What’s the Difference between Public vs. Private Locator Services?

With the DIY market fast headed toward the $14 billion mark, it’s vital for you to know what you’re doing before taking on that next gigantic project. People are taking on massive projects like never before, but with more renovation comes more preparation. If you’re not aware of the difference between public vs. private locator services, you need to get to know them.

Here is everything to know about a utility locating company or companies and how to get your next job done right.

Why You Need Locator Services

When you’re about to dig or excavate on your own property or someone else’s, you need to figure out where and what the utilities are. Even if you’re removing a rotten tree or installing a fence, it’s vital to know what’s going on at the site. If you’re hiring someone else or doing it yourself, utility locator services are important.

If you or the other company want to start working, you all need to pump your brakes. Whatever your project is, you can’t move forward without locating all the potential nearby utilities. You don’t want to be responsible for damaging utility lines or violating any laws in the process of getting work done.

Locating underground utilities ensures that you know what to expect and what you could be in for when you’re about to do work. Before digging, you can find out the private and public utilities with locator services. Private locators can find those private utilities that aren’t marked with a public locator.

Public utilities can be found by calling 811 and asking about where public utilities are buried. Private locators step in to help you find private services that aren’t always accessible to public utility locator services. When deciding between the two, the truth is that you need to contact both in order to get the work done you’re aiming to do.

About 811

If you’re going to try to locate public utilities, a federally designated database can help ensure that you know what you’re looking at. There are sometimes gas lines that were buried a generation ago that you might not realize are on your property. When it’s time to do any work underground, you need access to that information to avoid dangerous situations.

Thankfully, there’s a free number to help you before you start digging. If you’re a homeowner doing work on your own property, calling 811 allows you to find out whether or not there are vital utility lines under your property. They’ll have a map and a database of information that can inform you of what to expect when digging.

Utility lines can be a wide variety of types of public resources. You could have underground water lines that run beneath your property supplying water to you and your neighbors. There could even be electrical power lines that may be extremely dangerous if breached or broken.

It’s similarly dangerous if you dig into a gas line and burst it without knowing. The power of the gas combined with the spark of metal on metal could cause an explosion. With 811, you get people to come out and have a look to find those public utilities and mark them for you.

Defining Public vs. Private Lines

If you don’t know the difference between public and private lines, you need to think about who maintains them. Public utility lines are more common, but private utility lines are often in unexpected places.

A utility company is the one that maintains a public utility line. They manage the cable or line and repair it if it’s damaged. A property owner is the one who maintains a private line when it’s in place.

The utility company is the one that determines the public utility lines on their own. Their maintenance goes all the way up to where the meter is and no further. After the meter, if there are lines that lead anywhere else, then that’s the place for a private utility where the owner of the property is responsible.

If you’re not sure who owns a line, usually a public utility company can tell you. If you bought a house from someone else, they had to have registered the line and will have the information you need to let you know more about any lines.

Finding Private Utility Lines

When a private utility line might be in place, then you need to hire a private locator to mark them and maintain them. These companies can help you find these lines and others. If you’ve got a detached garage with electricity or plumbing, they’ll identify those lines to help you maintain them.

There might even be underground tunnels on your site that you didn’t know about. If you live in an area with a lot of history, you might be on unmarked underground grave sites that have been hiding on your property. If you need a tool to find some of these things on your own, you could get a Ditch Witch and walk the property on your own.

Private utility finders are able to help you in private or gated communities where there could be all kinds of hidden lines. In places like this, private lines are prevalent and hard to find without professional help.

If you’re planning to dig or to renovate, it’s a good idea to call both 811 and a private locator. Because you don’t want to deal with any problems that come from digging into a line, you’re better off contacting both.

Public vs. Private Locators Shouldn’t Be Compared

While you might prefer one over the other, you shouldn’t compare public vs. private locator services. You need both in order to get the most out of your next big excavation or renovation project.

If you want to find a reliable company for this job, check out our guide to see how their online presence should look.

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