Locating Underground Services: A Best Practice Guide

Stepping onto a complex industrial site can feel like looking at a puzzle with half the pieces missing. Decades of construction can leave behind a tangled web of active, abandoned, and unknown utility lines that don't appear on any as-built drawings. This uncertainty creates enormous risk for any new project. The goal of a professional locate is to bring clarity to that chaos, creating a single, reliable map that your entire team can use to move forward with confidence. This article will walk you through the steps to achieve that clarity, providing a best practice guide for locating underground services on even the most challenging sites.

Key Takeaways

• Plan Before You Scan: A successful project begins with a thorough site walk-through and a well-defined scope, not just turning on the equipment. This initial prep work is the most effective way to prevent surprises and ensure the data you gather is truly useful.
• Combine Tools for a Complete Picture: No single technology can find every type of utility. The most reliable results come from layering methods—using EM locators for conductive lines and GPR for non-metallic targets—to eliminate blind spots and build a comprehensive subsurface map.
• Confirm with Visual Verification: Paint and flags are an essential guide, but they aren't the final word. The only way to know a utility's exact depth and position is to physically expose it through potholing, which removes all guesswork before heavy equipment moves in.

What's Buried Below? A Look at Utilities and Risks

Before the first shovel hits the dirt, the most critical work happens below the surface. Every project carries the risk of encountering hidden utilities, where a single mistake can lead to costly repairs, dangerous accidents, and significant delays. Understanding what’s buried on your site isn’t just a preliminary step; it’s the foundation of a safe and successful project. From identifying common utility lines to understanding your legal duties, taking a proactive approach to subsurface risks is non-negotiable.

Know What You're Looking For: Common Utility Types

The ground beneath your site is a complex network of essential services, including electric, gas, communication, water, and sewer lines. Each presents a unique risk if struck. Many states have rules that require contractors to identify and mark the location of these lines before any excavation begins. An underground service locator helps to find the precise location of these assets, which is the first step in protecting them from damage during construction.

Stay Compliant: Your Legal Responsibilities

Ignoring underground utilities isn't just risky—it's often illegal. Federal and state laws require you to call 811 before you dig, a service that notifies public utility companies to mark their lines. However, it's crucial to remember that 811 only covers public utilities. They won't mark private lines, such as those running from the meter to a building. That responsibility falls on you, making private utility locating services an essential part of your due diligence to get a complete picture of the subsurface.

The High Cost of a Single Utility Strike

A single utility strike can have staggering consequences. The immediate costs include emergency repairs and potential fines, but the indirect costs are often far greater. Project delays, crew downtime, and reputational damage can cripple a project's budget and timeline. Studies have shown a significant return on investment when you know where utilities are located before you start work. Investing in accurate locating is a small price to pay to avoid catastrophic failures and keep your project running smoothly.

Gear Up: Essential Safety Equipment

Proper safety gear is a must for any site work. Everyone on site should have personal protective equipment (PPE), including hard hats, high-visibility vests, and steel-toed boots. For the locating process itself, you'll need marking paint or flags in APWA-approved colors to clearly identify different utility types. Following established safety protocols is key. The Common Ground Alliance Best Practices Guide is an excellent resource with the latest information and technology for safe digging. Equipping your team properly is a simple but effective way to reduce risk.

Choose the Right Tools for the Job

Having the right equipment for utility locating isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the foundation of a safe and successful project. There’s no single magic wand that can find every type of buried line in every condition. Instead, a professional locator relies on a versatile toolkit, knowing exactly which instrument to pull out for the job at hand. Different site conditions, utility materials, and project goals demand different technologies.

An expert technician understands that the best results come from combining methods. For example, an electromagnetic locator might trace a metallic gas line, while Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is needed to find the PVC water main running alongside it. This multi-tool approach is what separates a basic sketch from a comprehensive subsurface map. It’s about layering data from different sources to build a complete and reliable picture of what’s happening underground. By selecting the right tools, you move from guessing to knowing, which is the only way to dig with confidence.

Using Electromagnetic (EM) Locators

Electromagnetic (EM) locating is one of the most common and reliable methods for tracing conductive utilities. The process is straightforward: a transmitter is connected directly to an accessible part of a utility, like a valve or tracer wire. This transmitter sends a specific frequency along the line, creating a signal that can be followed from the surface with a handheld receiver. It’s an incredibly effective way to trace the path of metal pipes and live electrical cables with a high degree of accuracy.

The key here is that the utility must be able to conduct a current. This makes EM locators the perfect tool for most metallic infrastructure, but it also means they can’t see non-metallic lines like PVC or concrete pipes on their own. For a successful trace, the technician needs a good connection point and a clear understanding of how signals behave in different environments.

Seeing Through the Ground with GPR

When you need to find non-metallic utilities or get a broader picture of the subsurface, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is the tool for the job. Think of it like a high-tech rolling cart that sends radar waves into the ground. As these waves travel down, they bounce off any object they encounter—a pipe, conduit, rebar, or even a void—and return to the receiver. The system then translates these bounced signals into a real-time image of what’s buried below.

GPR is a game-changer because it allows us to visualize things that other tools can't, making it essential for modern subsurface utility mapping. It’s how we locate plastic water lines, fiber optic cables in PVC conduit, and unmarked septic tanks. While soil conditions can affect its performance, in the hands of a skilled operator, GPR provides an unmatched level of detail.

When to Use Acoustic and Magnetic Locating

While EM and GPR are the workhorses of utility locating, sometimes a job calls for a more specialized approach. That’s where acoustic and magnetic locators come in. Acoustic locating is particularly useful for pinpointing leaks in pressurized, non-metallic water pipes. The device essentially "listens" for the distinct sound of water escaping the line, allowing a technician to zero in on the problem area without extensive digging.

Magnetic locators work like incredibly sensitive metal detectors. They are designed to find the magnetic field of ferrous metal objects. This makes them ideal for finding buried steel well casings, property pins, or valve boxes that have been covered by dirt or asphalt over the years. These tools are often used to supplement other methods and solve specific challenges on a site.

Map Your Findings with GPS and GIS

Finding utilities in the field is only the first step; accurately documenting their location is just as critical. After all, paint marks on the ground are temporary. To create a lasting and usable record, we use high-precision GPS and GIS technology. A survey-grade GPS unit captures the exact horizontal and vertical coordinates of every located utility with centimeter-level accuracy.

This data is then brought into a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create a clean, layered digital map. This isn't just a simple drawing—it's a detailed, data-rich file that can be integrated directly into your engineering plans or site designs. This process of GPS and GIS mapping transforms field markings into actionable intelligence, ensuring everyone on the project team is working from the same reliable information.

Understand Your Technology's Limits

Every locating technology has its strengths and weaknesses, and a true expert knows how to account for them. No tool provides a perfect "x-ray" of the ground. For instance, GPR performance can be limited in dense, clay-rich soils, while EM signals can sometimes "jump" onto adjacent metallic lines in a congested corridor, leading to a false reading. The depth of a utility can also impact the clarity of the signal.

This is why the technician’s experience is just as important as the equipment they use. A seasoned professional knows how to interpret ambiguous signals, recognize when a reading seems off, and use multiple techniques to verify their findings. Understanding these limitations is key to avoiding costly assumptions and ensuring the data you receive is as accurate as possible. It’s about using the tools intelligently, not just blindly trusting the screen.

Create a Clear Plan Before You Scan

Great fieldwork starts long before a single tool is switched on. A solid plan is your best defense against surprises, delays, and costly mistakes. Rushing into a scan without proper preparation is like trying to build a house without a blueprint—you might get something done, but it won’t be right. Taking the time to assess the site, gather records, and align your team ensures that every moment spent in the field is productive. This planning phase is where you define your goals, identify potential challenges, and set the stage for a safe and successful project. It’s the difference between simply finding some utilities and delivering a complete, accurate picture of the subsurface that your entire team can trust.

Assess the Site

Before you can find what’s hidden, you need to understand what’s visible. A thorough site walk-through is the first and most critical step. Look for surface-level clues like manholes, valve covers, utility pedestals, and faint depressions from old trench lines. These features are the breadcrumbs that lead to the underground infrastructure. Many states and localities also have rules that require contractors to identify and mark utilities before any excavation, so this initial assessment is part of your due diligence. Document everything you see with photos and notes. This initial survey helps you build a mental map of the area and informs which tools and techniques will be most effective for the job.

Gather Existing Utility Records

Your next step is to collect any existing documentation you can find. This includes as-built drawings, previous survey maps, and public 811 tickets. While these records provide a valuable starting point, treat them with healthy skepticism. They are often outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete. Remember, public utility owners are only required by law to mark the lines they own, often missing private lines, abandoned pipes, or non-metallic conduits. This is precisely why a comprehensive private locate is so important. Use these records to build a preliminary picture, but rely on your field investigation to confirm what’s actually there.

Mark and Document Everything

As you locate utilities, clear and consistent marking is essential. Use the American Public Works Association (APWA) color code to ensure everyone on site, from the excavator to the project manager, understands what each flag or paint line represents. But marking is only half the battle; documentation is what makes the data last. As you work, you should be taking photos, creating detailed field sketches, and using high-precision equipment to create a GPS/GIS map of your findings. This creates a permanent, verifiable record that can be used to produce clean, engineer-ready deliverables and prevent future conflicts.

Keep Everyone on the Same Page

A successful utility locating project depends on clear communication. Before the scan begins, hold a pre-job briefing with all stakeholders—the general contractor, facility manager, and excavation crew—to define the scope of work and review the plan. Everyone should understand the project goals, the boundaries of the survey area, and what to expect from the results. This alignment prevents misunderstandings and ensures the data you collect is exactly what the team needs to move forward safely. Keeping communication lines open throughout the project helps manage expectations and address any unexpected findings quickly and efficiently.

Avoid These Common Planning Mistakes

Even with the best intentions, planning can go off track. One of the biggest mistakes is having an undefined scope. Simply asking to "scan the site" is too vague. Instead, define the exact area of your planned excavation or soil borings to focus the effort where it matters most. Another common error is placing too much faith in old utility records without field verification. Always trust what you find on-site over what’s on paper. Finally, avoid poor communication between your team and the client. A misunderstanding about project goals can lead to incomplete data and wasted time, so always confirm the objectives before you start.

Master the Field: Proven Locating Methods

With a solid plan in hand, it’s time to get out in the field. The most successful utility locating isn’t just about having the best equipment; it’s about using a systematic process that combines technology with sharp, on-the-ground observation. Rushing this stage or relying on a single method is a recipe for missed targets and costly surprises. A professional approach involves layering different techniques to build a complete and accurate picture of the subsurface.

Think of it as detective work. You start by gathering the obvious evidence, then bring in specialized tools to uncover what’s hidden from view. Each step confirms or challenges your initial assumptions, getting you closer to the truth of what’s buried beneath your site. This methodical process is what separates a quick scan from a reliable, engineer-ready survey. By mastering these field methods, you can confidently identify utilities, determine their depth, and handle even the most crowded underground corridors. This is how you move from uncertainty to clarity, ensuring your project stays safe, on schedule, and on budget. The goal is to create a comprehensive map that your entire team can trust before the first shovel breaks ground.

Investigate Clues on the Surface

Before you power up any equipment, take a walk around the site. The ground often leaves clues that can guide your entire investigation. Look for visual evidence of buried infrastructure, such as utility markers, manholes, valve covers, electrical boxes, and fire hydrants. You can also spot more subtle signs, like scarring from previous trench work or changes in the pavement. Many states have rules that require contractors to identify and mark utility locations, so look for existing paint or flags from previous surveys. Documenting these surface features first helps you build a preliminary map and gives you a starting point for your geophysical survey.

Apply Geophysical Survey Techniques

Once you’ve gathered surface clues, it’s time to see what’s happening underground. This is where geophysical survey methods like Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electromagnetic (EM) locating come in. GPR works by sending radar waves into the ground; when the waves hit a buried object, they bounce back, allowing the device to create an image of what’s below. EM locators work by detecting the electromagnetic fields around conductive pipes and cables. Using these tools effectively allows you to trace utility paths, identify unknown lines, and build a detailed subsurface map without ever breaking ground.

Find Non-Metallic Utilities

One of the biggest challenges in the field is locating non-metallic utilities like PVC, concrete, or fiber optic lines. Since these materials aren't conductive, traditional EM locators can’t detect them directly. This is where GPR becomes essential, as it can detect these lines based on the contrast between the pipe and the surrounding soil. For empty conduits or drain lines, another great tool is a sonde or locate beacon. These small, self-contained transmitters can be pushed through a pipe, allowing you to trace its path from the surface with a standard receiver.

Determine Accurate Utility Depth

Knowing where a utility is located horizontally is only half the battle; you also need to know how deep it is. Accurate depth estimation is critical for planning safe excavations, designing new installations, and avoiding strikes. Professional-grade, multi-frequency locators are designed to provide reliable depth readings. A good locator can help you find utilities and know how deep they are, giving your team the precise data needed for safe digging. This information is a key component of any reliable subsurface utility map and is essential for pre-planning trenching or boring operations.

Manage Congested Utility Corridors

On busy commercial sites or in dense urban areas, the subsurface can look like a plate of spaghetti. When multiple utilities are buried close together, it’s incredibly difficult to distinguish one from another. In these congested corridors, a single-method approach is bound to fail. The key is to combine GPR and EM locating to differentiate targets and trace each line carefully. This is also where accurate, up-to-date digital maps are invaluable. By integrating your field findings with GPS & GIS mapping, you can create a clear, layered view that makes sense of the chaos and helps prevent dangerous cross bores.

How to Dig Safely After Locating

Once the paint and flags are on the ground, the real work begins. But accurate locating is only half the battle—the next step is digging safely and thoughtfully. Rushing this phase can undo all the careful planning and lead to the very utility strikes you’ve worked so hard to avoid. Think of the marks not as a finish line, but as a detailed map for your excavation. Following a clear, methodical process for digging ensures your project stays on schedule, on budget, and most importantly, safe for everyone on site. These next steps will help you turn subsurface data into a successful excavation without any costly surprises.

Establish a Protected Dig Zone

Before any dirt is moved, your first job is to secure the area. This isn’t just about compliance; it’s about creating a controlled environment where mistakes are less likely to happen. Use signs, flags, and barriers to clearly define the excavation area and keep unauthorized personnel and vehicles out. A well-marked zone communicates the potential risks to everyone on site and helps prevent accidental damage from other construction activities. Following your state's specific safe excavation practices ensures you’re not only protecting your crew but also meeting legal requirements for worksite safety. This simple step sets a professional tone and keeps the focus on the critical task at hand.

Verify with Potholing (Daylighting)

Even the most advanced locating technology provides an incredibly accurate estimate, but it’s not a substitute for visual confirmation. The only way to know the exact depth and position of a utility is to physically expose it through a process called potholing, or "daylighting." This involves carefully digging small test holes by hand or with a non-destructive method like vacuum excavation to see the line with your own eyes. This step removes all guesswork, confirming the data you received from your locating crew. It’s an essential verification measure that protects you from making assumptions and prevents potentially catastrophic damage from heavy machinery.

Prevent Damage During Excavation

With the utility visually confirmed, you can proceed with the main excavation, but caution is still key. Always maintain a safe tolerance zone around the marked and potholed lines. The size of this zone can vary, but the principle remains the same: no mechanical digging should occur within it. Use hand tools when you’re working close to the utility to avoid accidental nicks, scrapes, or punctures. Constant communication between the equipment operator and a spotter on the ground is critical. This careful, deliberate approach ensures that you respect the utility’s position and prevent the kind of damage that leads to dangerous and expensive repairs.

Have an Emergency Response Plan

Even with meticulous planning, you need to be prepared for the unexpected. Before you dig, make sure your entire crew knows the emergency response plan. What happens if a line is struck? Who do you call first? How do you safely evacuate the area? Having clear answers to these questions can make all the difference in a crisis. Your plan should also include checking for signs of historical environmental issues, like discolored soil or strange odors, which could indicate contamination. A solid plan ensures a swift, coordinated response that minimizes damage and keeps your team safe.

Tackle Complex Sites with Advanced Strategies

Not every job site is a clean slate. Many are layered with decades of infrastructure, including abandoned pipes, deep utility lines, and congested corridors that don’t show up on any official records. These complex environments are where standard locating procedures fall short and the risk of a utility strike skyrockets. When you’re facing a web of known and unknown utilities, you need to move beyond basic sweeps and adopt a more strategic approach. This is especially true on industrial campuses, historic urban sites, or any property that has seen multiple phases of construction over the years. Public utility records are often incomplete or outdated, and the free 811 service only marks public lines up to the meter—leaving a huge blind spot for all the private infrastructure crisscrossing your work area.

Advanced strategies aren’t about using one magic tool; they’re about layering different technologies and investigative techniques to build a complete and accurate picture of what’s happening underground. It means treating the site like a puzzle, using every piece of information available—from visible surface features to geophysical data—to understand the full scope of what you’re dealing with. By combining methods, actively investigating difficult targets, and developing a clear plan for the entire site, you can confidently manage even the most challenging projects. This proactive mindset transforms locating from a simple task into a critical risk management process, protecting your crew, your budget, and your project timeline from preventable disasters.

Combine Methods for Maximum Accuracy

Relying on a single locating method on a complex site is like trying to build a house with only a hammer—you’re going to miss things. The most effective approach is to combine technologies to compensate for each tool’s limitations. For instance, an Electromagnetic (EM) locator is great for tracing conductive pipes and cables, but it can’t detect non-metallic lines like PVC, concrete, or fiber optics. That’s where Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) comes in. GPR can find non-conductive utilities and is incredibly useful for identifying old, abandoned lines that no longer have a signal. By using EM and GPR together, you create a system of checks and balances, giving you a much more reliable map of the subsurface.

Locate Deep and Difficult Targets

Standard utility locates often only scratch the surface, typically identifying lines within the first few feet. But many critical utilities, like sewer mains or specialized conduits, are buried much deeper. Assuming a clear path based on a shallow scan is a dangerous gamble. Deep targets require specialized equipment and a more focused approach to ensure they’re accurately marked before you break ground. When you know you’ll be digging deep, it’s essential to verify the location of marked utilities. Potholing, also known as vacuum excavation, is a safe way to expose a utility and confirm its exact depth and position. This extra step provides the certainty you need to create a complete subsurface utility map.

Investigate and Identify Unknown Lines

It’s common to find a pipe or conduit that isn’t on any as-built drawings or public records. These are often private utilities—like power for an old sign or a water line to an irrigation system—that the 811 service isn’t required to mark. Ignoring an unknown line is never an option. You have to treat every unidentified target as a potential hazard until you can prove otherwise. The investigation process involves using multiple tools to trace the line’s path and determine what it’s made of. Is it metallic or plastic? Does it lead to a building or an electrical box? Taking the time to identify every utility is a critical step in responsible site management and ensures you’re protecting both your crew and the existing infrastructure.

Develop Solutions for Complex Sites

On a site with numerous utility conflicts, simply marking the ground isn’t enough. The real goal is to develop a solution that allows your project to move forward safely and efficiently. A comprehensive subsurface investigation gives you the data you need to make smart decisions before excavation begins. This might mean slightly adjusting the location of a foundation, rerouting a trench, or planning for potholing to navigate a congested area. This proactive approach helps everyone involved, from engineers to machine operators, understand the site’s specific challenges. Investing in a detailed site map from a private locating expert is one of the best ways to ensure your project stays on schedule, on budget, and, most importantly, safe.

Verify and Document Your Findings

Finding a utility is only half the battle. If you don't accurately document its location, depth, and type, the information loses its value the moment you leave the site. Creating a clear, permanent record is what turns a successful locate into a long-term asset for project planning, safety, and future maintenance. This final step protects your team, your client, and anyone who works on the site for years to come. It’s about leaving behind a reliable map that prevents future guesswork and costly strikes. Good documentation ensures that the hard work you did in the field continues to provide value long after the paint has faded. It transforms temporary marks on the ground into permanent, reliable data that informs every decision that follows, from design to excavation. Without it, the next team that comes along is starting from scratch, repeating the same work and facing the same risks. A well-documented site is a safer, more efficient site, saving time and money on all future projects.

How to Verify Your Accuracy

Even the most advanced locating equipment has its limits. The only way to be 100% certain of a utility's exact horizontal and vertical position is to see it with your own eyes. This process, known as potholing or daylighting, involves carefully exposing the utility at critical points. You can do this by hand-digging or using a non-destructive method like vacuum excavation. While it requires extra time, this physical confirmation removes all doubt and is a critical step before any major excavation or drilling. It’s the ultimate quality control check that validates your instrument readings and ensures your project can move forward safely and without surprises.

Set High Standards for Field Data

The quality of your final map depends entirely on the quality of the data you collect in the field. Sloppy fieldwork leads to unreliable reports. It’s essential to use modern tools that can capture precise location data for every utility you mark, including those you install and those you avoid. This information becomes an invaluable part of the site’s history. By maintaining high standards for data collection, you build a comprehensive picture of the subsurface. This detailed record helps streamline future projects, simplifies maintenance, and provides a clear reference for any work that needs to be done later.

Create Clean, Engineer-Ready Maps

Your final deliverable should be more than just lines on a page; it needs to be a clear, actionable tool for engineers, project managers, and excavation crews. A professional map uses standard color codes to identify different utility types and integrates precise GPS coordinates. We provide clean subsurface utility mapping that layers this information into a format that can be easily dropped into design plans. This clarity eliminates confusion and ensures everyone on the project team is working from the same accurate information, preventing misinterpretations that could lead to dangerous and expensive errors during construction.

Generate Actionable Reports

A good report does more than just show where things are—it provides context that helps teams make smarter decisions. Documenting everything, including challenges, unknown lines, and areas of high congestion, creates a complete picture of the site. This information is crucial for risk assessment and planning. By analyzing this data over time, you can identify patterns, anticipate potential issues on similar job sites, and continuously refine your safety protocols. This practice of turning field data into actionable intelligence is what separates a basic locate from a truly professional utility locating service.

Overcome Common Site Challenges

Every project site comes with its own set of puzzles, from crowded utility corridors to tricky ground conditions. The difference between a smooth project and a costly one often comes down to how you anticipate and handle these challenges. A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works when dealing with the complexities buried underground. Instead, success requires a flexible strategy that combines the right technology with field-proven techniques. By preparing for these common hurdles, you can keep your project safe, on schedule, and within budget. The key is to move beyond just finding utilities and focus on understanding the complete subsurface environment. This proactive mindset allows you to solve problems before they can cause delays or damage.

Manage High-Risk Areas Safely

Working near hospitals, data centers, or dense industrial plants adds a layer of pressure to any excavation project. In these high-risk zones, a utility strike isn’t just an inconvenience—it can disrupt critical operations and create serious safety hazards. That’s why many states and localities have strict rules that require contractors to identify and mark all underground lines before digging. For these sensitive areas, you need more than a basic locate. A comprehensive private utility scan gives you the detailed information necessary to establish safe work zones, protect essential infrastructure, and ensure everyone on site goes home safely. It’s about taking control of the risks you can’t see.

Adapt to Different Soil Conditions

The ground itself can be one of your biggest challenges. Soil composition has a major impact on the effectiveness of locating equipment. Dense, wet clay can absorb GPR signals, while rocky or sandy soil can scatter them, making it difficult to get a clear reading. This is where having the right tools and expertise becomes critical. An experienced technician knows how to adjust their methods and use multi-frequency locators to tune into the specific conditions of your site. They can interpret faint signals and distinguish between a utility and background noise, ensuring you get accurate data whether you’re working in compact fill or loose, saturated ground.

Account for Variations in Depth

A painted line on the surface tells you where a utility is, but it doesn't always tell you how deep it is. As-built drawings can be outdated, and the ground elevation may have changed since the line was installed. Relying on estimated depths is a gamble. The most reliable way to confirm a utility’s depth is to physically expose it through non-destructive digging, a process known as potholing or daylighting. By using a vacuum excavation system to create a small test hole, you can visually confirm the exact depth and position of a line. This simple verification step removes all doubt and is the best way to prevent damage during excavation.

Resolve Utility Conflicts Before They Happen

The best time to solve a problem is before it starts. When you’re designing a new installation, you need to know how it will fit with the existing underground infrastructure. A subsurface utility map created early in the design phase allows you to overlay your plans with the locations of all known utilities. This process helps you find and fix any potential conflicts long before construction begins. Discovering that your proposed foundation clashes with a major sewer line on paper is a simple design revision. Discovering it with an excavator is a project-stopping crisis that costs time, money, and your reputation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need a private utility locator if I’ve already called 811? Calling 811 is an essential first step, but that service only covers public utilities—the lines owned by utility companies that run up to your property’s meter. Everything beyond that point, like the power running to a security gate or a water line for an irrigation system, is considered private. We specialize in finding these private lines that 811 doesn’t mark, giving you a complete picture of everything buried on your site so there are no surprises.

What’s the difference between GPR and EM locating? Think of it this way: Electromagnetic (EM) locating is perfect for tracing a known metallic line, like a steel gas pipe or a copper phone line, by following a specific electrical signal. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is more of a discovery tool. It sends radar waves into the ground to create an image of what’s below, allowing us to find non-metallic pipes like PVC or even old, abandoned lines that an EM locator can’t see. We almost always use both to confirm our findings and build a more reliable map.

How do you confirm the exact depth of a utility? While our equipment provides a very reliable depth estimate, the only way to be 100% certain is to physically see the utility. This is done through a safe digging process called potholing, or daylighting. We use non-destructive methods like vacuum excavation to create a small test hole that exposes the line, confirming its exact depth and position without risking damage from heavy machinery. This step removes all guesswork before you start digging.

What happens when you find an "unknown" utility line on my property? Finding an unknown line is quite common, especially on older sites with a long history of construction. When we detect a utility that isn’t on any records, we treat it as a live threat until we can prove otherwise. Our process involves tracing its path to see where it originates and terminates and using different tools to help identify its material. We document it thoroughly so you can make an informed decision about how to proceed with your project safely.

What do I receive after the scan is complete besides marks on the ground? The marks on the ground are just the temporary field guide for your crew. Our goal is to provide you with a permanent, usable record. Our final deliverable is a clean, engineer-ready digital map. We use high-precision GPS to capture the exact coordinates of every utility, then create a detailed GIS map that can be integrated directly into your design plans. This ensures your entire team is working from the same accurate data long after the paint has faded.