Originally Posted by
Mke
My company isn't a locating company. It's a company that just happens to have locators. My company is a cross between a public agency and a private company. Most of our revenue is generated by fee's, not taxes. We however do get a small portion of our revenue from taxes to keep our "Public agency" perks. PERS, Exempt plates, etc...
I get paid pretty well, and the benefits are great.
My typical day starts at 7am. I go through the one-call tickets (maybe 5-10 depending on the day). I typically toss those tickets that need paint to the Jr. locator. I then proceed to any locate requests that are set up for the day. In the winter time I have about 2 tasks a day that require field time and locating. My main task is to keep the multiple departments happy. We have 2 different Facility maintenance departments. We have Properties department, Environmental, Engineering, Survey. Each department is always on the hunt for different things depending on the day.
During the summer, the design process usually slows down, but the construction season is a go. My summer routine is staying ahead of all the construction at all of our facilities. We own several airports, marine terminals, comercial properties.
I would say that most of our locates are not one-call requests. although, we will have the excavator call in tickets depending where they are at. Alot of times the public one-call guys don't know where there facilities are or think that the ownership magically changes at the fence line.
In the big scheme of things.... I feel that i'm in the promise land for locators. We have enough variety to keep things interesting, but yet our area is always the same. You get the repitition of having a steady locate area, but the tasks are always changing.
If we want equipment, we just have to go through the process to show need. Since i've started, i've gotten the approval for Laptops, additional locating equipment, fiber optic camera, fault finder, etc..
The best part is we are trusted to do our job. As long as we communicate appropriately... being honest. we are backed sight unseen. I had a upper manager that was called out to an electrical primary damage that happened on a weekend in a marine terminal. The boring crew was screaming about how the line wasn't located and it was the locators fault. The Manager didn't even flinch. He told the crew that he didn't want to hear it. When they started cleaning the mud up by the pit, they found all the previous paint that was covered.
That is my situation, there are alot of additional things that people don't really care about. I have previously worked for both a big contract locating company and a small private locating company. There are quite a bit of differences between the two. There is only one similarity that overshadows it all...... We are all paid well under the ammount of liability that we carry on our shoulders.
mke