and ground penetrating radar. Spokane and Eastern Washington: 509-710-2621. Seattle, Tacoma and Portland: 509-954-8623. Bend and Medford: 541-678-0629. Eugene and Roseburg: 541-780-4149. Coos Bay and the Oregon Coast: 541-315-6728. Emergency service is available 24 hours.