The 811 Myth: Why “Call Before You Dig” is Only Step One
If you are planning an excavation, renovation, or construction project in Colorado, you have probably heard the golden rule: Call 811 before you dig. While contacting the national dig-safely hotline is a legal requirement and an absolute necessity for protecting public infrastructure, many homeowners and contractors falsely assume that an 811 ticket covers every single pipe and wire underground.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t.
The 811 service only notifies public utility companies (like your local gas, water, and power providers). These companies will only send locators to mark the lines they own and maintain, which typically end right at your service meter.
What Lies Beyond the Meter? Enter Private Utilities
Everything installed past the public utility meter is classified as a “private utility.” Because you or the previous property owner installed these lines, the city and public utility companies have no record of them—and 811 will not mark them.
Common examples of private utilities that 811 will completely ignore include:
- Electrical lines running to a detached garage, shed, or pool house.
- Irrigation and sprinkler systems routed throughout a residential or commercial landscape.
- Private gas lines connecting to outdoor fire pits, BBQ grills, or heated pools.
- Septic tank laterals and private sewer lines.
- Communication cables linking separate buildings on a commercial campus.
In many residential and commercial projects, private utilities make up more than 60% of the buried infrastructure on the property. Digging blindly into these areas is a recipe for disaster.
The Hidden Costs of Guessing
When contractors or homeowners assume they are clear to dig just because there is no public paint on the ground, the results can be catastrophic. Striking a private utility carries severe consequences:
- Exorbitant Repair Costs: If you break a private line, the public utility company won’t fix it. You are entirely responsible for the cost of repairing the damaged infrastructure, which can easily run into the thousands.
- Massive Project Delays: Hitting an unexpected water main or severing a power line forces all construction to halt immediately until the hazard is neutralized and repaired.
- Severe Safety Hazards: Striking a buried electrical conduit or a private gas line isn’t just an inconvenience—it is a life-threatening safety risk for the equipment operator and anyone nearby.
How Private Locating Works
To get a complete, 100% accurate picture of what lies beneath the soil, you need to partner with a specialized private utility locating firm.
At JLP Tech, we use state-of-the-art technology to map out the utilities that 811 misses.
- Electromagnetic (EM) Locating: We use advanced EM transmitters and receivers to trace metallic pipes and energized electrical lines with pinpoint accuracy.
- Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR): For non-metallic targets like PVC pipes, concrete storm drains, or abandoned septic tanks, our high-frequency GPR equipment sends radar pulses into the earth to create a real-time cross-section of the subsurface.
Build with Confidence in Colorado
Whether you are a homeowner installing a new fence in Denver, or a commercial construction manager breaking ground on a massive facility in Boulder, guessing is never worth the risk.
Always make 811 your first call, but make JLP Tech your second. By combining public utility marks with comprehensive private utility locates, you ensure your project stays on schedule, on budget, and—most importantly—completely safe.