Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Public Utilities & 811
Before conducting any private locates its important to ALWAYS call 811 at least 3 days before you dig, this guide below will help determine how you mark your dig locations, what utilities will be located with 811, and how to check completion of those locates. Advanced Underground Utility Locating has conducted public locates in the past and we have a few tips to help make sure your dig is safe. Every 6 minutes a utility is hit in the US, and the cost of utility repairs ranges from 50-100 billion every year in the US.
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Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Quick tips:
When 811 is called, those utilities either send out locating tech from the utility or they have a contact utility locating service that locates their lines on a per ticket cost, typically these locators get paid per every 500ft located for a utility. These requests are always free to the homeowner or contractor.
If your ticket is more than a 500ft area, call in a new ticket for every additional 500ft needed, this will help locators and facilities figure out how long it will take to locate your project, and if they will need more than three days to do so.
Not all public locators are trained properly, or might not have the time to be accurate due to the loads that the technicians are under, public utility contracting companies like USIC, ELM, Locating inc, are likely further than the three day window to be able to complete tickets in WA and OREGON, due to the shortage of technicians, and often will not notify until the day before a project starts that the time will need to be extended.
In instances where a Public utility locating company is not able to show up in time, or they do not show up at all, private utility locators can locate and verify the public utilities after the 811 timeframe, and you can claim reimbursement for delayed jobs or missed utility lines that would have caused damages and private locating costs directly with the utility locating contractor or utility company. Remember, its better to be accurate and safe than to cause a damage that could potentially cause loss of life or project delays.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Public utilities DO NOT ACTUALLY LOCATE non conductible/ non metal utilities accurately
Non metal utilities include, fiber lines without tracer wires, storm mains and laterals, sewer mains and laterals, and non conductive water lines without tracer lines such as concrete lines, pvc lines, plastic lines.
These utilities are marked either from manhole to manhole or on a best guess from a map with measurements, these utilities are not locatable to most municipalities because they do not have GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar). So any green markings, water markings that have AC or PVC marked on the line, digging must be done with extreme caution as they truly might not know where that line actually is in relation to where it is marked.
Maps that are often used to locate these lines are sometimes incomplete, inaccurate or just completely wrong so use caution whenever you see these markings. These maps are often “design maps” and are not true as-built and installed maps.
Any utility markings that are put down by 811 on a site have a tolerance, Typically these tolerances are 25 inches from the outside of each mark, if you are digging and you hit a line that is within this tolerance you will have to pay to have the line repaired,
This is why it's important to understand that every mark that is on the ground might not be “exactly” where it is marked, 811 locators are not the most accurate when it come to marking lines especially when it comes to utilities that turn or intercept other utilities like gas lines, water lines and electrical lines or utilities that are very congested because signals can be difficult for the technicians to understand.
Utility depths will never be marked by 811
Public utility depths vary from 6’’ deep all the way up to 30 ft deep depending on the utility, most utilities will be 1’ deep to 6’ deep.
Utility Easements
These are often overlooked, easements exist around back, sides and other locations around your house and property and at many commercial sites, they follow property lines and roadways, many times when digging neighbors lines or other lines can exist behind or around your house such as lines that go from a set of meters to feed houses beyond yours down a street or fence lines, this is an example of private lines that get missed often. There are private and public easements.
White mark your dig area
and do not go beyond it. This can result in major damages to utilities and cause loss of life. Marke it further than what you need before calling 811. Below we will go more in depth on these topics.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Public Utilities
are owned and maintained by municipalities or utility companies and are part of a large public network. Examples of public utilities are water mains, buried electric lines, gas mains, fiber optic and telecommunications lines (phone lines), main line sewers and mainline storm facilities. When approaching a home, the public utility will usually end at the meter, or the point of service. (Points of service can also be a transformer, vault, valve, or junction box.)
List of common public utilities
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Main power, power to a transformer, power to a utility meter on a structure, city lighting, power to city lighting, traffic signals, power to pump stations.
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Telecommunications: main phone lines, main internet lines,main fiber lines, telecommunications from a ped or junction to a structure/house/building, not from the first building to another structure.
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Sewer main lines. Possibly laterals up to the property line but don't bet on it
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Main storm lines in the street or to utility operated storm drains,to to buildings
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Gas main Lines in the street, gas to meters, does not cover gas coming from the meter going anywhere else.
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Water main lines in the street to the meter not beyond to the house
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
List of Private Utilities that Advanced Underground Utility Locating Can locate and more!
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Any and all lines INSIDE of a building or structure
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Power coming off a pole with a power meter on it to a house or building.
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Power going from house or building to another building or residence
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Lighting,parking lot lighting
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Power to irrigation
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Power to septic pumps
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Power to gates
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Power to wells
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Some power from ROW to houses and buildings
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Some power from transformers to buildings
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Power to anything else besides going to the meter
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Telecom lines where the main box is on a pole away from a residence or building to building or from any building/ structure to another structure that is away from where the main box is.
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Telephone lines or internet lines to call boxes or other buildings/structures
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Sewer lines from house, buildings, ADU’s, trailer pads, inside of trailer parks, shops, other buildings to the sewer main.
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Sewer laterals that are shared from neighboring houses and buildings
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Storm lines on any property, to the storm main, lines from gutters, lines to dry wells, lines to swales,
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Other drainage lines
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Gas lines past the meter that go to grills, pools, outbuildings, stoves, and firepits.or gas lines on commercial buildings that goes from the meter to other buildings/structures
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Water lines from the meter to the house, water lines that go to irrigation boxes, irrigation, water lines that go from the house to any outbuildings, waterlines that go from the outbuilding to outbuilding, water lines from ponds, water lines from water features
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Well lines from well systems, community well systems or private well systems (Caution private/ community well systems can be anywhere!)
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Small water systems/ hoa water supplies
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Fire lines to hydrants, dry lines, secondary fire loops.
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Any lines related to a pool, power, gas, intake and return, drainage.
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Septic lines from house to tank, from tank to drainfield, sand filters,
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Community septic systems in an hoa or trailer park/mobile home park
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Oil tanks and fill lines
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Sess pools
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Air lines
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Steam lines
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Geo-thermal lines and geothermal fields
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Steam lines and condensate lines
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Generator lines gas/power
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Battery lines
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Car charging stations
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Irrigation for fields
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Propane lines from tanks to any buildings or areas
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Any many, many, more.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Examples of places that are considered almost entirely private or mostly private (where 811 won't go or be very useful) and where private locates would definitely be needed.
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Military bases
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Industrial sites
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Big facilities
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Any facility requiring badging
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Cell sites
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Anything locked within a gate or fence
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Dams
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Petroleum facilities
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Municipal facilities
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Big commercial facilities
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Fisheries
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Tank farms
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Solar arrays
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Power Transmission facilities
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School facilities
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Server farms
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Fields with fences
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Gas facilities
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Hard to reach areas
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Lumber yards
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Mills
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Breweries
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And the list goes on
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Things to keep an eye out for
Keep in mind in, there are many instances where utilities will only mark lines to a certain point, sometimes 811 will only mark up to property line and not all the way to a meter, commercial settings where the transformer is near the street or at the building some utility providers do not mark from the transformer to the meter as they consider that line to be a private customer installed line. We know it can be very confusing, and the rules of one facility such as PSE or Seattle city light can be different from Tacoma power and Peninsula Light and power. Its always best to call the number on your ticket receipt that is emailed to when you call 811, this number is in the “Members Notified” section under “Marking Concerns”
Looking for responses to a ticket - Status
When 811 is notified, an email will be sent to you each time a status of a utility has changed, that status has different meanings. When a ticket is fully marked the status under members notified or in an email sent to you will be “ALL CLEAR” or “COMPLETED”. If you do not get a email or a status change online DO NOT DIG. You want to make sure all the Utility
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Your utilities might not be marked if
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You don't have white paint down outlining the area of excavation
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The utilities are considered private
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The time for the request is less than 3 days
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You have a private water system/ well system/ community well
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You have a community septic/ sewer system
Below are some statuses and what they mean:
Clear/No Conflict
The reporting member is stating the work area as defined on the ticket is clear of their facilities and that no marks may be visible. Often this will be accompanied by their locator writing “Clear” or “OK” in the color of the type of utility and the company name abbreviation.
Marked/Completed
The reporting member is stating the work area as defined on the ticket has been marked.
Note: If the excavator has any questions regarding specific markings they should contact that locator directly via the “marking concerns” number listed for that utility.
Work-in-Progress – Not Yet Completed
The reporting member is stating that the locating was started, and some marks may be on the ground but are not completed yet. Marks are expected to be completed in 2 full business days from the date the ticket was submitted. Do not start working until the marks are completed.
Not Marked – Contact Locator ASAP
The reporting member is stating the locator is having issues contacting the excavator and has questions regarding the locate request and needs the excavator to contact them to help get the locate completed in a timely manner. The locator may enter information into the remarks section to explain the issue, unable to access the excavation area or other such issues.
Does not allow the utility or locator to not locate or to go past the 2 full business days from the date the ticket was submitted.
Marked, Utility Representative Required
The reporting member is stating the work area as defined on the ticket has been marked but they require a representative of the utility company to be present when excavating near their facility.
Does Not Report
Although technically not a response by the utility, this is displayed when a member does not report the status of their locating. An excavator would be required to contact them directly to find out the status of their locating on this ticket.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
How long will it take for a 811 locate to be completed?
After calling 811 you must wait two full business days before locating, This does not include weekends or holidays. Often 811 requests take longer than two days and always refer to your ticket or email response to see if all members have responded to the request. 811 contract locators and facilities become overloaded and if they are they should make an attempt to contact you either via email or phone call to tell you that they will be arriving late to mark the ticket but sometimes they will not reach out at all.
This chart below shows from the time that you call to when the request should be complete
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Understanding Utility Markings
Keeping track of what’s exactly buried underground on a worksite can be a challenge, which is why utility locators follow the uniform color codes mandated by the American Public Works Association (APWA) for temporarily marking their facilities. The American Standards Institute (ANSI) established these colors as the American National Standard for Safety Colors. As a quick refresh, the APWA color code for utility marking is:
● Red: electric power lines, cables, conduit and lighting cables
● Orange: telecommunication, alarm or signal lines, cables or conduit
● Yellow: natural gas, oil, steam, petroleum or other flammable
● Green: sewers and drain lines
● Blue: potable drinking water
● Purple: reclaimed water, irrigation and slurry lines
● Pink: temporary survey markings, unknown/unidentified facilities
● White: proposed excavation limits or routes
These colors help identify unseen hazards that need to be taking into account during excavation, but the color system only warns construction workers of the type of hazard. Once the uniform color code went into place, other utility marking codes followed to appropriately identify underground conduits, cables, pipes, their facility owners, and descriptions of the facility.
This systemized notation system may look like a secret language until you start to decipher it. Luckily, the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) maintains a set of Guidelines for Operator Facility Field Delineation to indicate the infrastructural pathways of buried wires and pipelines.
The company name identifier must always appear at the top or to the left in the abbreviation order, followed by appropriate construction descriptions, and end with the infrastructure material.
When there is “no conflict” between buried utilities and the proposed area of excavation, locators will mark “NO” oftentimes followed by the name of the facility, or the abbreviated facility type with a line drawn through it. The image above shows both: “G” for gas with a line slashed through it—indicating no conflict with gas facilities—and an orange “NO” is followed by the telecommunications company and a “D” meaning “no distribution.”
Mapping and marking the underground infrastructure is a complex task, and these intricate symbols provide a brief window into these important and intricate systems. Next time you come across some cryptic street scribbles, you’ll know that these annotations are an important element of damage prevention and greater public safety.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Types of Markings and Tolerances
There are many different utility markings that can appear on a site when 811 is called. Below is a chart to help understand what these markings mean.
These markings are something to keep an eye out for when digging, as not all utilities are just a single line under the ground, sometimes they run in duct banks, tunnels, and other structures.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Tolerances
811 utility locators have a tolerance for each line that is marked on the ground, this tolerance varies by state but is typically 25’’ from either side of the most outward mark, as you can see below, the duct bank has a bigger tolerance as the ductbank is 20’’ big and has an additional 25 inches either side of the utility.
Not all public locators are trained properly, or might not have the time to be accurate due to the loads that the technicians are under, public utility contracting companies like USIC, ELM are likely further than the three day window to be able to complete tickets in WA and OREGON, due to the shortage of technicians, and often will not notify until the day before a project starts that the time will need to be extended. It is always advised to hand dig when you are within or around these tolerance zones.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Utility Easements
Utility easements can exist anywhere, and are sometimes not easily visible to the eye, but do contain utilities, sometimes these run through back yards, sides of houses, sides or back of buildings, through the middle or a field or forest, near roadways or sidewalks, they can be anywhere.
What is an easement?
• An easement is a property right and an interest in land
• An easement creates a nonpossessory right to enter and use land in the possession of another and obligates the possessor not to interfere with the uses authorized by the easement
• An interest in land owned by another person, consisting in the right to use or control the land, or an area above or below it, for a specific limited purpose
• Created for the advantage of the dominant tenement
• Incapable of existence separate and apart from its dominant tenement and cannot be converted into an easement in gross
• Runs with the land or attaches to the dominant estate, though the conveyance may not expressly refer to the easement
• Language in conveyance expressly reserving right of ingress and egress over property retained by grantor operates to create an appurtenant easement
Types Appurtenant Easement Personal to the owner or entity to use the land of another
• No dominant tenement and does not serve a particular tract of land
• Right of utility company as owner of an in gross easement can construct and maintain facilities within, as long as it does not unreasonably interfere with the rights of the servient estate
Easements can be both private and public and exist where you least expect them, and have every type of utility in them.
Click to Open
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
White Marking before calling 811
"White marking" a site for digging typically refers to the process of marking the exact areas where digging or excavation is planned to take place. This is done to ensure that the digging is carried out in the intended locations and to prevent any confusion or mistakes during the excavation process.
Here's how you can white mark a site for digging:
● Plan the Digging Areas: Clearly define and plan the specific areas where you intend to dig. Use blueprints, site plans, or other relevant documentation to identify the exact locations.
● Gather the Necessary Materials: You'll need white chalk, spray paint, or white tape to mark the areas. Make sure the marking material is clearly visible against the ground.
● Prepare the Site: Clear any debris, vegetation, or obstacles from the area you're marking. This ensures that the markings are easily visible and accurate.
● Mark the Boundaries:
○ Chalk or Tape: If using chalk or tape, physically mark the ground by drawing lines or placing tape along the edges of the digging area. This can be useful for marking smaller areas or where precision is important.
○ Spray Paint: Spray paint can be used to mark larger areas or when visibility from a distance is necessary. Create clear boundaries by spraying along the edges of the planned excavation zone.
● Label the Markings: If possible, use additional markers or labels to indicate the purpose of the marked area, such as "Excavation Zone" or "Digging Area."
● Use Clear Symbols: If there are specific instructions or symbols that need to be conveyed, use them alongside the white markings. For example, arrows can indicate the direction of digging or the orientation of pipes or lines.
● Inspect and Verify: Double-check your markings to ensure they accurately represent the planned digging areas. Mistakes in marking can lead to costly errors during excavation.
● Inform Workers: Make sure all workers and contractors involved in the digging project are aware of the white markings and their significance. This helps prevent accidental excavation outside of the designated areas.
● Maintain Markings: Weather and other factors can cause markings to fade over time. Regularly inspect and refresh the markings as needed to ensure their visibility throughout the project.
● Document and Communicate: Keep records of the marked areas, and if necessary, communicate with relevant parties such as contractors, supervisors, and project managers about the marked zones.
Remember that accurate marking is essential to avoid damaging underground utilities, hitting buried structures, or causing other issues during excavation. If there are concerns about buried utilities, it's a good idea to contact your local 811 service to have utility lines marked before you proceed with any excavation.
The most important thing to remember when white lining/ marking is that the entire area that you plan to dig in encapsulated in the markings you put down
If you exceed these markings and hit a utility the entire cost of repairing that utility can be on the person/company that hit that utility.
These marks if for an entire property should have white marked corners at each corner of the property, we recommend going 5-10 feet beyond the area you plan to dig through/in.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Private Utilities
Private utilities extend beyond the public utility network and are typically the responsibility of the property owner. Examples would include power to detached garages, barns, pool heaters, and landscape lighting; as well as lines to septic systems, water lines between the water meter and your home, sewer lines between the city or county sewer system and your home, irrigation systems, invisible pet fences, propane, grills, and wells. This is what AUUL specializes in detecting and locating these lines. If its in the ground we have a way to locate the utility. Below is a list of common Private utilities.
List of Private Utilities that Advanced Underground Utility Locating Can locate and more!
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Any and all lines INSIDE of a building or structure
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Power coming off a pole with a power meter on it to a house or building.
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Power going from house or building to another building or residence
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Lighting,parking lot lighting
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Power to irrigation
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Power to septic pumps
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Power to gates
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Power to wells
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Some power from ROW to houses and buildings
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Some power from transformers to buildings
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Power to anything else besides going to the meter
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Telecom lines where the main box is on a pole away from a residence or building to building or from any building/ structure to another structure that is away from where the main box is.
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Telephone lines or internet lines to call boxes or other buildings/structures
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Sewer lines from house, buildings, ADU’s, trailer pads, inside of trailer parks, shops, other buildings to the sewer main.
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Sewer laterals that are shared from neighboring houses and buildings
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Storm lines on any property, to the storm main, lines from gutters, lines to dry wells, lines to swales,
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Other drainage lines
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Gas lines past the meter that go to grills, pools, outbuildings, stoves, and firepits.or gas lines on commercial buildings that goes from the meter to other buildings/structures
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Water lines from the meter to the house, water lines that go to irrigation boxes, irrigation, water lines that go from the house to any outbuildings, waterlines that go from the outbuilding to outbuilding, water lines from ponds, water lines from water features
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Well lines from well systems, community well systems or private well systems (Caution private/ community well systems can be anywhere!)
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Small water systems/ hoa water supplies
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Fire lines to hydrants, dry lines, secondary fire loops.
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Spring lines and spring boxes
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Any lines related to a pool, power, gas, intake and return, drainage.
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Septic lines from house to tank, from tank to drainfield, sand filters,
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Community septic systems in an hoa or trailer park/mobile home park
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Oil tanks and fill lines
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Cesspools
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Air lines
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Steam lines
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Geo-thermal lines and geothermal fields
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Steam lines and condensate lines
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Generator lines gas/power
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Battery lines
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Car charging stations
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Irrigation for fields
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Propane lines from tanks to any buildings or areas
The cost to repair a utility can range from a few $100 to $1000’s below is an average of these costs for main utilities.
This average repair cost does not include the following
Items that may or may not be collected
● External collection costs/agency commissions
● Barricades/traffic control
● Permits (city/county/state/provincial) to install replacement cables/pipelines
● Legal fees and litigation costs
● Exposing the damage for repair
● Materials used in repair
● Restoration of the area
● Actual cost of internal labour
● Heavy equipment used
● Generator/power equipment
● Food, lodging, and travel expense
● Emergency mobilization (contractor/locator)
Time
● Damage investigation, on-site and follow-up
● Internal staff collection efforts
● Out of service complaints
● Insurance resolution discussions
● Overtime for unexpected increases in workload
● Employee time/travel for depositions/trial
This is why it is necessary to call for private utility locating, these costs will be directly left for the homeowner/ client/ dig crew to bear if a utility line is hit not to mention the loss in trust, possible re-engineering of lines, or total line replacement is the line is hit multiple times during a single dig.
Advanced Underground Utility Locating specializes in private utility locating in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
Locating private utilities can be very difficult to locate, not all utilities are locatable by standard locating alone, and require specific training, equipment and knowledge to locate correctly. We have every tool in the industry to locate any utility that you have onsite, you can check out our services in the tabs above.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Private Utility Easements
After calling 811, its necessary to run through the list above to see if any of your utilities might be private utility lines that will require Advanced Underground Utility Locating to visit your site to locate your private utilities.
One thing to think about are other lines that are also private that pass through or near your property, your neighbors or other buildings might have easements that cross your property. The lines that are the most common that people forget about include:
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Apartment complexes, almost all lines are private especially water and power
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Shared well lines, a well on one property that has one line or several lines that cross through a property to feed other buildings/ residences
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Private water systems
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Shared Sewer laterals between houses or on the sides of houses and driveways, lines that come from a neighbor behind or to the side of a house or building that go through the property to the street
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Shared Storm laterals between houses or on the sides of houses/buildings and driveways, lines that come from a neighbor behind or to the side of a house or building
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Water lines, where the water meters are at the start of a street or cul-de-sac and go through a property, front, back, side or up a shared roadway to reach residences or buildings before and after the project site.
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Shared septic systems and drainfields- often found in communities like trailer parks, HOA communities or more rural areas, often have a shared well/ small water provider as well.
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Private power lines / telecom lines where a pole or stand has several meters that go down a driveway or utility easement
As you can see, utilities are not as straightforward as they might seem, private lines can and do exist where public lines are and these lines are often not thought about until a line is hit. It's much easier to check and be safe than it is to hit one of these lines.
Here is an example of a site the has 100% private utilities where 811 will not mark any lines.
Here is an example of Public utility lines that can exist
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Where 811 won't go
Examples of places that are considered almost entirely private or mostly private (where 811 won't go or be very useful) and where private locates would definitely be needed. These facilities need private locates due to the sheer number to private utilities that these places contain.
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Military bases
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Industrial sites
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Big facilities
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Trailer parks/ mobile home parks
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Any facility requiring badging
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Cell sites
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Anything locked within a gate or fence
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Dams
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Petroleum facilities
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Municipal facilities
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Big commercial facilities
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Fisheries
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Tank farms
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Solar arrays
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Power Transmission facilities
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School facilities
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Server farms
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Fields with fences
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Gas facilities
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Hard to reach areas
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Lumber yards
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Mills
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Breweries
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And the list goes on
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Utility depths
811 will never locate or give depth ranges for utilities they locate, this can be difficult if your planning for building, minted to cross utility lines to get to a public utility connection and can cause damage to lines because excavators don't know how close they actually are to utilities.
Advanced Underground Utility Locating can provide depths on utility lines in almost every instance unless the utility is extremely deep or hard to see on GPR.
We allow for a depth range on each utility of about 6’’-1’ and often will label all utilities with a depth range to make digging and planning around utilities a breeze. We use multiple devices to get an accurate depth on utility lines. We always recommend hand digging in utility dense areas or any area where you are closer than 2 ft from the utility.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Interior Utility Locating
There are just as many Utility lines that can exist inside of a building or house such as these lines listed below, and can cause major damage to your house and building/facility especially in the case of water and electrical lines. All lines inside of a building are considered private utilities.
Interior utility locating refers to the process of identifying and mapping the location of various utility lines and systems within the interior of buildings or structures. This is done to ensure the safety of construction, renovation, maintenance, and repair work within a building, as well as to prevent accidental damage to utilities that could lead to disruptions or hazards.
The utilities that are typically located and marked during interior utility locating include:
● Electrical Wiring: Identifying the location of electrical wiring, outlets, switches, and panels is crucial to avoid accidentally cutting or damaging electrical lines.
● Plumbing and Water Lines: Locating plumbing pipes, water supply lines, drains, and sewer lines helps prevent disruptions to water supply and sewage systems.
● Gas Lines: Identifying the location of gas lines is essential to prevent gas leaks, which can be hazardous to both occupants and workers.
● Communication and Data Cables: Locating communication lines, such as telephone, internet, and cable TV cables, ensures that these systems remain functional during construction or renovation.
● Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Ducts: Knowing the locations of HVAC ducts and vents helps prevent accidental damage that could affect a building's climate control systems.
● Fire Suppression Systems: Locating sprinkler pipes and fire suppression systems ensures that they remain functional and undamaged.
● Security and Alarm Systems: Identifying security system wiring and alarm lines ensures that the building's security remains intact during work.
● Structural Elements: While not utilities in the traditional sense, locating load-bearing walls, beams, and other structural elements is important to ensure the integrity of the building.
Interior utility locating typically involves using a combination of tools and methods, which may include:
● Blueprints and Plans: Reviewing architectural and engineering plans to understand the layout of utilities within the building.
● Electronic Locators: Using specialized equipment that can detect the presence of metallic pipes and cables through walls and floors.
● Thermal Imaging: Identifying temperature differences caused by HVAC ducts or water pipes.
● Visual Inspection: Physically inspecting accessible areas to identify visible utility lines and systems.
● Ground Penetrating Radar: In some cases, ground-penetrating radar can be used to locate utilities behind walls and under floors.
● Experience and Expertise: Experienced technicians who are familiar with construction and utility systems can often make educated assessments of where utilities are likely to be located.
It's important to note that interior utility locating is typically carried out by trained professionals who have the knowledge and equipment to perform the task safely and accurately. This process helps ensure that construction and renovation projects are carried out smoothly, without causing disruptions, safety hazards, or damage to utility systems.
Private Utilities Vs Public (811)
Utility Mapping
Often sites such as houses, buildings and facilities have outdated maps, incorrect maps, or had drawn sketches that have no reference on how utilities are running or these maps are to design and not as they were actually installed and never updated.
Advanced Underground Utility Locating while we are onsite can accurately update where all your lines are running, including depth measurements for those utilities. We give you an accurate picture of your infrastructure so if anything breaks or if your planning a project you have all the information available to you to make cost effective decisions, nothing is worse than having an emergency and you have no idea where you lines are running, or a project you have been planning for months to get delayed.
We can even update the satellite imagery from your property and include real time utility marks accurately with reference points.
Please don't hesitate to call us with any utility questions, help with 811, or if you need a private locate, we service every city in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
