Pre-Installation

Locating Your Underground Utilities

Before a single flag goes in your yard, the buried lines have to be found and marked. We follow the rules set by Alabama 811, we call at least 48 hours ahead, and we keep the documentation. Here is exactly how the process works and where responsibility sits.

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Before Installation Day

How the Locate Works

We follow a specific set of rules to have your underground utilities located and marked, as specified by Alabama 811. Here is what happens, and when.

We place the request at least 48 hours ahead

The call goes in before installation is scheduled to commence, and we keep documentation verifying that we complied with the rules and guidelines set forth by the state of Alabama.

Locating services come out with the right equipment

Underground utilities locating services have specialized equipment to find potentially dangerous or critical wiring and pipes. They also have access to the utility boxes, which is what allows them to mark those paths accurately.

Your yard gets marked in the standard color code

Marks go down as paint, flags, or both, following the national color code shown below. They are temporary and disappear on their own within a few weeks.

We plan the boundary around what is marked

Our crew arrives after the marks are down and routes the boundary wire with those paths in view. Nothing about the locate changes your fence plan; it changes how we get the wire in the ground safely.

A utility locating technician using detection equipment to trace a buried line, marking its path in red paint — Locating crews carry equipment that traces buried lines and marks the path. We do not have this equipment or the access it requires, which is why the locate is theirs to perform.

National Standard

What the Colors Mean

If you see these in your yard before we arrive, this is what is underneath them.

RedElectric

YellowGas

OrangeCommunication lines, including telephone and cable television

BlueWater

GreenSewer

A front yard marked before digging, with red, orange and yellow utility flags and matching spray-painted arrows on the grass — A marked yard before work begins. Flags and paint are temporary and fade on their own.

Plain Terms

What We Can and Cannot Do

What we handle

We place the locate request on time, keep the documentation, and route your boundary wire around everything that has been marked. If we cut something and we are aware of it, we will inform you and report the damage through the Alabama 811 system immediately.

What is outside our control

Pet Stop of Alabama has neither access to the utility boxes nor the authority to mark these utilities. We rely on the locating company contracted for your area, and on your service providers subscribing to Alabama 811. If lines are unmarked, incorrectly marked, or buried at sub-standard depth, we have no way to know, and we cannot be held responsible for damage to them.

Check your providers, and tell us about private lines

You can see whether your local utility service providers are members of the Alabama 811 network on the Alabama 811 site.

One thing the system will not catch: private lines installed by a homeowner rather than a utility. Irrigation mains, pool and spa plumbing, low-voltage landscape lighting, invisible fence wire from a previous system, and power runs to a detached garage or shed are usually invisible to 811. If you know about any of them, tell us before installation day and we will plan around them.

Common Questions

We do. We place the locate request at least 48 hours before installation begins, and we keep documentation showing we complied with the rules and guidelines set by the state of Alabama.

They are a national color code. Red is electric, yellow is gas, orange is communication lines including telephone and cable television, blue is water, and green is sewer. The marks are temporary and fade or wash away on their own.

No. We have neither access to the utility boxes nor the authority to mark utilities under this system. That work belongs to the locating company contracted for your area, which has the specialized equipment and the access required to do it accurately.

If underground wires or pipes are unmarked, marked incorrectly, or buried at sub-standard depth, we have no way to know that, and we cannot be held responsible for damage to them. If we do cut something and we are aware of it, we will tell you and report the damage through the Alabama 811 system immediately.

The system only covers providers who subscribe to it. You can check whether your local providers are members using the Alabama 811 member list. Private lines you or a previous owner installed, such as an irrigation main, a pool line, or a run to a detached garage, are typically not in the system at all, so tell us about anything you know of.

It sets the earliest start date rather than adding time on the back end. We call at least 48 hours ahead so the marks are down before our crew arrives, and we schedule around that window.