Marking Utilities Before Landscaping Your Yard
For more information on marking utilities or to submit a locate request, visit: www.albertaonecall.com
If you are planning a landscape renovation or anything that involves disturbing the ground, it is extremely important for you or your landscape professional and any contractor that is going to dig in your yard to know where the utilities are located.
Locating utilities is easy and doesn’t cost anything. All it takes is a simple phone call or email to Alberta One-Call. They will come out within 48 hours of your locate request and mark the buried utilities on the property with spray paint and leave a diagram of the area outlining conflicts. In most cases your landscape professional will make the necessary arrangements for you to have the utilities marked before the start of your project.
In the case the utilities might affect your project, don’t fear, as in most cases we can still do the necessary excavation to fulfill your landscape vision. Digging around utilities with a machine takes patience and sometimes we are faced with a situation where we can’t use it. If this happens, it will take bit of hard manual labour that may involve a little extra heavy lifting, but in either case, as long as we are careful, we can still achieve the goal of giving you the landscape you desire.
Gas and electrical lines are our most important lines to note. Both lines, if hit, can cause severe injury, death or property damage. They are supposed to be buried a minimum of 18 inches below ground but often in older neighbourhoods they can be a lot closer to the surface, sometimes mere centimetres. In some cases, when working around these areas a surcharge may be added to the final invoice as safety cannot be rushed and digging around these areas may take additional time and due diligence.
Lines that are not marked by Alberta One-Call are fiber optic lines. These lines present no danger to anyone if damaged. Shaw Cable and Telus usually bury these lines and in the event they get damaged, all you have to do is make a simple call to your telephone or cable provider in order for them to come and do emergency repairs. Both companies offer a no-charge service for these fixes as more often than not the cable lies just barely underneath the surface of your grass. So don’t stress! Your telephone/cable provider will have you back online in no time.
At the end of the day, our primary concern is safety; so whether you are building a deck, fence, patio, retaining wall or even a simple garden, always remember to “call or click before you dig” to reduce the risk of personal injury or property damage.
The landscape professionals at Assiniboine Lights & Landscapes are fully committed to making sure your landscape construction is done safely and properly.