Whether you are a contractor or a business owner,
it is important to get a permit or “ticket” before conducting
any digging work.
Each “person” as defined in the Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act must provide their own notice of excavation. Subcontractors may not work under another company’s ticket but must have their own ticket.
Virginia 811 is the free “one call” Virginia communications center for excavators, contractors, property owners, and those planning any kind of excavation or digging. We notify participating utilities of the upcoming excavation work so they can locate and mark their underground facilities in advance to prevent possible damage to underground utility lines, injury, property damage and service outages.
Contact Virginia 811 via this site or by phoning 811 or 1-800-552-7001 before digging
- Allow required time for marking – Begin excavation only after checking the Positive Response System.
- Excavation may begin when: All notified utilities have either marked their lines or reported that they have no facilities in the area of excavation OR the marking period has expired (after 7:00 AM on the third working day after notice to the center.) OR Miss Utility informs you that no member operators need to be notified of the excavation. You will still get a ticket number!
- Respect the marks – Protect and preserve the markings from the time excavation begins until the work is completed. Call Miss Utility to update the ticket if work will continue past 15 days or if the marks become illegible due to time, weather, construction or any other cause.
- Excavate carefully – If the excavation is within 2 feet of a marked utility line, expose the utility line by hand digging and keep all mechanized equipment at least 2 feet away from the extremities of the utility.
Marking private utilities:
All private utility lines should be marked by the owner before excavation begins.
