Private Utility Locating in Bend: What 811 Won't Mark on Your Property
Updated: Sep 8
If you are digging anywhere in Bend, Redmond, Sisters, or the rest of Central Oregon, 811 is going to mark the utility company's lines up to the meter and stop there. Everything past the meter is private, which means no one marks it unless you bring in a private locator. That is what we do.
What 811 marks and what it doesn't
Oregon 811 (Oregon Utility Notification Center) notifies the utility owners in the area, and each one sends a locator out to mark their own facilities. Their responsibility ends where their ownership ends, which is the meter, the property line, or the service point depending on the utility.
That leaves a lot in the ground that nobody marks:
Water and sewer laterals from the meter or main to the house
Power to shops, wells, pump houses, and detached garages (very common on acreage around Bend, Tumalo, and Alfalfa)
Gas or propane runs to outdoor kitchens, fire pits, and generators
Irrigation mains and control wire
Septic tanks, drain fields, and the line feeding them
Low voltage for landscape lighting, gates, and security
Old lines from previous owners that no one has a record of
Around here, the private side is often bigger than the public side. A five acre parcel with a shop, a well, and irrigation can easily have more buried line past the meter than in front of it.
When you will want a private locate
You will want a private locate before any of these:
Trenching, augering, or driving posts (fences, decks, pergolas, mailbox posts)
Any excavation for an ADU, shop, or addition
Irrigation installs or repairs where you are tying into an existing system
Septic work, including finding the tank and drain field in the first place
Planting trees or installing retaining walls on lots that have been built on before
If the property has changed hands, assume the records are wrong (or missing). Most of the lines we find were installed by a previous owner or a contractor who is long gone.
How we locate private lines
We use three methods, and which one we use depends on what is in the ground:
Electromagnetic (EM) locating for anything metallic or anything we can put a signal on. This is the most accurate method for power, metal water and gas lines, and tracer wire.
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) for non-metallic lines such as PVC water, irrigation, plastic gas, and for septic tanks and drain fields. GPR also picks up the trench itself where the soil was disturbed.
Static and sonde locating for sewer laterals and conduits, where we push a transmitter through the line and follow it from the surface.
We paint everything on the ground using the standard APWA color code (red for electric, yellow for gas, blue for water, green for sewer, orange for communications) so your excavator reads it the same way they read 811 marks. If you need it for a permit or a design, we can also provide a sketch or a GPS/RTK file of the findings (when selected at time of service).
A few things to be aware of. Central Oregon soil is volcanic and rocky, which is fine for EM but can limit GPR depth in some spots. Depth readings are estimates (we give a range, not a guarantee), so you will still want to hand dig or pothole within the tolerance zone before you put a bucket in the ground.
What it costs and how long it takes
Most residential locates in the Bend area are done in one to three hours. Larger parcels, commercial sites, and full property mapping take longer and we will quote those up front. We charge by the hour with a minimum, and we tell you the number before we show up.
If you are a contractor and you do this regularly, ask us about setting up an account. We work with excavators, landscapers, fence companies, and septic installers across Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties.
Before we get there
You can save time (and money) by doing three things before the appointment:
Call 811 first so the public marks are already on the ground. We work off those and will verify their accuracy as well.
Find any drawings, permits, or septic records you have for the property. Even a rough sketch helps.
Walk the property and note every meter, valve box, cleanout, and outbuilding. Those are our starting points.
Schedule a locate in Central Oregon
Our Central Oregon office covers Bend, Redmond, Sisters, Prineville, Madras, La Pine, and Sunriver. Call us or send the address and what you are planning to dig, and we will get you on the schedule.
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