What Information Will I Receive?
At the end of your call to 811, the friendly and helpful customer service representative you speak to will provide you with an 11 digit PA One Call Serial Number that is your proof that you have fulfilled your obligation to notify utilities of your intent to dig. Be sure to keep this serial number in a safe place until the completion of your project. If you submit your request online, you will receive a confirmation email from delivery@pa1call.net that includes a ticket number, which is your proof. Receiving the Serial Number or confirmation email with ticket number alone does not give you clearance to begin digging right away. You must wait for the utilities to mark their lines.
After the Call – What’s Next
In a day or two, each utility company that has underground lines nearby will send a professional locator to your home to mark the approximate location of buried utilities with colored paint, flags, or chalk. The color used indicates the type of utility, as shown in the diagram to the right.
On the morning of the date you reported that excavation is planned to begin (or Friday morning if you indicated that your project would begin on a weekend day), you will receive an email from delivery@pa1call.net that details what each utility company did to mark the location of their underground lines. You may also opt to receive this information via fax if you indicated that preference to the friendly and helpful customer service representative and provided your fax number when you called 811. If you submitted your request online, email notification is the only option.
- “Marked” means that you should see colored paint, flags, or chalk marks near the planned excavation site.
- “Clear” means that the utility company listed does not have underground lines nearby.
Once you’ve received notification of markings and clearances, digging can begin. Respect all markings and dig carefully. Also keep in mind that the utility companies may not have marked what are known as “service drops,” which are lines running directly into your home that YOU own instead of the utility company. Service drops are things like the water line from the curb box to your home or the gas line from the curb to the meter. If you happened to see the professional locator marking the lines, you might have asked that person to mark your service drops as a courtesy. If you are unsure where these are located, and they have not been marked, you may want to contact the individual utilities for help.
You will need to call 811, or fill out the online request form whenever you are planning a project on your property that involves digging into the ground, which includes things like installing fence or mailbox posts, planting trees and bushes, or installing patios and backyard ponds. The FREE call will help you “know what’s below” to keep you and your neighbors safe and prevent accidental damage to utility lines. It’s also the law.