Newb from Phoenix

**Inspired** · October 24th, 2010, 02:47 AM

Hello all.

I'm a newb from Phoenix. I've been locating and mapping irrigation systems for awhile. I've been thinking about doing some pre-design locating for landscape contractors, irrigators and architects. I've done this for myself for a few years as part of my site information gathering process. Locating all the utility lines as well as anything that has been previously buried by the property owner (permitted or not) before you start the design process is just smart as I'm sure all of you will agree.

So I'll be sticking my toe in the private locating pool. I do have a couple of friends that are pretty good at this. One of them posts here, that's how I found this forum. However, I'm not exactly sure what I need to be legit as a private locator here in AZ.

Any suggestions you guys have will be appreciated.

**Wingfoot** · October 24th, 2010, 08:07 AM

Welcome to the'Vine! The first time I was in Phoenix, it was 2005 and I was on my way to work a Los Angeles area NASCAR race at Fontana, California. I was awestricken on the size of Phoenix as I was peering out the window of a Boeing 737 as we prepared to land at your airport.

It is interesting how Phoenix gets most of it's water, if not all, from the Colorado River via an artificial waterway, the Central Arizona Project. Looking out an airplane window, that waterway stretches out further than the eye can see! I would think the summer water bill would match or exceed the summer electric bill if a home had a sodded yard in Phoenix.

One of the locals told me Phoenix screens out the tampons, toilet paper, Trojans and turds from the sanitary lines and then sprinkles the remaining sewage water on all the golf courses in town. That's how the grass at the Tournament Players Club golf course for the annual Phoenix Open in Scottsdale stays so healthy & green all year long!

I won't be in Phoenix for this upcoming NASCAR race, but I am looking forward to be in your town February for the 2011 Spring NASCAR race. Thanks for joining us here at the'Vine and please post often!

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**TheCableVine** · October 24th, 2010, 11:01 AM

Welcome aboard. Glad you made it. When you decide to hang out your shingle stop by the utility locating directory and put your business in there.

Private Utility Locating Directory

**Mke** · October 24th, 2010, 11:22 AM

Welcome to the board inspired. As for preforming privates you will have to carry insurance and depending on your customers the limit will very, I believe the company I work for has a requirement of 5mil liability. However, most have a 1 million requirement. You will also need a generic liability waiver for customers to sign.

You should stock equipment that will cover most requests you will receive. What type of equipment are you starting with?

Mke

**1idejim** · October 24th, 2010, 01:51 PM

inspired my friend,
you will find this site full of extremely helpful people which as you will learn are dedicated to safety and damage prevention.

i was when i saw you handle, in the process of telling the crew about you.......don't have to now by golly.

going through the archives here has helped to expand my locating immensely and i would say that many of the ideas for irrigation locating stems from the vine.

the passive/inductive locating of the 2-wire decoders actually came to me as a result of some threads i read long ago here.

hope you enjoy, glad you're here

jim

**ProfessionalLocator** · October 24th, 2010, 04:18 PM

If you can respond to the site quickly enough there are a couple of more things you can do with plumbers and electricians.

With plumbers: Usually when a plastic water service fails the plumber will run a steel cable inside the service from the outside to the inside of the house. They will pull the old service out with the backhoe while pulling the new copper service in. The problem they encounter is often the original service has a sharp bend in it. The bend can be going from a lower to a higher elevation or on the same plane. When this happens they cannot pull the new service in and must dig up the entire yard at a much higher cost to their customer.

What you can do is hook you transmitter to the steel cable and trace the route of the original service. If it makes a sharp turn left or right you an easily mark that spot. If it is a sharp turn going from a lower level to a higher level you will have to find it with your depth indicator. Once you have found the location of the turn the plumber can dig up that one spot. Free of the confining earth the bend in the cable now pulls itself straight and they can pull in a new service without trenching the entire yard. I have helped out numerous plumbers doing this and man are they thankful, as is the homeowner who you just saved a thousand dollars or more.

If you can get to the site fast enough and charge a reasonable enough price you can do this.

Often electricians doing things like parking lot lighting have a broken down duct somewhere. If they knew where the break was they could dig down and fix the duct at that point rather than run new duct. Just tell them to run an electricians fish-tape down the duct until it reaches the blockage, you are one the way. Hook up to the tape and where the signal stops is where the duct is broken down.

I have done both of the above to help out plumbers and electricians, only adds 5 or 10 minutes to the job. A wise investment on my part becasue these guys will always work with me after I help them out like that.

In both cases you would need to repeatably flier the local plumbers and electricians so they know you offer that service. It can pick up a few extra dollars to fill in the gaps in the real work.

**TheCableVine** · October 24th, 2010, 08:45 PM

Something you can add to your repertoire as a Private Locator is fault detection. A local private locator around here gets calls for fault detection quite often.

**Inspired** · October 25th, 2010, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by TheCableVine

Something you can add to your repertoire as a Private Locator is fault detection. A local private locator around here gets calls for fault detection quite often.

This is actually how I got started in this. Locating faults in irrigation control wiring, shorted solenoids, buried wire connections and buried valves. I've located irrigation mains and sewer lines with a fish tape and 14 ga, wire. Kind of a shade tree sond set-up. As you guys know, the property owners many times will install 120v electric, sewer and gas lines in the landscape that may or may not be permitted or on any as-built anywhere. The one call guys or "Blue Stake" as we call it here, only mark the service lines so I got into the habbit of marking this stuff myself before we trench. I learned to love a 521. I'm using a barrowed RD440 right now and that really opened my eyes.

**Inspired** · October 25th, 2010, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by Mke

You will also need a generic liability waiver for customers to sign.

You should stock equipment that will cover most requests you will receive. What type of equipment are you starting with?

Mke

Thanks, Mike.
I'm getting some quotes on liability insurance for the locating work specifically. Not sure what you mean by a generic liability waiver. Is that kind of like, "Not responsible for anything buried in the ground"?

Pool contractors here have something that in their contracts, "Not responsible for underground obstructions".

I'm pretty basic as far as equipment. Line toner, Multi-meter, Progressive Electronics 521, and a barrowed RD440. I can buy the RD, but I thought I might look around a bit and see what else is out there. I'm planning on adding a TDR to my little pile here shortly, thanks to 1idejim.

Speaking of Jim, he has been very helpful sharing his experience.

I also appreciate the welcome, everyone.