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Talked to a utility locator on a job last Friday and it changed how I check lines
I was doing a residential drop in Portland and this locator guy was flagging the yard. He told me he sees installers dig straight into marked zones because we trust the paint too much. He said paint can be off by 18 inches if the ground shifted or the mark faded. So now I do a slow sweep with my own tone and probe before I shove a shovel anywhere, even on marked spots. Took me an extra 10 minutes on that job but beats a fiber cut. Anyone else start double checking utility marks after a close call?
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daniel_martin3d ago
Three sweeps last week caught two marks off by nearly two feet, so @wendyprice nailed it, paint is just a guess now.
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wendyprice3d ago
You ever notice how the paint line just ends up being more of a suggestion than gospel? I started doing the same thing after I nicked a phone line that was marked a good foot off from where the spray was. The extra sweep is a pain but cheap insurance, especially when the ground's been wet and stuff shifts around.
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