Services
Private utility locating, done by hand
EM-based underground utility locating, APWA-color marking, and field sketches for contractors, homeowners, and excavators across Colorado Springs and the Front Range.
What is private utility locating?
Private utility locating is a professional service that finds and marks underground utilities on your specific property before you dig. When you call 811, the state notifies public utility companies — electric, gas, water — and they mark their lines to your meter. They do not mark what is on your side: irrigation systems, private gas lines, secondary electric feeds, communication lines, or anything a previous owner buried. A private locator like Brent Locating uses electromagnetic equipment to find those lines and mark them with industry-standard paint and flags so your crew can excavate safely.
Got a project? Call (719) 555-0000 for a same-day quote.
How EM locating works
Electromagnetic (EM) utility locating
EM locating applies a signal to a conductive utility line and traces it with a receiver. It's the industry-standard method for finding active metallic utilities, traceable conductors, and signal-bearing cables — and it's what every private locator on the Front Range uses for the majority of residential and commercial work.
What EM can locate well
- Metallic water service lines (with or without tracer)
- Active electric lines and conduit
- Natural gas lines (metallic, or plastic with tracer wire)
- Telecom and communication cables
- Secondary electric to outbuildings, sheds, lighting
- Cathodic-protected pipelines
What EM cannot reliably locate
- PVC water lines without a tracer wire
- Plastic gas lines without a tracer wire
- Fiber-optic cable installed without a tracer wire
- Inactive or disconnected lines with no signal path
- Septic tanks (concrete; non-conductive)
We'll tell you upfront if your project includes utilities EM can't see — and recommend ground-penetrating radar or vacuum excavation if it's warranted.
Call 811 first
What does 811 cover, and what doesn't it?
811 is the first call — it's free, it's the law, and the public utilities will send out crews to mark their lines. Brent Locating is the next call, for everything 811 won't touch.
Colorado 811 — public utility locate
Free · State-mandated · 3 business days lead time
- Lines owned by member utilities (gas, electric, water, telecom)
- From the street main to your meter or service point
- Marked at no cost
- Required by Colorado law at least 3 business days before excavation
Brent Locating — private utility locate
Quoted per job · Owner-operated · Same-week typical
- Lines past the meter — anything on your private property
- Irrigation, secondary electric, propane, private telecom, low-voltage
- Abandoned and forgotten infrastructure (previous owners)
- Service-line tracing when 811 marks stop short
You still need to call 811 even if you hire us. We're a complement, not a replacement.
How accurate are private utility marks?
Utility marks are estimates, not guarantees. Industry practice treats horizontal accuracy as approximately ±18 inchesfrom the paint mark. Depth is more variable — we'll give you a measurement when the equipment can reliably provide one, and we'll tell you when it can't.
The safe-excavation rule: always hand-dig or use vacuum excavation within 18 inches of any mark. A private locate dramatically reduces the risk of a strike, but it does not replace careful digging.
Our process
What does a typical locate look like?
Call and describe the job
Tell us the address (or parcel ID for rural lots), the scope of excavation, and whether you've already called 811. Most jobs are quoted in one phone call.
We schedule and arrive on-site
Same-week scheduling is typical for the Colorado Springs metro. Same-day available for urgent jobs — call to confirm.
EM signal application and tracing
We apply electromagnetic signals to known access points (valves, meters, cleanouts) and trace lines with a receiver. Where there's no access point but a tracer wire, we use that.
Marks on the ground in APWA colors
Industry-standard paint and flags: red for electric, yellow for gas, orange for telecom, blue for water, green for sewer.
Field sketch handed off
You get a sketch summarizing what was found, where, and any utilities we couldn't confirm. Useful for permits, inspections, and contractor handoffs.
About EM locating
What people ask before scheduling a private locate
Service information last reviewed .
Got a job to dig?
Call Brent before the backhoe shows up. Same-week scheduling typical; same-day for emergencies.