Private utility locating
The parent service guide: what a private locate covers, the methods behind it, and what to confirm before hiring.
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Capability library
Methods have different strengths and limitations. This page is for working out which one your project needs before you start contacting companies.
Most of these are ways of answering one question: what is buried here that nobody marked. Private utility locating is the parent service, and the guides below cover the individual methods, deliverables, and verification steps it draws on.
No single method sees everything. Radar, electromagnetic locating, and physical excavation each fail in different conditions, which is why a scope is usually built from more than one of them. Each guide states what its method detects and where it stops, so you can tell whether a proposal actually covers your site.
Already know what you need? Search private utility locators by location to compare companies by confirmed service and coverage, or read what drives a locating quote before you ask for one.
The parent service. If you are not sure which method applies, this explains what a private locate covers and what the others are for.
The parent service guide: what a private locate covers, the methods behind it, and what to confirm before hiring.
Read service guideGeneral subsurface investigation, where radar and electromagnetic locating each work, and where both stop.
A focused guide to using ground penetrating radar for underground utility detection.
Read service guideA guide to direct connection, induction, passive locating, tracer wires, and method limitations.
Read service guideA broad service guide for ground penetrating radar applications, limitations, and provider discovery.
Read service guideOne known service running to a building, rather than a sweep of everything on the property.
A service guide for private water lines, including irrigation and sprinkler lines as supporting topics.
Read service guideA provider-discovery guide for sewer laterals, access points, tracing methods, and excavation planning.
Read service guideReinforcement, tendons, and conduits inside a slab or wall, checked before drilling, coring, or saw cutting.
A consolidated guide for GPR concrete scanning, including slab and floor scanning terminology.
Read service guideA focused provider-discovery page for locating reinforcement in concrete.
Read service guideA distinct guide to radiographic concrete X-ray services, not a synonym for GPR scanning.
Read service guideTurning marks into a deliverable, and exposing a line when a mark on the ground is not enough.
A guide to turning located utility evidence into documented spatial deliverables.
Read service guideA technical explainer and provider-discovery page for formal subsurface utility engineering services.
Read service guideA consolidated guide to potholing, daylighting, and utility-focused vacuum excavation terminology.
Read service guide