The first thing that happens on our job sites when we arrive is getting a good lay of the land and seeing what we are up against. Before a single machine touches the ground, we walk the entire area to verify and document the existing utility marks.
Those flags are the whole story
Before we ever showed up, the utilities were marked out through the 811 one-call system. Those little colored flags and paint lines tell us exactly where the gas, water, electric, and fiber run underground. Red is electric, yellow is gas, blue is water, orange is communications and fiber. They are the map for everything you cannot see, and we treat them like it.
The 24-inch rule
If you ever spot our crews working, you will notice one of the first things we do is measure at least 24 inches off the other utilities' flags. That tells our operators where they can work up to safely with a machine. It also tells us where we need to get some of the laborers set up to dig and expose those areas by hand, because anything closer than that cannot be safely dug with an excavator.
It slows us down a little on the front end, and we are fine with that. Hitting one of those lines is dangerous and expensive, and it is almost always avoidable when you take the time to find it first and dig it out by hand.
The part nobody sees
This is the part of the job nobody thinks about until something goes wrong. We would rather spend the extra hour with a shovel than explain to a homeowner why their power is out or why the street lost water. Careful is not slow, it is just doing it right the first time.
Common questions
What do the colored utility flags mean? Red is electric, yellow is gas, blue is water, and orange is communications and fiber. They come from the 811 one-call system, and they are the map for everything you cannot see.
What is the 24 inch rule when digging near utilities? New Jersey requires that mechanized equipment is not operated within two feet horizontally of the outside wall of a marked underground facility until that facility has been located by hand. In practice that means measuring at least 24 inches off every flag, working up to that line with the machine, and exposing anything closer with shovels.
Why dig by hand near a marked line instead of using the machine? Because a markout tells you roughly where a line is, not exactly. Paint and flags carry tolerance, and the only way to know precisely where something sits is to uncover it. Hand digging that last two feet is slower on the front end and far cheaper than hitting it.
Does a markout guarantee nothing gets hit? No, and it is worth understanding why. Markouts cover the utilities' own facilities. They do not cover private lines a property owner installed, and an operator of non-metallic water pipe installed before November 18, 1994 is exempt from marking it out at all. Unpainted ground is not the same as empty ground.
If you are planning any kind of dig in Sussex, Warren, Morris, or Hunterdon County, always call 811 first, and know who is working in your yard. If you need a crew that treats your property and your utilities like they matter, call us at 862-268-2510. More on the underground work we do is on our utility construction page.
Still not sure how this applies to your property? That is what a free on-site estimate is for. Call 862-268-2510 or tell us what is going on, and we will give you a straight answer, including when the answer is that you do not need us.