Private utility locating is the process of finding underground utilities — water lines, gas pipes, electrical conduits, fiber optic cables, and sewer — on private property before excavation. Unlike public one-call services (811 in the US, BC One Call in Canada) that only mark utilities in the public right-of-way, private locators use ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electromagnetic (EM) locators, and sometimes vacuum excavation to map what's below grade on private land. If you're a GC, plumber, or excavator digging on private property without a private locate, you're gambling.

Public vs private utility locating — what 811 doesn't cover

When you call 811 before a dig, the public utility companies send their own locators to mark gas, electric, water, sewer, and telecom lines — but only up to the meter or property boundary. Everything on the private side of that meter is your problem.

That means:

• Private water and sewer laterals — the lines running from the city main to the building. These are the most commonly struck private utilities.
• Electrical conduits between buildings — on commercial properties, there are often underground electrical runs between structures that no public utility company tracks.
• Gas lines on commercial campuses — building-to-building gas connections, especially on older industrial properties.
• Irrigation systems — invisible once the ground is covered, and expensive to repair when hit.
• Fiber optic lines — telecommunications on private property, especially in office parks and campus-style developments.
• Abandoned utilities — old lines that were never removed and don't appear on any as-built drawings.

Hitting a private utility is just as expensive and dangerous as hitting a public one. A severed gas line doesn't care who owns it. Private locating exists to fill the gap between what 811 covers and what's actually underground.

Equipment and methods

Electromagnetic (EM) locating

The most common method. An EM locator sends a signal along a conductive utility (metal pipe, cable, tracer wire) and detects it with a handheld receiver. The locator can identify the horizontal position and depth of the utility. EM works well for metallic utilities and any non-metallic line that has tracer wire installed alongside it. Entry-level EM locators cost $2,000–$8,000.

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR)

GPR sends radio waves into the ground and reads the reflections. Unlike EM, GPR can find non-metallic utilities (PVC, clay, concrete pipe) and other subsurface objects (voids, old foundations, tanks) that have no conductive signal. GPR is also used for concrete scanning. Equipment runs $15,000–$40,000 for utility-grade units. Most locators start with EM-only and add GPR as their business grows.

Vacuum excavation (potholing)

When you need to physically confirm a utility's location and depth, vacuum excavation (also called potholing or daylighting) uses pressurized air or water to break up the soil, and a vacuum to remove it. This creates a small, clean hole that exposes the utility without damaging it. Vac-ex is the only method that provides 100% confirmation — EM and GPR are both detection methods with inherent uncertainty.

Who hires private locators

• General contractors — before excavation on any private site. GCs are the primary client base for most private locating businesses.
• Plumbers and excavators — before trenching for new water or sewer lines, especially on retrofit or repair jobs where as-builts don't exist.
• Municipalities — for utility mapping on municipal property, parks, and facilities where records are incomplete.
• Environmental consultants — before drilling monitoring wells or conducting soil sampling on contaminated sites.
• Property developers — during due diligence before purchasing land or starting design work.
• Landscapers and hardscapers — before installing retaining walls, fence posts, or any structure requiring excavation.

How to schedule and manage locate tickets

A locate ticket is the request to perform a private utility locate — who called, which site, what's being dug, and what deadline you're working against. Managing these tickets is where private locating businesses either run smoothly or fall apart.

When you're handling 5–10 tickets a day across multiple job sites, a whiteboard or spreadsheet stops working. You need a system that tracks ticket status from request to report delivery, lets you schedule techs by geography to minimize drive time, attaches the completed locate report to the job record, and triggers invoicing when the job is closed.

Field service management software like Clevra handles this workflow — from incoming request to dispatched tech to delivered report to paid invoice. Every locate ticket has a complete record: who requested it, who performed it, what was found, and when the report went out.

Reporting requirements and deliverables

Private locate deliverables range from simple mark-outs (paint on the ground) to full utility mapping reports with GPS coordinates. What the client expects depends on the project:

• Mark-out only — you locate and paint the ground. No written report. Common for simple residential digs. Lowest price point.
• Mark-out with locate report — paint plus a written report documenting what was found, at what depth, and where. Standard for commercial projects. Mid-range pricing.
• Full utility survey with as-built drawing — comprehensive mapping of all detectable underground utilities, delivered as a scaled drawing or CAD file. Required for large commercial and municipal projects. Highest price point ($2,000–$10,000+).

FAQ

What is private utility locating?

Private utility locating is the process of finding and marking underground utilities on private property — water lines, gas pipes, electrical conduits, fiber, and sewer — before excavation. It covers the gap between what public one-call services (811) mark in the right-of-way and what's actually underground on private land.

Is private utility locating required by law?

Requirements vary by jurisdiction. Many states and provinces require reasonable effort to identify underground utilities before excavation, which effectively requires private locating on private property. Even where not legally mandated, it's standard practice for liability protection — hitting an unknown utility is expensive and potentially deadly.

How much does a private utility locate cost?

Simple mark-out locates on residential properties typically run $200–$500. Commercial locates with written reports range from $500–$2,000. Full utility surveys with as-built drawings on large sites can cost $2,000–$10,000+. Pricing depends on site size, number of utilities, accessibility, and turnaround time.

What's the difference between EM locating and GPR?

Electromagnetic (EM) locating detects conductive utilities — metal pipes, cables, and tracer wire. It's reliable, fast, and affordable ($2,000–$8,000 for equipment). Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) detects both metallic and non-metallic utilities (PVC, clay, concrete) by reading subsurface reflections. GPR is more versatile but more expensive ($15,000–$40,000) and requires more training to interpret.

What software do private utility locators use?

Private locators need field service software that handles scheduling, quoting, report delivery, and client management. Clevra is built for small field service businesses — including locators running 3–10 tickets per day — with mobile quoting, job scheduling, and work forms for locate documentation.