Do I Need a Utility Locate Before a Driveway?
Yes. Every service to the house crosses under the driveway, and the skid steer cuts right through that ground. Part of what is under there is the utility's; the rest is yours and unmarked.
Driveways
Every service to the house crosses under it
Yes, you need a locate before a driveway. Replacing, widening or regrading one means a skid steer cutting the old surface and base out, and on a country lot a grader across the whole approach. The driveway is the one place where everything crosses: the electrical service, the gas service, the water service and the communications line coming in from the street, and the irrigation, the low-voltage lighting and the buried downspout drains going across it. 811 marks the utility companies' lines up to your meter, which on a lot of driveways means part of what is under the concrete is theirs and part is yours, and the private part is unmarked.
The order that works. Call 811 first; it is free and takes two business days. Then have the private lines marked. Then cut, and hand-dig wherever the cut crosses a mark instead of letting the bucket find it.
What we do. We trace what carries a signal with an electromagnetic locator, sweep the driveway and the approach 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 existing concrete stays and only gets saw-cut, we scan it first so the saw misses the rebar and the conduit. Residential locates are a flat rate for the visit.
Send the address and what the crew is doing through the request form, or call or text (719) 800-4937, and we send a firm number, within one business day.
Driveway crew scheduled?
Call 811 first, then send us the address and what the crew is doing, or call or text (719) 800-4937. Firm quote within one business day, often the same day.