Utilities: what to do before anything moves
Two separate hazards, two separate processes, and neither is the contractor’s to resolve on your behalf. This is the part of a clearing project with the least room for improvisation.
Published by the Land Clearing Authority editorial team · Last revised 2026-07-29 · Editorial policy · Corrections
Who this is for
- Anyone whose project involves below-grade work of any kind
- Landowners with lines crossing the property or the access route
- People about to set posts, dig, grub, or grade
The short answer
Underground: call 811 before any excavation, grubbing, grinding, or post-setting. It is free, it is a national system routed to your local providers, and in most places notifying is a legal requirement before you dig.
Overhead: contact the utility. Clearance requirements around energised lines are set by the utility and by safety regulation, and some situations require the utility to attend, de-energise, or install protection.
Neither process tells you about privately installed services. Those are yours to know about.
What changes the answer
- Whether any work goes below the ground surface
- Whether lines cross the work area or the access route
- Whether there are private services — septic, well, irrigation, private power runs
- How tall the equipment is on its trailer and in operation
- What the local notice period is before digging
- Whether the property has had previous work whose records exist
What 811 does
One call or online request notifies the utility operators serving your area, and they mark the approximate location of their buried facilities on the ground.
It is free to the property owner. There is a required notice period before you may dig, and that period varies by state. Marks are valid for a limited time and may need refreshing on a long project.
In most jurisdictions, notifying before excavation is a legal obligation rather than a courtesy, and damaging a facility you did not have located can carry liability well beyond the repair cost.
What 811 does not do
This is the part that catches people out, and it catches out rural landowners in particular.
The system covers facilities operated by participating utilities. It does not cover things the property owner or a previous owner installed: private water lines, irrigation, septic systems and their fields, buried electrical runs to outbuildings, propane lines, and drainage.
On rural property those are frequently the most numerous buried services present, and nobody has a record of them except possibly you. Mark what you know about before work starts, and if you do not know, that is worth establishing before a machine finds out for you.
Overhead lines are a different process
Buried and overhead hazards are handled separately, and 811 does not address the second.
Equipment working near energised lines has to maintain clearance, and the required distance is set by the utility and by safety regulation rather than by the contractor. Machines are tall — in operation and on a trailer — and a clearance that seems generous from the ground may not be.
Where lines cross the work area or the access route, contact the utility before scheduling. Depending on the situation they may specify a clearance, arrange to attend, de-energise temporarily, or install protective covering. All of those take lead time.
The clearing operations that count as digging
People associate 811 with excavation and forget that several routine clearing operations go below grade.
- Stump grinding, which cuts into the soil around the root collar
- Stump extraction and grubbing, which is excavation by any definition
- Post-setting and augering for fences
- Grading, wherever it cuts rather than fills
- Ripping or subsoiling
- Culvert and drainage installation
Who is responsible
This should be settled in writing before work starts, because it varies with the arrangement.
In many cases the contractor performing the excavation makes the notification, since the obligation typically attaches to whoever is digging. But arrangements differ, and an assumption on either side leaves the notification unmade.
Ask directly: who is calling 811, when, and what is the notice period here? And whoever calls, make sure someone marks the private services the system will not find.
What drives the cost
| Driver | Effect |
|---|---|
| Notice period before digging | Sets the earliest start date. Late notification delays the whole project. |
| Private services on the property | Locating unrecorded private lines can require investigation before work. |
| Overhead line involvement | Utility attendance, de-energising, or protection all require lead time and may carry cost. |
| Working around marked facilities | Hand-digging near marks is slower than machine work. |
| Mark expiry on long projects | Marks are time-limited and may need renewing mid-project. |
| Damage liability | A struck facility costs far more than repair — service interruption and liability follow. |
Common mistakes
- Assuming the contractor called 811
- Treating stump grinding as though it were not below-grade work
- Forgetting private services the locate system does not cover
- Not allowing for the notice period when scheduling
- Discovering an overhead line constraint on the morning of the work
Questions to ask a contractor
- Who is contacting 811, and when?
- What is the notice period in this state, and how does that affect the start date?
- Have you contacted the utility about the overhead lines on the route?
- How will you work near the marks once they are down?
- What do you need me to identify about private services?
What to do next
- Contact 811 or submit a request online well before the planned start
- Mark every private service you know about, in the field
- Contact the utility about any overhead line near the work or the route
- Confirm in writing who is responsible for notification
Questions people actually ask
Do I need to call 811 for stump grinding?
Yes. Grinding cuts into the soil around the root collar, which is below-grade work. Buried services near a stump are exactly the situation the locate system exists for.
Does 811 find my septic system or water line?
No. The system covers participating utility facilities, not services installed by you or a previous owner. Septic fields, private water and power runs, irrigation, and propane lines are yours to identify.
How long does a locate take?
There is a required notice period before you may dig, and it varies by state. Marks are also valid only for a limited time. Check the rules for your state via your state resource page and build the notice period into the schedule.
What if a power line crosses my property?
Contact the utility before any work near it. Required clearances are set by the utility and by safety regulation, and they may need to attend, de-energise, or install protection. None of that happens at short notice, so raise it early.
Work out the scope before you ask for prices
Answer the five questions every quote depends on — what is growing, where the material goes, how deep removal has to reach, whether equipment can get in, and what the land is for afterwards. Then send one properly described project to the right kind of contractor.
Nothing on this site is a recommendation of a specific company. The guidance describes categories of work and the questions worth asking. If you decide to request quotes, the introduction is free to you, contractors may pay to receive it, and you are under no obligation to hire anyone.