Do I Need a Utility Locate Before a Pool, Hot Tub or Patio?

Yes, you need a locate before a pool, and before a hot tub or a patio too. An in-ground pool is the biggest hole most yards ever see. A hot tub or spa pad means a slab, a trench for the electrical feed and usually a gas run. A patio means excavation for base and sometimes footings. All of it crosses the irrigation main, the sewer lateral, the water service, the gas line to the fire pit, the low-voltage lighting and the buried downspout drains, and the new electrical and gas runs have to cross the old lines to get there. 811 marks the utility companies' lines up to your meter and stops; everything in the yard is past it.

The order that works. Call 811 first; it is free and takes two business days. Then have the private lines marked. Then dig. And when the new electrical and gas runs are in, have those marked and recorded too, so the fence or the tree that comes next does not find them the hard way.

What we do. We trace what carries a signal with an electromagnetic locator, sweep the excavation and the trench routes with ground-penetrating radar for what does not, and paint the results in APWA color code. No depth; a mark means hand-dig here. Anything we could not find goes in writing. If the hot tub or the pool is going in through an existing slab, we scan the concrete first so the saw does not find the rebar or a conduit. Residential locates are a flat rate for the visit.

Send the address and the plan through the request form, or call or text (719) 800-4937, and we send a firm number, within one business day.