Private Utility Locating on Private Property: From Field Locator to Industry Advocate

Why Know Before You Dig Is a Family Mission

For more than thirty years, I have worked around buried utility infrastructure. In the beginning, I started in environmental consulting then ventured into utility locating, subsurface utility engineering, damage investigation, expert review, training and litigation support. Different titles with the same recurring problem.

This is where private utility locating on private property becomes critical. Public locate systems were designed to protect infrastructure within the public right of way. They were never intended to fully address the layers of privately managed buried infrastructure that exist beyond it.

Most professionals are trained to rely on public One Call / 811 systems as if they represent a complete solution. They are not. They were never designed to manage all underground risk, especially beyond the public right of way.

The most expensive and dangerous mistakes I have seen did not happen because people were reckless. They happened because people believed they had complete information when they did not. That realization shaped my career early on. And now it is shaping the next generation.

Growing Up Around the Work

Will and Chris did not discover this industry in a classroom. They grew up around it. They spent their early years watching projects unfold in the field. They saw me leave before sunrise. They saw the equipment. They heard the conversations about strikes, responsibility, insurance claims, and liability disputes.

When they began working with me in Canada as young men, they did not start with a sales pitch. They started in the field. Learning how to read a site. Learning how to question drawings. Learning how to verify assumptions. Learning that a “clear” response does not always really mean clear to dig. For nearly two years now, they have been locating under the Know Before You Dig banner on their own, building experience the same way I did: one site at a time. Not guessing. Not assuming but verifying.

Private Utility Locating on Private Property: The Gap Most Projects Miss

One of the most persistent misconceptions in utility infrastructure safety is that public systems solve underground risk. Public utility locates are essential but they are not always enough. Responsibility does not end at the property line. On private property, buried utility infrastructure may include:

• Privately owned electrical distribution

• Gas services beyond the meter

• Water and sewer laterals

• Fire water lines and loop systems

• Communication infrastructure

• Abandoned or undocumented utility lines

• Design deviations from record drawings

These conditions are common, yet they are rarely treated with the same rigor as public utility infrastructure. This is where most ground disturbance risk hides. And this is where we work.

Field Reality

Private utility locating is not theoretical. In practice it means:

• It is rain, snow, frozen ground, non-existent or incomplete drawings, soil attenuation, signal bleed, and uncertainty management.

• It is explaining to a contractor why a “no conflict” response does not eliminate risk.

• It is telling an owner that records are incomplete.

• It is documenting limitations clearly so that decisions are informed and defensible.

• It is understanding that the goal is not to eliminate all risk.

The goal is to make risk visible before ground is disturbed and that is what I have spent my career doing. Now William and Chris are doing it as well. That means more to me than any title ever did.

Why Our Work Matters

Every strike I have investigated shares a pattern:

• Somebody assumed something.

• Somebody believed the locate was complete.

• Somebody believed the drawing was accurate.

• Somebody didn't check the paperwork.

• Somebody didn't respect the marks on the ground.

• Somebody believed the responsibility belonged to someone else.

Buried infrastructure does not care about assumptions and when we approach a site, we start from a different premise:

• What could exist here that is not documented?

• What does the One Call response not cover?

• What is the owner actually responsible for?

• What uncertainty needs to be managed before excavation begins?

This mindset is the foundation of Know Before You Dig Locates.

Building More Than a Locate Company

Know Before You Dig Locates is the field application. Own Your Safety is the training and advisory framework and The North American Private Utility Association is the standards and guidance initiative that is coming on April 1st 2026 to launch Dig Safe month.

These are not separate ideas. They are layers of the same mission.

Field reality informed the training. Training informed the standards. Standards support the field.

And it all started in 1990 with my boots on the ground and quickly realized that people are counting on me. What a rewarding career but at the same time it was a little scary having that much weight on my shoulders.

A Generational Commitment

There is something powerful about standing on a job site with your sons and knowing they understand why the work matters. They are not just locating lines. They are protecting crews. They are protecting owners. They are protecting the general public. They are protecting projects from preventable damage.

They are learning that responsibility does not disappear simply because a system says “clear.” They are learning to challenge assumptions. They are learning to ask better questions. And most importantly, they are learning that knowing what is below is the first step toward owning your safety.

The Work Ahead

The infrastructure industry is evolving. Standards are evolving. Expectations are evolving. But one reality remains constant and that is ground is disturbed every day on private property with incomplete awareness of underground conditions. That gap is not closing on its own. It requires field experience, education, and standards, and most importantly it requires professionals willing to shift their mindset before they break ground.

That is the work we are committed to. And we are just getting started.