_Most of what slows a locate down is decided before anyone arrives. Five minutes of preparation on your end usually buys back an hour on site, and it materially changes how much of the site we can actually cover._

First, the free ticket

Before anything else, call 811 or file online. In Texas, notify at least two business days before excavation begins. 1Jump to source 1 In New Mexico, the same two-business-day rule applies, with reaffirmation of line location requested every ten working days after the initial request. 2Jump to source 2

This is free, it is required, and it covers a category of risk that a private locate does not replace. Member utilities will mark what they own up to the point of service. A private locate handles the owner’s side of that line — the split is explained in detail in our guide to what 811 covers.

Recent change: Note for southern New Mexico: the Public Regulation Commission’s damage prevention rules changed effective April 6, 2026, and New Mexico 811 now issues additional ticket types including Update Tickets and Near Miss Tickets, with changes to Design Locates. If your ticketing habits predate that, it is worth a look. 3Jump to source 3

Mark the work area in white

Delineating the proposed excavation in white paint before locating is a Common Ground Alliance best practice, and it is the single highest-value thing you can do in advance. 4Jump to source 45Jump to source 5

The guidance allows a continuous line, dots marking a radius or arc, or dashes at the corners or around the outline. Dashes should be roughly 6 to 12 inches long and about an inch wide, spaced approximately 4 to 50 inches apart. For a site inside a radius of 50 feet or less, a single stake at the proposed center works, provided you state on the 811 notification that you used a center stake and give the radius. 4Jump to source 45Jump to source 5

Why it matters: a locator who can see the work area covers the work area. Without it, we are working from a written description, and on a large parcel the most common outcome is thorough coverage of ground you were never going to touch.

The questions we will ask

Having these answers ready turns a scoping call into two minutes instead of two calls.

  • What is the work? — Trenching, boring, coring, saw cutting, setting footings, fence posts, a pool, a pole. The method changes what matters. Boring under a drive raises different questions than a 12-inch footing.
  • How deep, and over what area? — Depth drives which methods are worth deploying, and area drives time on site.
  • Where exactly? — An address plus a description of the specific area. Cross streets, a suite number, a building or column line for interior work.
  • What is the surface? — Soil, gravel, asphalt, concrete slab, finished floor. Interior concrete scanning and exterior utility locating are different scopes with different equipment.
  • When does it need to happen? — Standard scheduling, urgent next-day, or emergency same-day. Urgent and emergency work is quoted individually and is subject to confirmation of availability.
  • Who is the site contact? — A person who is actually on site and can open things.

Access — the most common delay

Nothing wastes a scheduled visit like arriving at a locked gate. Have a plan for each of these before the day:

  • Gate codes, key access, and who holds them. Include back gates and side yards, not just the main entrance.
  • Dogs. Please secure them. This is a safety issue for the technician and it stops the work cold.
  • Tenant or occupant notice, where interior access or a back yard is involved.
  • Locked mechanical rooms, electrical rooms, meter enclosures and cleanouts — access points are often where a signal has to be applied.
  • Parking and equipment staging, especially on constrained commercial sites.
  • Site-specific safety requirements: badging, escorts, orientation, PPE beyond the usual, hot work permits, or restricted hours.
  • Active hazards: open excavations, overhead lines, uneven ground, standing water.

For interior concrete work, add one more: clear the area. Scanning requires physical contact with the surface along the scan lines. Stock, pallets, furniture and floor coverings over the target area all have to move, and it is faster if they move before we arrive.

What you already know is useful data

In the ASCE framework, existing records are Quality Level D — the least reliable level of information, but not a worthless one. 6Jump to source 6 Records tell us where to look hard, and they frequently explain an anomaly in the field data.

  • As-builts, site plans, irrigation drawings, utility site plans, or the original construction set.
  • Prior locate tickets, marks or scan reports from earlier phases.
  • Permit records, which are often the fastest route to a foundation type or a utility route.
  • Anything anyone remembers: where the old shop used to be, that a line was rerouted, that the previous owner ran power to the well himself.
  • Known prior strikes or repairs.
  • For concrete: whether the slab is post-tensioned, and any structural drawings. If you are unsure, that question is worth resolving before the cut.

A question worth asking: Whether a non-conductive line carries tracer wire is worth checking. PVC, HDPE, clay and concrete pipe with no tracer wire produce no signal for an electromagnetic locator, which changes the method — and sometimes means the line needs an access point for a sonde. 7Jump to source 7

On the day, and after

  1. Walk the site with the technician at the start if you can. Five minutes of context beats a written scope.
  2. Expect a conversation about limits, not just marks. Where conditions prevented a confident answer, that belongs in the deliverable.
  3. Photograph the marks before work starts. Paint does not survive weather, traffic or a windy week in the high desert.
  4. Record which marks came from the 811 ticket and which came from the private locate. They expire on different schedules.
  5. Re-notify before the marks age out — 14 days in Texas from the original notice, ten working days for reaffirmation in New Mexico. 1Jump to source 12Jump to source 2
  6. If the scope changes, say so. New area, deeper cut, different method: any of those can change what the earlier work supports.

And the standing caveat, because it governs how all of this should be read: results are interpretations of conditions present within the requested area on the service date, and they depend on target material, depth and site conditions.

View 7 numbered sources

Sources

Every numbered claim above traces to one of these. Links go to the publisher of record.

  1. Excavator FAQs — Texas One Call requirements and safety — Texas 811 — https://texas811.org/excavator-faqs/
  2. New Mexico Utility Damage Prevention and Excavation Safety — New Mexico 811 — https://www.nm811.org/
  3. Title 18, Chapter 60 — Pipeline Safety Excavation Damage Prevention rule change, final edits — New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, via New Mexico 811 — https://www.nm811.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/PRC_RuleChange_FinalEdits.pdf
  4. Best Practice 5.02 — Delineate Area of Proposed Excavation — Common Ground Alliance — https://bestpractices.commongroundalliance.com/5-Excavation/502-Delineate-Area-of-Proposed-Excavation
  5. Best Practices Appendix B — Uniform Color Code and Marking Guidelines — Common Ground Alliance — https://bestpractices.commongroundalliance.com/Appendix-B-Uniform-Color-Code-and-Marking-Guide/Guidelines-for-Excavation-Delineation
  6. ASCE/UESI/CI 38-22 — Standard Guideline for Investigating and Documenting Existing Utilities — American Society of Civil Engineers — https://ascelibrary.org/doi/book/10.1061/9780784415870
  7. Cable and Pipe Locators — Plastic/PVC — U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Infrastructure Technology — https://infotechnology.fhwa.dot.gov/cable-and-pipe-locators-plastic-pvc/

Sourcing and limitations

This guide is original writing by High Desert Scan & Locate, LLC. It cites third-party statutes, standards, codes and publications, all of which remain the property of their respective owners. We describe them in our own words and do not reproduce their text. Standards published by bodies such as ASTM, ACI, ASCE/UESI/CI and PTI are available from those publishers; where one governs your work, obtain the current edition and read it. The published source controls; our paraphrase does not, and an edition cited here may since have been revised or superseded.

No representation or warranty. This material is provided "as is." We make no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to its accuracy, completeness, reliability or currency. It is accurate only as of the review date shown, if at all. Laws, rules and standards change, and we do not undertake to update it.

Not professional advice. Nothing here is legal, engineering, surveying or safety advice, and reading it creates no professional or client relationship. It is not a substitute for a site-specific scope, and it does not clear any area for excavation, cutting or coring.

Company names, product names and trademarks are used for identification only and do not indicate affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement. We receive no compensation for any mention.

Corrections: info@highdesertscan.com. See our Editorial policy, sourcing and attribution.

Private utility locating supplements, and does not replace, public one-call (811) notification. Utility designation is Quality Level B per ASCE/UESI/CI 38-22 unless otherwise stated. GPR interprets subsurface conditions; it does not expose them. Results are interpretations of conditions present within the requested area on the service date, and depend on target material, depth and site conditions.