811 CALL BEFORE YOU DIG.

[ultrarunner]

I was putting in a lawn sprinkler system in Pleasant Hill CA and decided to give them a call... I had little flags for each sprinkler head...

Turned out to be a waste of time... the service tagged the entire lawn "Hand Digging Only"... I questioned why he couldn't be more specific and he said they don't have to be exact? They can mark an area within 10' or something like that... so the entire 30' x 40' lawn was tagged.

I called them to check my property where I know the city has a buried sewer line... they told me I would have to contact the city directly because they don't cover city sewers.

Called the city and was told I would have to clear the land of brush first and they would try to get someone out...

I don't call anymore...

 

[mjncad]

811 or UNCC in Colorado is free and I call anytime I plan to dig as it's cheaper than a bill from the utility company.

For some reason, water and sewer companies and districts in Colorado don't participate with UNCC, and you have to call them directly for a locate and the two I've dealt with can range from annoyed that you bothered them to down right snotty. I suspect that is because water companies are governments here under the guise of Colorado's Special District form of small government, along with our quirky water laws.

 

[jenkinsph]

This discussion is one of the major issues of owning and operating a backhoe or trencher IMHO. Cruising around playing with various sorts of implements on the surface is one thing but when you start digging below the surface your liability increases dramatically. Lets not forget here that we are offering advice to a high school student. It can be a very tough and expensive lesson for the OP to learn if he digs through a fiber optic cable ect. Another thing to consider is that in most states a license may be required for this type of work too. I am a fan of people who are self starters and like to see people with lots of inititive go for it, but let's all be careul what advice we dole out. Lawyers can be hard for a 16 yr old to pay for.




Steve

 

[Fast Eddie]

Live in Columbus MS & heard the advertisement on the radio. Since I just got a post hole digger I called 811. Even though they gave me a window of several days, they were here 1 day later and marked the yard. And it was free. I have a little over 7 acres.
Eddie

 

[gordyy]

I was working as an operator in the 70s when fiber optic was the new thing
I remember the first meeting I went to on it they showed us what a cable looked like what their ribbon looked like. they said you find one of these without calling first just shut off your truck and your hoe we now own it
in those days all joints were done inside a little building here because of frost issues that meant hit a cable we build two building heat, air condition, and dehunidify them forever and you get to pay for it

call before unless you have lived on your land for 60 yrs and have a good memory
even if its on your property you hit it you pay to fix it