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Primary Service Policies - Expanded Details:
4. Buried Utilities and Locates
Bobcat Service Division
with-operator rentals, excavation services
As with all other matters of planning, safety and legal requirements on a jobsite, the obtaining in advance all necessary utility locates is up to you - the contractor and/or property owner. We are not contractors, we are service suppliers, working directly for and under you. This is one of your responsibilities; we will never call in for them on your behalf.
Besides, remember too, that frequently people call on us for our services very last minute - same day, the day before, 2 days before, etc, and in most cases a locate to be completed needs to be called in about a week (or more) beforehand.
The fines and potential liability risks are too high, and we make far too little to take on those risks - so we won't dig without the located being done and the paperwork on hand for us. If they are needed (and in many cases they are) and our operator shows up and you don't have them, he may not dig if he considers the risk too great (it is solely his call), but you will still be billed for and pay then the minimum charges as applicable for his service call.
You must ensure that the locates are valid. What does that mean? Note the following:
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Locates consist of 2 things – the paint marks on the ground – which are important and need to be visible, and the accompanying paperwork (reports and site drawings) that the locators provide for you.
Locates consist of 2 things – the paint marks on the ground – which are important and need to be visible, and the accompanying paperwork (reports and site drawings) that the locators provide for you.•The paint marks need to be visible – so if there was snow on the ground at the time they were done that has now melted, or other debris or mounds of soil that has been moved, you may need to have them done again.
The paint marks need to be visible – so if there was snow on the ground at the time they were done that has now melted, or other debris or mounds of soil that has been moved, you may need to have them done again.•The paperwork is actually probably as important, or more so, than the painted marks on the ground. You absolutely must have the paperwork there the day of our digging and put that paperwork into the hands of the operator. No paperwork in his hands, no digging (probably). That is the law. Don’t forget them back at the office, or leave them with the homeowner who has left for work, or any other excuse – the authorities won’t care about any of that, so neither can we. And having a copy on a smart phone for us to see “all clear” too is apparently not good enough either so we are told. Paper, in our hands, the only way!
The paperwork is actually probably as important, or more so, than the painted marks on the ground. You absolutely must have the paperwork there the day of our digging and put that paperwork into the hands of the operator. No paperwork in his hands, no digging (probably). That is the law. Don’t forget them back at the office, or leave them with the homeowner who has left for work, or any other excuse – the authorities won’t care about any of that, so neither can we. And having a copy on a smart phone for us to see “all clear” too is apparently not good enough either so we are told. Paper, in our hands, the only way!•Check your paperwork that they give you – it will have a “best-before” date on it, and that is generally 30 days, in some rarer cases 60 days. If we arrive on day 31, the paperwork and the locates are useless – as if you never go them in the first place, in terms of if we should hit something (the locators do make mistakes sometimes and forget to locate something, miss something or mark it in the wrong spot from time to time) it will be completely our (as in yours’ too!) fault and all of us (especially you!) will be subject to fines and repair cost and potential damage liabilities. So, for that fact, if your locates have expired we will treat it as it is –as if you don’t have them done, which you technically don’t – and again, the operator may refuse to dig, and you will still be liable for the payment of his bill. Note – this is even so if you have had delays in getting started due to rain or rescheduling at our end – none of these factors are reason for us to change our position on this – it is your job to always have valid locates on hand, so keep this in mind and keep getting new ones every 3 or 4 weeks if you have an ongoing project so you have fresh, current ones on hand at all times. They cost you nothing – just the trouble to make a 3 minute phone call!
Check your paperwork that they give you – it will have a “best-before” date on it, and that is generally 30 days, in some rarer cases 60 days. If we arrive on day 31, the paperwork and the locates are useless – as if you never go them in the first place, in terms of if we should hit something (the locators do make mistakes sometimes and forget to locate something, miss something or mark it in the wrong spot from time to time) it will be completely our (as in yours’ too!) fault and all of us (especially you!) will be subject to fines and repair cost and potential damage liabilities. So, for that fact, if your locates have expired we will treat it as it is –as if you don’t have them done, which you technically don’t – and again, the operator may refuse to dig, and you will still be liable for the payment of his bill. Note – this is even so if you have had delays in getting started due to rain or rescheduling at our end – none of these factors are reason for us to change our position on this – it is your job to always have valid locates on hand, so keep this in mind and keep getting new ones every 3 or 4 weeks if you have an ongoing project so you have fresh, current ones on hand at all times. They cost you nothing – just the trouble to make a 3 minute phone call!•All necessary utility companies or their locator representatives must have been out and checked in and be specifically noted on your paperwork for your locates to be complete. This process varies from locality to locality and utility company to company to some degree, so make inquiry yourself about this to be sure. In many cases you will call a one-call number type service who will either coordinate with the actual locators and utility companies to see that they all come out (that may happen in one or multiple visits), or the one-call people may also be the locators themselves.
All necessary utility companies or their locator representatives must have been out and checked in and be specifically noted on your paperwork for your locates to be complete. This process varies from locality to locality and utility company to company to some degree, so make inquiry yourself about this to be sure. In many cases you will call a one-call number type service who will either coordinate with the actual locators and utility companies to see that they all come out (that may happen in one or multiple visits), or the one-call people may also be the locators themselves.•While we can’t be too specific on this next point, we can say in general terms that the biggest concerns (generally, in Ontario, at least) are for buried natural gas supply, and hydro-electricity service – both of which are under the purview of the TSSA (the Technical Safety Standards Association), and hitting and breaking one of those lines can have serious repercussions with the TSSA. Don’t be fooled by the name “Association” as this is not a business or trade association in the normal sense – it is really an Agency, as in a branch of the government of Ontario, and they have the full law behind them (that Technical Safety Standards Act) and teeth to go with it. Hit and break a gas line and they will be coming by to investigate, and charge you for the time to come investigate and visit with you (at a cost of hundreds of dollars per hour, which they will bill you – either the contractor and/or the property owner), and that is before they fine you, if they choose to do so, which they may. Each infraction or fine for an individual or company ratchets up the fines to the point where they can get into the tens of thousands of dollars and even jail time! (Research online to see this is so.) After they are done with you, utility itself can bill you for a lot of things – gas lost/wasted into the air, the emergency repair crews and materials to repair the line or meter or otherwise. Often the police, fire department (numerous trucks with lights and sirens going) also arrive on scene and the street is for a time at least, closed down. One could potentially get a bill from the municipal government for those emergency services too, possibly, as many places are charging user fees for some such services. The point is, that if you just do your job and get your locates on time all this cost and risk and nonsense can all be avoided.
While we can’t be too specific on this next point, we can say in general terms that the biggest concerns (generally, in Ontario, at least) are for buried natural gas supply, and hydro-electricity service – both of which are under the purview of the TSSA (the Technical Safety Standards Association), and hitting and breaking one of those lines can have serious repercussions with the TSSA. Don’t be fooled by the name “Association” as this is not a business or trade association in the normal sense – it is really an Agency, as in a branch of the government of Ontario, and they have the full law behind them (that Technical Safety Standards Act) and teeth to go with it. Hit and break a gas line and they will be coming by to investigate, and charge you for the time to come investigate and visit with you (at a cost of hundreds of dollars per hour, which they will bill you – either the contractor and/or the property owner), and that is before they fine you, if they choose to do so, which they may. Each infraction or fine for an individual or company ratchets up the fines to the point where they can get into the tens of thousands of dollars and even jail time! (Research online to see this is so.) After they are done with you, utility itself can bill you for a lot of things – gas lost/wasted into the air, the emergency repair crews and materials to repair the line or meter or otherwise. Often the police, fire department (numerous trucks with lights and sirens going) also arrive on scene and the street is for a time at least, closed down. One could potentially get a bill from the municipal government for those emergency services too, possibly, as many places are charging user fees for some such services. The point is, that if you just do your job and get your locates on time all this cost and risk and nonsense can all be avoided.•Hydro is also a service now under the oversight of the TSSA. If your service is from overhead wires, you probably have little to worry about, but your locators will indicate that all is clear on your paperwork.
Hydro is also a service now under the oversight of the TSSA. If your service is from overhead wires, you probably have little to worry about, but your locators will indicate that all is clear on your paperwork.•Next, the services not under the TSSA, but potentially lethal as well (we are talking cost here), and those are from the phone company – a main phone trunk line hit would be a disaster to you cost-wise, and even worse would be fibre optics. A single line going up to your residence might not be as costly if hit, but why risk it?
Next, the services not under the TSSA, but potentially lethal as well (we are talking cost here), and those are from the phone company – a main phone trunk line hit would be a disaster to you cost-wise, and even worse would be fibre optics. A single line going up to your residence might not be as costly if hit, but why risk it?•In the past, cable companies were not too careful where they buried their cable lines – they tend to run them anywhere that’s convenient to them – just inches under the lawn, along the sidewalk, but sometimes right across the middle of the front lawn. Up until recently, the cable companies’ position on the matter of locating was to not pay to have a company (the locators) do the locating for them or even to bother sending their own people out to mark them out. Apparently they figured that it was just as cheap for them not to bother to pay for those locating costs beforehand, but rather just to wait until something was hit and damaged and then come out and fix it (at their own cost), as their cables were fairly simple and low cost, easy to re-run. So previously (and to date as we have not heard otherwise yet) we would simple hit, cut and ruin their cables without a worry. That may still be the same policy that some or all have, we cannot say for certainty – that may be something that you want to look into yourself. What we can tell you is that no matter what, these cables are very hard to avoid (call it impossible) and you should expect some damage to some of them if they are present as a natural and expected casualty of your project, and not to expect us to be responsible in any way for costs or inconveniences associated with such damage, because we are telling you now we won’t be. (Now that cable is no longer used just for entertainment – TV, but many use it for the Internet – ie business, and even telephone – so potentially emergency phone calls, it could be argued that cable has in recent years taken on a much more important role – especially if we cut one of the lines that feed neighbours’ houses of yours too. Sorry about that too, but as noted, we really can’t do much about it, that’s how it is. Until they start burying them 2 or 3 feet below the surface and/or encasing them in conduit, and/or doing proper locates for them, we and all other machine operators will continue to hit and destroy them.)
In the past, cable companies were not too careful where they buried their cable lines – they tend to run them anywhere that’s convenient to them – just inches under the lawn, along the sidewalk, but sometimes right across the middle of the front lawn. Up until recently, the cable companies’ position on the matter of locating was to not pay to have a company (the locators) do the locating for them or even to bother sending their own people out to mark them out. Apparently they figured that it was just as cheap for them not to bother to pay for those locating costs beforehand, but rather just to wait until something was hit and damaged and then come out and fix it (at their own cost), as their cables were fairly simple and low cost, easy to re-run. So previously (and to date as we have not heard otherwise yet) we would simple hit, cut and ruin their cables without a worry. That may still be the same policy that some or all have, we cannot say for certainty – that may be something that you want to look into yourself. What we can tell you is that no matter what, these cables are very hard to avoid (call it impossible) and you should expect some damage to some of them if they are present as a natural and expected casualty of your project, and not to expect us to be responsible in any way for costs or inconveniences associated with such damage, because we are telling you now we won’t be. (Now that cable is no longer used just for entertainment – TV, but many use it for the Internet – ie business, and even telephone – so potentially emergency phone calls, it could be argued that cable has in recent years taken on a much more important role – especially if we cut one of the lines that feed neighbours’ houses of yours too. Sorry about that too, but as noted, we really can’t do much about it, that’s how it is. Until they start burying them 2 or 3 feet below the surface and/or encasing them in conduit, and/or doing proper locates for them, we and all other machine operators will continue to hit and destroy them.)•If you have a sprinkler/lawn irrigation system in your lawn and you are resodding or doing any other such potentially disturbing/destructive work, assume you will be spending money doing some repairs to the lines and/or heads (or worse, the electrical signal wires and/or valve boxes, etc), if those are not all clearly marked out, which is something the utility locators will not do for you, as they are your own private property. Even if you do highlight and mark out some of them for us, we still must warn you that we can’t be held responsible for some damages which will inevitably occur (and frequently does) – factor repair costs into your planning of your project’s budget right from the outset.
If you have a sprinkler/lawn irrigation system in your lawn and you are resodding or doing any other such potentially disturbing/destructive work, assume you will be spending money doing some repairs to the lines and/or heads (or worse, the electrical signal wires and/or valve boxes, etc), if those are not all clearly marked out, which is something the utility locators will not do for you, as they are your own private property. Even if you do highlight and mark out some of them for us, we still must warn you that we can’t be held responsible for some damages which will inevitably occur (and frequently does) – factor repair costs into your planning of your project’s budget right from the outset.•The same holds true of any other private lines you may have buried on your property if you don’t tell us about them, expect they will be hit. Even if you tell us about them but cannot tell us for sure exactly where they are (precisely marked out on the surface within inches of its precise line, and how deep, within a reasonable certainty), or you don’t first physically dig them up by hand to show us visibly where they are, you can expect that they will be hit and damaged. We will not be responsible in any way for such damages. Some customers like to say, “Oh, there’s an electrical wire feeding the garage at the back, that runs somewhere right about here. Or here, or maybe just over here. Somewhere there anyway. Just keep an eye out for it and don’t hit it.” Nice try. We will, of course keep our eyes open for it and do our best to avoid hitting and cutting or damaging that line, but the reality is that by the time we see it it is usually already cut in two. You can’t dig by feel. In the battle between excavator and wire, excavator always wins! (Examples of private lines of yours that might be buried, which fit this category, include electrical wires of all types – electrical supply to outbuildings, lighting, pool pumps and such things, gas lines to heaters, barbeques, and so on, plumbing for pools and ponds, sprinklers as mentioned, and so on. Etc.)
The same holds true of any other private lines you may have buried on your property if you don’t tell us about them, expect they will be hit. Even if you tell us about them but cannot tell us for sure exactly where they are (precisely marked out on the surface within inches of its precise line, and how deep, within a reasonable certainty), or you don’t first physically dig them up by hand to show us visibly where they are, you can expect that they will be hit and damaged. We will not be responsible in any way for such damages. Some customers like to say, “Oh, there’s an electrical wire feeding the garage at the back, that runs somewhere right about here. Or here, or maybe just over here. Somewhere there anyway. Just keep an eye out for it and don’t hit it.” Nice try. We will, of course keep our eyes open for it and do our best to avoid hitting and cutting or damaging that line, but the reality is that by the time we see it it is usually already cut in two. You can’t dig by feel. In the battle between excavator and wire, excavator always wins! (Examples of private lines of yours that might be buried, which fit this category, include electrical wires of all types – electrical supply to outbuildings, lighting, pool pumps and such things, gas lines to heaters, barbeques, and so on, plumbing for pools and ponds, sprinklers as mentioned, and so on. Etc.)•City services: Water and sewer. Something that many contractors forget about is that when they call in for locates they assume that all buried utilities are located by the locator services. In almost all municipalities the water and sewer services are owned by the city and the locators do not include locating those, almost ever. Assume that they aren’t for yours either. Check carefully. We will not be responsible, as noted above for ANY services that are not located or omitted on your paperwork given us, such as a water supply line. Hitting one of those can flood your basement very quickly and will potentially cost you a lot of money in damages (not to mention the plumber costs to fix the line and/or the city’s fees). So think ahead, and call the city too, before you dig. Good thing you read all this like we recommended, right? Good thing we have thought to cover all this for you here too! We may have just saved you thousands of dollars just reading this! (We can’t tell you how many water lines we have cut in exactly this way, waterproofing a house, and the customer tells us all has been located, and next thing you know their basement has 8 inches of water in it! Never our fault.)
City services: Water and sewer. Something that many contractors forget about is that when they call in for locates they assume that all buried utilities are located by the locator services. In almost all municipalities the water and sewer services are owned by the city and the locators do not include locating those, almost ever. Assume that they aren’t for yours either. Check carefully. We will not be responsible, as noted above for ANY services that are not located or omitted on your paperwork given us, such as a water supply line. Hitting one of those can flood your basement very quickly and will potentially cost you a lot of money in damages (not to mention the plumber costs to fix the line and/or the city’s fees). So think ahead, and call the city too, before you dig. Good thing you read all this like we recommended, right? Good thing we have thought to cover all this for you here too! We may have just saved you thousands of dollars just reading this! (We can’t tell you how many water lines we have cut in exactly this way, waterproofing a house, and the customer tells us all has been located, and next thing you know their basement has 8 inches of water in it! Never our fault.)•For the record, we do not claim this to be a complete list of types of utilities – there can be more from place to place. One example – there are transcontinental pipelines and communication cables that run in industrial areas, along rail lines and beside highways and under high-tension hydro corridors that can be immensely costly to hit (major fibre optic lines are $1 million per hour when damaged and down – that will put you out of business), and their owners hyper-vigilant to make sure no one is nearby them or messing with them. Always call first!
For the record, we do not claim this to be a complete list of types of utilities – there can be more from place to place. One example – there are transcontinental pipelines and communication cables that run in industrial areas, along rail lines and beside highways and under high-tension hydro corridors that can be immensely costly to hit (major fibre optic lines are $1 million per hour when damaged and down – that will put you out of business), and their owners hyper-vigilant to make sure no one is nearby them or messing with them. Always call first! When do you have to have locates? There are different rules depending on what services you are talking about. If you are talking about TSSA-oversight services (gas, hydro), basically any time there is digging going on, a locate must be done. And we have seen gas lines (which are supposed to be buried a minimum of 18”), literally 3 and 4 inches under the sod, so you can never be too sure. There are very few exceptions to the rule, not even for shallow digs – like stripping off old sod – you still need to have the gas, etc, located. About the only exception we know of is if you only want to remove the old asphalt, and only in some cases, just the pavement itself, but not the touching the base/gravel for repaving can a locate be unnecessary, apparently. As a general rule, we say if you are using a machine (ie needing our services) you should just do it any and every time. And why not? It’s free – just think ahead a bit, save everybody the grief. For sure, whenever you have ordered a mini-excavator, backhoe, auger or any other time we are digging down more than a few inches you should have the locates done. Technically, any time earth is being excavated or disturbed in a municipality where any buried utilities exist anywhere (not just natural gas, but hydro, fibre optics and phone, etc.) you are supposed to have the locates on hand in advance – regardless of how deep or shallow the digging is expected to be go, and if the work is going to be in the back yard, or in the middle of a farmers’ field (places where you are sure, and common sense would seem to agree, that there is no or little chance that any services are buried there), so says the legislation (the Technical Safety Standards Act, in Ontario). Just get in the habit of requesting them every time, for every job, right away.
If we have the locate, is all completely okay? Yes and no. While it is good to have the locate, the fact is that even then we have to dig according to some rules – such as around gas lines. The rule is that we cannot dig within 1 meter on either side of the yellow mark on the ground (that’s about a 6-foot+ path of no-dig zone the full length), unless someone has first dug by hand and physically exposed part of the line to the air so the operator can physically visibly see it. Once that is the case, he can dig closer, right beside it if he is careful, if need be. This also applies to post holes near gas lines and other utilities. There are also rules pertaining to the support of a gas line if digging around and below it, and also on how the backfilling must be done around the line after the work is done and you are ready to close it back up again. Your operator knows generally many of these rules and can help you with the knowledge he has, but remember, as with all other things involving your project and using our services, the directions come from you. It is your job first and foremost to be educated on all these matters and tell us what you want us to do for you – the jobsite is yours, the job or task at hand is also yours, we work for you, we are not the contractor, you are. (Again, that is true even if you are the homeowner or commercial property owner doing a DIY project without the benefit of an actual professional general contractor –that makes you the de facto general contractor for the project by default, always, for our purposes).
Our advice: Dig up all your buried services by hand first, or else you can't complain when some are hit, when they inevitibly will be. Digging blindly, digging by feel, and hoping for the best, is not a good practice (esp when it comes to water supply, telephone, etc.). Even with the line located by paint markings, it is very tough to know exactly where it is, they can be off by several feet in each direction, and rarely is there any accurate indication of depth. By the time the operator “feels” the utility, it is usually damaged, or broken. Unless you dig by hand to physically locate the line, pipe, wire, etc, we cannot guarantee that we will not hit it. In fact, you should expect that unless you find the line yourself by hand first, you should plan on us hitting and damaging the line with the machine. Even if you have located it by hand and visually exposed it – and that is the best way for sure, and we will certainly do our best to be gentle working around it – we will not guarantee that the line won’t be damaged by the machine. That is a risk you take in having your dig done by machinery. We will do our best, we will try our hardest to not contact the serivce line or damage it, but consider this your warning that we will not accept any responsibilities for any consequences, incovnveniences or costs resulting from a contacted and damaged service.
Non-located services will be damaged - you must expect It. In the case of non-located lines (ones that the locate services don’t normally locate, such as customer’s owned lines – for pool supply, for instance, lighting wires, irrigation systems, cable TV, and so on), expect damage; expect breaks, expect a mess. Ripping out a lawn to replace it with sod, if there is cable and/or a sprinkler system present will certainly result in your bearing a certain amount of expense to repair and replace broken and mangled lines, sprinkler heads, valve boxes and so on. Final comment: we’ll do our best, but lines can easily be a casualty of any dig; expect it, don’t blame us, and don’t expect any compensation from us for anything resulting from ruined lines (including consequential damages, like a flooded basement from a ruptured water line, for instance).
In Ontario where do you call? One locator service is done by Ontario One-Call 1-800-400-2255.
And don’t forget to also call your local municipality for the water and sewer lines to be located.
