Do I bill or eat the costs.

[Rewire]

The customer is not the one paying the bill. I buit a new service as the old one was damaged by a lighting strike. As were some underground feeders. I was replacing one of them. I will be billing the insurance company.

Then why are you talking about billing the customer in your OP? even on insurance work we bill the customer nd they submit to insurance. The question now is will the insurance pay for you cutting the line?

 

[tyha]

Im asuming that the lines were electrical lines for the well pump which would have been installed privately by the homeowner or whomever at that time. One call or 8-1-1 wouldnt have done any help. Having a contract would be the easiest way to charge the customer but if one does not exist than probably it would fall on the contractor to fix because all these people talking of something resonable above ground thats visable to divert digging or be cautious of what do you think the well was running off of. (Electricity) and the feed had to be somewhere.

 

[andyselec@aol.com]

Whenever I do underground work I all was tell my customers I am not responsible for any damage underground unless they know exactly where everything is. I tell them that my "X-ray vision is a little off so I can't see what is below the ground "

 

[growler]

The customer is not the one paying the bill. I buit a new service as the old one was damaged by a lighting strike. As were some underground feeders. I was replacing one of them. I will be billing the insurance company.

It's simple. You repair the problem and don't mention it and charge top price for the service change (enough to cover the cost of repairs, the total cost to include any problems that you may run into ).

 

[220/221]

I did some trenching for a customer. I asked the old owner of the property where some buried lines were. He told me they were ran deep with the water lines going out to the well. Like most lines here are. He was wrong and we trenched write down the middle of the wires. Can I charge my new customer for fixing this? Or do I need to eat it?

What does your contract say?

Surely you discussed this likely situation with the customer. :slaphead:

I generally try to write a 100% trenching disclaimer.

With most commercial clients, they want me to assume all responsibility so I simply include enough money for a locator and the extra time it may take to pothole, hand dig etc. Then I'm really really careful.

I wouldn't take a homeowners word for anything. It probably would have taken 15 minutes to put a locator on the wire.

 

[hillbilly1]

I was installing a line to a new roots type blower that unloads dry mix at a concrete plant, the owner said there was a 2" water line near where I had to bury my conduit. He whips out a "Witching stick" and proceeded to "Witch" we're the water line was. I don't know if he was close, but I did not hit the water line.:lol:

 

[readydave8]

I was installing a line to a new roots type blower that unloads dry mix at a concrete plant, the owner said there was a 2" water line near where I had to bury my conduit. He whips out a "Witching stick" and proceeded to "Witch" we're the water line was. I don't know if he was close, but I did not hit the water line.:lol:

Had a city employee witch a sewer line, he marked about 35 feet. The next day we found out he was on the wrong side of the house.

Had an employee witch a water line for mobile home hookup. After digging all day we found it 20' from where he thought it was, he said "I was close"

 

[big vic]

Next time bend two pieces of 12 solid at right angles. Hold them loosely in your hand and walk over the area you are trenching. They will cross over any underground wiring. Never fails

 

[hillbilly1]

Next time bend two pieces of 12 solid at right angles. Hold them loosely in your hand and walk over the area you are trenching. They will cross over any underground wiring. Never fails

Yeah, he did that to check for any electrical run through there, but there apparently wasn't any. The old unloader was a 460 V-8 powered air compressor, the new 50 hp electric unloaded the trucks in half the time!

 

[Fulthrotl]

I was installing a line to a new roots type blower that unloads dry mix at a concrete plant, the owner said there was a 2" water line near where I had to bury my conduit. He whips out a "Witching stick" and proceeded to "Witch" we're the water line was. I don't know if he was close, but I did not hit the water line.:lol:

dowsing.
it works for some people, not for others.
i'll do it with two pieces of #6 solid copper wire.... just for grins.
sometimes the results are surprising, but i wouldn't throw down
chalk and get the backhoe out based on it.

i had a journeyman who did it, and was pretty good at it.
dunno how or why... we both tried it, and i'd be hit or miss,
and he'd be pretty close... pretty close is a couple feet,
4 out of 5 times.

there is no scientific support that it's better than chance.

then again, there is no scientific basis that you can walk
barefoot on 700 degree burning coals without getting the
crap burned out of you, and i've done that.

but i wasn't dowsing when i was doing it...

i think the whole trick, is to find someone who can really
do it, and let them.

 

[kwired]

Next time bend two pieces of 12 solid at right angles. Hold them loosely in your hand and walk over the area you are trenching. They will cross over any underground wiring. Never fails

I have been able to do that successfully when just playing around and I know where the buried line is. If I don't know where it is I have no success at all, I will know I'm close but can never get them to cross over in a fashion that I am comfortable with trusting, yet if I know exactly where the line is they will cross over in an obvious fashion every time I try.

 

[readydave8]

I'm keeping an open mind but next time the guy doing the witchin' is gonna have to do the ditchin'.

 

[hillbilly1]

I'm keeping an open mind but next time the guy doing the witchin' is gonna have to do the ditchin'.

This was not too far from you, it was near Young Harris, in Plottown.

 

[readydave8]

This was not too far from you, it was near Young Harris, in Plottown.

I don't remember plottown but I used to go thru young harris fairly often

 

[hillbilly1]

I don't remember plottown but I used to go thru young harris fairly often

Plottown was the wide spot in the road just before Young Harris, one gas station, one furniture store, and one concrete plant!

 

[readydave8]

Plottown was the wide spot in the road just before Young Harris, one gas station, one furniture store, and one concrete plant!

Oh, that concrete plant with the 2" water line.

 

[satcom]

This repair makes the cost of a cable locator pretty insignificant. If you are doing trenching, get a locator, or hire it done. Finding private lines are the responsibility of the contractor doing the work. I say you eat it.

Yes, finding both the private, and utility lines are the responsibility of the contractor, and a contractor that does any underground work should have the locators and detection tools needed to map out the property before any trenching, and the contractor should also make sure he is insured for underground work, the damages, and liabilities can cost a small fortune, and if you hit an underground oil tank, you better be a power ball winner.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Yes, finding both the private, and utility lines are the responsibility of the contractor, and a contractor that does any underground work should have the locators and detection tools needed to map out the property before any trenching, and the contractor should also make sure he is insured for underground work, the damages, and liabilities can cost a small fortune, and if you hit an underground oil tank, you better be a power ball winner.

people hitting underground oil tanks lack the ability to pick winning lottery numbers, IMHO.

 

[Speshulk]

I did some trenching for a customer. I asked the old owner of the property where some buried lines were. He told me they were ran deep with the water lines going out to the well. Like most lines here are. He was wrong and we trenched write down the middle of the wires. Can I charge my new customer for fixing this? Or do I need to eat it?

If you're going to be doing your own digging, in the future make sure you have a contract that clearly states that any repairs made necessary by accidently damaging anything underground will be paid for by the customer.

I've never quite understood electrical contractors doing their own digging. I'm an electrician, not an equipment operator. Any time we have to do underground work, our contract includes this clause: "All necessary digging and back filling to be the responsibility of the customer." We let him hire his own excavating contractor. This way, when the sewer line gets smashed and there's shit flowing everywhere, it'll be handled by someone that's experienced in it. A year from now, when he's not happy about how the ditch hasn't settled right or the grass isn't growing properly, it's not our headache.

 

[hillbilly1]

Sometimes that doesn't work either. I had to cut a parking lot and replace a bad underground conduit. The customer was to have a paving company come out afterwards and properly compact and re-pave. It was a main drive, so it could not be blocked off. Three weeks later the customer calls up raising Cain about a customer damaging their car because all of the truck traffic had compacted the gravel further, and when it rained, it filled up the hole. The driver was haulin butt across the parking lot, and hit the new pot hole. Even though the customer failed to re-pave in a timely manner, we got stuck with the bill.