Do you ever?

**beyond help** · September 12th, 2008, 12:55 AM

Originally Posted by Goldenboy

Here's a CATV trunk and feeder,Electric Primary and 144 strand fiber damage. The homeowner never called in a ticket. If they would have called in a ticket I could have warned them that the utility lines were only 6 inches deep. The homeowner had rented a skidster and was going to do some grading. Now I think they'll need to take out a loan to pay for the lines.

BTW the lines were buried at normal depth but when they graded this lot originally when the home was finished they took a bunch of dirt away which made them lower. They were'nt installed that shallow.

That sucks big time

**scap** · April 18th, 2009, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by stormgrey

For saftey sake give a contractor a heads up about a "extra" shallow utility? I usually dont but for some reason was in a good mood and decided to help out, and glad I did after finding out the line fed a major medical complex in the area. Probably would have been hit, I know , not my fault but would have sucked for anyone on the "other end".

attitude affects everything..this is just another example of that.

**advanceMan** · May 22nd, 2009, 10:47 AM

I give depth out all the time. On the plow crew, you have to throw that locator think away, and take depths in many places. then you have to write them on the flag for whoever needs to see them. Do you know how to check for accurate depth either inductive or direct connect?

**beyond help** · May 24th, 2009, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by advanceMan

I give depth out all the time. On the plow crew, you have to throw that locator think away, and take depths in many places. then you have to write them on the flag for whoever needs to see them. Do you know how to check for accurate depth either inductive or direct connect?

Many locators are forbidden to do so. Most of the contracts have that already written in there. Plus, It's the excavators responsibility to expose it. I chose to sling paint, and not to dig. I'm not trying to be a prick, but I'm not saying one damn thing about depths, except that it's below my feet.

**Dave72** · May 24th, 2009, 11:16 PM

Yep, we dont give out depth either. If I was doin my own locate for my own digging, I could live with my locates. Easy enough to compare peak and null readings. At a bend, peak and null dont agree.. and you have to split the difference (but dig alot more carefully there).
If I was called out on an 'emergency' like that, Id laugh and point out that policy on the sheet where we dont give depth because it can vary. If it wasnt my own locate, I would verify the locate.. since Im on record then as the last locator there with a tracking number.
If I was curious about real strong signal or something, and I did check the depth.. I might warn the guy that it seems shallow (if he wasnt being a prick that is).

**FiosKing** · May 26th, 2009, 08:57 PM

my rd is broken with depth, the other day i had a electric company worker ask for a depth, i laughed and said "sure"... depth read: 18ft lol he got a good kick out of that too

**Mke** · May 27th, 2009, 09:23 AM

Giving out depth is a slippery slope. you have to be very careful to who and when you give depths. I will give contractors a heads up if I have a major concern of damaged lines.

For Example, They are installing a 42'' Storm line accross the Rnwy, the electric lines are not in their depth and I have them marked so they can go under the cables, what the issue is they will come in with a grinder to grind out the 24'' of asphalt. The Electric lines are only down 9'' and they are 5kv lines....sooooo yeah I let the crew know, nothing mangles conduit better then a milling machine.

On that note, you have Joe Blow construction doing any other job outside of the airfield i'll let them know of everything they should come accross, but depths are out of the question.

mke

**ProfessionalLocator** · December 15th, 2009, 07:30 PM

I was marking gas lines and the client company forbade us to write the size of the pipe on the asphalt or curb. They were thinking that other locators would see this and not bother to look at the drawings.

I was working a large project with a directional bore crew, sometimes three machines running at a time, and they did not test pit anything. The idea their main office had was it was cheaper to pay for damages than to pay to dig up utilities. Lost count of the damages they had on that job, just remember that none were my fault.

So there were two mains on this one street. One was an old transmission line the local utility had gotten from an interstate gas transmission company. They used it to tap off of and feed the various gas mains in that area.

So over the old transmission line, now running at normal distribution pressure, I painted GAS LINE BUF.

Later when they got to that street the crew leader called me and asked why I wrote that. I told him so that when he came to it he would call me and ask about it. That there was a 30" gas pipe down there.

Oh, he asked what did BUF stand for. Big Ugly Fu*ker. He got a laugh from that and he test pitted that one.

When there is a will there is a way providing you are devious enough.

**yahoo** · August 14th, 2010, 08:36 PM

I'm going to try the BUF trick out this week.......I like the sound of that!!!

**sprayandpray** · August 15th, 2010, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by Goldenboy

Here's a CATV trunk and feeder,Electric Primary and 144 strand fiber damage. The homeowner never called in a ticket. If they would have called in a ticket I could have warned them that the utility lines were only 6 inches deep. The homeowner had rented a skidster and was going to do some grading. Now I think they'll need to take out a loan to pay for the lines.

BTW the lines were buried at normal depth but when they graded this lot originally when the home was finished they took a bunch of dirt away which made them lower. They were'nt installed that shallow.

Here in Texas the H/O wouldn't have to pay anything because the lines weren't at least 14" deep.

**rockiesgirl** · January 5th, 2011, 10:11 AM

Sure I give a depth its between 0" and 60". Unless I like the excavator then maybe if they are nice I will give them a rough estimate. Ya gotta throw the dog a bone sometime right.

**mattm211** · January 5th, 2011, 12:30 PM

I would never tell them depth, but I would just say it comes out of the nearby handhole or manhole really shallow and to watch out. Also, I would get a couple jobs where there would be a lot of that old pulp cable that isn't color coded and I would let them know that prints show it's there and to watch it. (in the area where I had those there were some of the biggest lines, so if they were hit there's no telling what all would go down). that was all when i cared.

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