dealing with irrational people

[ncnurseryman]

To my knowledge its the home owner who is responsible for having lines marked, at least in NC anyways, but I could be wrong. That's just how its always been done and its never an issue. However, this is the first time I have dealt with city water/sewer lines. All of the other lines have been marked, so I did in fact call the city and turns out that a third party vendor marked those lines. You all may be right, I just may have to have it done myself and just add the cost to her bill.

 

[RobertN]

When I have done this, there was no cost. There was a couple day leadtime though.

They located the utility type lines; water, electric, cable, phone from the street to thier connect point at the house. They did not locate sprinkler lines, electrical out to the shed, leach lines, etc. That may be the third party...

We did work at a place where we had USA(Underground Service Alert) mark the utilities. The owner was having a pool put in, so we measured to where the pool lines were, marked them on our plans, and took pictures.

Everything was fine where the USA marking(utilities) were; I trenched up to them, then hand dug around them.

The pool though..... After we had measured and marked where their lines were, referenced pictures etc, I still dinged a pool line with a jack hammer. Had to half drain a brand new pool to fix the line. I was not a happy camper...

Turned out the pool company moved a couple lines. After, we had met with them, measured, and took pictures specifically so this issue would not happen.....

All of the other lines have been marked, so I did in fact call the city and turns out that a third party vendor marked those lines. You all may be right, I just may have to have it done myself and just add the cost to her bill.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

I'm the guy who sends the bill for cutting utilities. I send the bill to the company that performs the actual excavation. I don;t care who hired you or who owns the land. Cut my facilities and you will consider the IRS your friend.

Also soem cities consider the lateral the home owners so they will not mark it. You may have to locate it use a couple of locate flags and witch for it.

 

[rsewill]

My state makes it the excavator's liability.

 

[pacerron]

My state makes it the excavator's liability.

Same here, even if the ecavator is the homeowner.
Since this is in a city, don't know how old, who knows what may have been buried there in years past. It could also be a hazard to you or your crew.
The motto of the power companies is "call before you dig"

 

[newbury]

To my knowledge its the home owner who is responsible for having lines marked, at least in NC anyways, but I could be wrong. That's just how its always been done and its never an issue. However, this is the first time I have dealt with city water/sewer lines. All of the other lines have been marked, so I did in fact call the city and turns out that a third party vendor marked those lines. You all may be right, I just may have to have it done myself and just add the cost to her bill.

Nope

North Carolina state law requires anyone performing excavation to first call the statewide notification center's number before digging.

Call Before You Dig

Real easy to find out.

 

[ncnurseryman]

Yeah, we did call and they did mark all but the lateral water/sewer line are done by a third party contractor, so you have to call and schedule another locator. The laterals are considered private property. Go figure.

 

[Lloyd_E]

nc,

A long time ago I had a very successful business man tell me something about customer relations that has stayed with me for 25+ years. Sometimes the clients/customers aren't worth the effort! Which goes against the customer is always right. His advice/meaning is no matter what you do, say, or go out of your way to help or time(=money) spent - the rewards are not worth it.

Say your piece and walk away.

I think you already know this. I admire your "stick your guns" attitude. The potential money made is not worth the headaches to come.

 

[KTurner]

Maybe I'm missing something. This doesn't sound that bad. But, I did work retail for a few years.

You'd be surprised by how many people would call the store after picking up their repaired/upgraded computer, pissed that "we broke their computer". After they calmed down enough for us to talk, we'd explain the on/off switch to them. That's more ignorance than irrational though.

There was the one woman who called back, extremely belligerent, talking about how she was going to get lawyers involved. All we did was look at her computer (without opening it) and tell her it was too old to upgrade (it was 10 or 12 years old, if I remember right). We never did hear from her lawyer. And the customer who smashed in the headlight on my co-workers brand new convertible mustang because he wanted to return a video card but the store was closed.

And there were the funny ones. I worked in a radio shack right beside an ABC (liquor) store. We'd occasionally have people stumbling in at a few minutes after opening, make it to the counter, stare behind the counter for a bit with a confused look on their face, stumble back outside and look up at the sign, then go next door to the ABC store. All without saying a word.

Keith

 

[2LaneCruzer]

nc,

A long time ago I had a very successful business man tell me something about customer relations that has stayed with me for 25+ years. Sometimes the clients/customers aren't worth the effort! Which goes against the customer is always right. His advice/meaning is no matter what you do, say, or go out of your way to help or time(=money) spent - the rewards are not worth it.

Say your piece and walk away.

I think you already know this. I admire your "stick your guns" attitude. The potential money made is not worth the headaches to come.

The best advice I ever got was as follows: Irrational people are nothing but trouble for everyone they are around. When you recognize them as such, get them out of your life as fast as you can and get them out for good.

And...a corrolary to that advice, someone once asked: "Why are you surprised when a S.O.B. acts like a S.O.B.?"