Hand digging trench question

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KVA

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Have a job lined up to run a feeder to detached garage about 80 feet away from house. If i hand dig 18 inches should i still call my local utility locator? Or is it only required when you use machines to trench? There is natural gas in the house but it's clear on the opposite side of the house where the meter is and i'm in the back yard.

I figure hand digging is quicker because dealing with the utility locator service takes days from what i understand. I can have the trench dug by hand subbed out to a laborer and done in half a day.

thanks
 
KVA said:
Have a job lined up to run a feeder to detached garage about 80 feet away from house. If i hand dig 18 inches should i still call my local utility locator? Or is it only required when you use machines to trench? There is natural gas in the house but it's clear on the opposite side of the house where the meter is and i'm in the back yard.

I figure hand digging is quicker because dealing with the utility locator service takes days from what i understand. I can have the trench dug by hand subbed out to a laborer and done in half a day.

thanks
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Many don't call for hand digging but-
Might be best to call your utilities and see what they say- rules vary and gas/ water pipes/ cables have a way of surprising you- kind of a murphys law sort of thing-the more certain many about their digging, the more likely they find the one pipe/ cable that wasn't supposed to be there- laborer needs to be careful with shovel and mattock:happyyes:
 
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I would call for the mark-out. Worst case is you'll end up with some spray painted lines on the front lawn. That is, unless you have one of those customers like I had recently who decided to install a paver block, horse shoe shaped driveway over the the buried utility line area. But don't worry, they'll spray paint over that as well.:p
 
It is a Law in all US states, most states call it "Call Before You Dig"...I believe most states use 811 as the number to call.

KVA said:
Have a job lined up to run a feeder to detached garage about 80 feet away from house. If i hand dig 18 inches should i still call my local utility locator? Or is it only required when you use machines to trench? There is natural gas in the house but it's clear on the opposite side of the house where the meter is and i'm in the back yard.

I figure hand digging is quicker because dealing with the utility locator service takes days from what i understand. I can have the trench dug by hand subbed out to a laborer and done in half a day.

thanks
Click to expand...
 
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If you work w/out calling and waiting the required time, then all damages are on you. You really should call to avoid putting yourself in that position.

Of course, if you did it w/out a problem ..... then you don't have a problem. :D
 
KVA said:
Have a job lined up to run a feeder to detached garage about 80 feet away from house. If i hand dig 18 inches should i still call my local utility locator? Or is it only required when you use machines to trench? There is natural gas in the house but it's clear on the opposite side of the house where the meter is and i'm in the back yard.

I figure hand digging is quicker because dealing with the utility locator service takes days from what i understand. I can have the trench dug by hand subbed out to a laborer and done in half a day.

thanks
Click to expand...
I can't tell you rules in other states, though there is some similarities in all of them AFAIK. Here they must locate your lines within 48 hours of receiving notification, not counting weekends and holidays. Privately owned lines are not located - though many utilities will locate them anyway if it connects to their utility. If all the utilities on the locate ticket have contacted you before the 48 hours is up you can dig.

The person responsible for excavation is responsible for calling in for locates. If you sub the excavation then your sub contractor is the one that is responsible for locate requests. If your excavator(s) is an employee - they are not a subcontractor.
 
KVA said:
I figure hand digging is quicker because dealing with the utility locator service takes days from what i understand. I can have the trench dug by hand subbed out to a laborer and done in half a day.
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call, and get it marked out.

here is the downside:
https://www.digalert.org/statelaw.html

"If you are caught digging without a DigAlert ticket you can be fined as much as $50,000.
Also some of our members are pursuing the issue with the Contractors State Licensing
Board (CSLB). The CSLB reviews the complaint and will fine accordingly for the offense,
they can even pull your license."

note... that is CAUGHT digging. not breaking something underground. just caught.
if you do break something, and it needs to be fixed, expect to be made into a chew toy without
that ticket number.

while you don't need to call dig alert to drive a ground rod, i've had to drive ground rods in
places where there is a level 10 pucker factor driving a 8' ground rod, and if there was any
service i could have called that could have helped, i'd have done it.


 
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I know about this one moronic DIYer, who shall remain nameless, who did not trace all his utility lines and punched a hole in his 4" sewer line digging a foundation for a new screen porch.:ashamed1:

Needless to say he did not have a good day repairing it.:(
 
KVA said:
I can have the trench dug by hand subbed out to a laborer and done in half a day.
Click to expand...

Legally you really can't sub anything out to a laborer unless he is some sort of labor contractor with a license ( business type ). If you hire a laborer to do this job and probably pay cash then he is a temp.employee that you are fully responsible for. If he were to step in the trench and break his leg he can sue you and the home or business owner.

You can give the name of this laborer to the home or business owner and let them hire the laborer to dig this trench and stay clear of the whole mess. Hiring casual labor can be dangerous.
 
A good sharp shovel and an underground feeder could make short work of someone intent on getting it done.

Underground work is full of surprises. Could be anything there --- the line supplying something that used to be there, the plastic gas main crossing over from this block to the one behind it, anything. It wasn't hazardous, but I found an entire house worth of shag wall-to-wall carpet buried in the backyard of the house I currently live in. Go figure.
 
AFAIK the locate companies won't locate on private property--you need to hire some one to do that-- when I was fencing my yard they only located to the property line and told me that I would need to hire someone to go any further
 
growler said:
Legally you really can't sub anything out to a laborer unless he is some sort of labor contractor with a license ( business type ). If you hire a laborer to do this job and probably pay cash then he is a temp.employee that you are fully responsible for. If he were to step in the trench and break his leg he can sue you and the home or business owner.

You can give the name of this laborer to the home or business owner and let them hire the laborer to dig this trench and stay clear of the whole mess. Hiring casual labor can be dangerous.
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Wise advice.
 
growler said:
Legally you really can't sub anything out to a laborer unless he is some sort of labor contractor with a license ( business type ). If you hire a laborer to do this job and probably pay cash then he is a temp.employee that you are fully responsible for. If he were to step in the trench and break his leg he can sue you and the home or business owner.

You can give the name of this laborer to the home or business owner and let them hire the laborer to dig this trench and stay clear of the whole mess. Hiring casual labor can be dangerous.
Click to expand...


I don't believe that is true unless the job requires a license. I can pick someone off the street to dig a trench and pay them as a laborer but I will have to declare it to the insurance company for worker's comp which I will be responsible to pay
 
growler said:
Legally you really can't sub anything out to a laborer unless he is some sort of labor contractor with a license ( business type ). If you hire a laborer to do this job and probably pay cash then he is a temp.employee that you are fully responsible for. If he were to step in the trench and break his leg he can sue you and the home or business owner.

You can give the name of this laborer to the home or business owner and let them hire the laborer to dig this trench and stay clear of the whole mess. Hiring casual labor can be dangerous.
Click to expand...

So it's fine that I occasionally hire an illegal immigrant from the Home Depot parking lot to do the yard work that I don't want to do?
 
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