As stated in the CGA Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report, a vital underground utility line is damaged once every six minutes, because somewhere in America, someone decided to start excavating without calling 811. When we take that number into account, we realize that there is a huge number of issues and costs that could be involved when we fail to follow proper procedure and begin our work without considering the importance of checking for underground utilities beforehand.

The basic idea is that underground utilities can run just about anywhere under your property, and there’s no clear cut way to know where they are. Even if they show up on older blueprints, new construction work may have had them rerouted, which could mean they’re right below the area you’re planning to excavate.

Under those circumstances, it’s simply not profitable enough to chance it. The failure of checking for underground utilities can cost you and your company a lot of money. The most recent DIRT Report was compiled in 2016, and it showed that the total societal costs associated with underground utility damages in the US for that year were estimated at about $1.5 billion.

What really makes that number stand out is that it doesn’t even cover expenses such as evacuations, property damage, lawsuits or environmental impacts. It solely considers an estimate of routine costs that stakeholders are expected to pay.  Be sure to call on providers like https://hydrodig.biz/denver/ to be less evasive when excavating.