# Private Utility Locating in Denver

Private utility locating marks the buried lines on your property before anyone digs: the sewer lateral, the water service, gas and electric runs to a garage or shed, irrigation, and any storm or septic line. Denver Sewer and Water locates those lines with a transmitter, a sonde, and a receiver, then paints the path and writes the depth on the ground so the excavation is sized to the work instead of the guess.

- Path and depth marked on the surface, in paint or flags.
- Private lines that 811 locates do not cover.
- Sonde locating for sewer, storm, and septic runs.
- Sewer camera pairing to fix a defect to a spot in the yard.
- Residential, commercial, and pre-excavation surveys.

## What Does Private Utility Locating Cover?

It covers the buried lines that belong to the property rather than to a utility. On a typical Denver lot that means the sewer lateral from the house to the main, the water service from the meter pit or curb stop to the house, any gas or electric run feeding a detached garage, shop, or pool equipment, irrigation mains and valve wiring, and storm or French drain piping.

Calling 811 before you dig is free, required by Colorado law, and still not enough on its own. The utility locators mark their own facilities to the point where ownership transfers. Past that line, the marks stop, and the lines that get struck most often on residential jobs are the ones nobody marked.

We locate before our own excavation work as a matter of course, and we locate as a standalone visit for homeowners, builders, landscapers, and fence and deck contractors who need the private side marked before they break ground.

- Sewer laterals from the building drain to the main or septic tank.
- Water service lines from the curb stop or meter pit to the house.
- Secondary gas and electric feeds to garages, sheds, and pool equipment.
- Irrigation mains, drip zones, and valve wiring.
- Storm drain, area drain, and French drain piping.
- Septic tank, distribution box, and leach field runs.
- Conduit and low voltage runs with an accessible tracer wire.

## How We Find a Line That Carries No Signal

Steel, copper, cast iron, and anything with a working tracer wire can be energized directly. A transmitter clipped to the line puts a known frequency on it, and the receiver at the surface tracks that frequency along the route and reads depth as it goes.

Most Denver sewer laterals are not conductive. Clay, PVC, ABS, and Orangeburg carry nothing, so we push a camera with a sonde in the head down the line instead and locate the sonde itself. That gives the same result, a marked route and a depth, and it also gives you video of the pipe condition on the same visit.

Where a line cannot be entered because a collapse blocks the camera, locating stops at the blockage. That is still useful information, because it tells you how far out the failure sits and where the first access pit belongs.

- Non-metallic pipe with no tracer wire and no internal access point.
- A collapse or hard blockage stopping the sonde short of the target.
- Very deep runs sitting near the edge of receiver range.
- Dense adjacent utilities pushing signal onto the wrong line.
- Rebar, metal decking, and reinforced slabs distorting depth readings.

## How a Utility Locate Runs

1. **Walk the Site** We note the meter, cleanout, tank, and building penetrations, and confirm what you plan to dig and how deep.
2. **Choose the Signal** Conductive lines get a transmitter. Clay, PVC, and Orangeburg get a sonde pushed inside on a camera head.
3. **Trace and Read Depth** The receiver follows the route across the property while depth is read at the points that matter for the dig.
4. **Mark and Document** The route is painted or flagged with depths noted, and you get the camera footage where a sonde run was used.

## What Drives the Cost of a Locate

A standard residential locate is usually under an hour, leaves nothing behind but marks that fade, and is the cheapest line item on any excavation project.

Cost moves with lot size and how many separate lines you need marked, whether the pipe is conductive or needs a sonde run, whether an accessible cleanout exists or access has to be created, how much interference is present from adjacent utilities, and whether the line has to be cleaned first so a camera can pass.

When locating is bundled with [camera inspection](/methods/sewer-camera-inspection) on the same visit, you pay once for the access work and get both the route and the pipe condition. Call (720) 935-6221 to schedule a locate.

## Frequently asked questions

**Do I still need to call 811 if you locate my lines?**

Yes. Colorado law requires a 811 notification before excavation, it is free, and it marks the utility-owned facilities. Our locate covers the private lines past that point, which 811 does not mark.

**Are you Denver Water or the city locating department?**

No. Denver Sewer and Water is a private, family owned and operated company. We are not Denver Water or the City and County of Denver. We locate privately owned lines on private property at the owner's request.

**How deep is a typical Denver sewer lateral?**

Most residential laterals in the Denver metro sit between 4 and 8 feet deep at the house and get deeper toward the main. Depth varies enough between neighbouring lots that it has to be measured rather than assumed.

**Can you locate a PVC or clay pipe?**

Yes, by pushing a camera with a sonde in the head down the line and locating the sonde from the surface. The pipe itself carries no signal, so internal access is what makes the locate possible.

**How accurate are the marks?**

Horizontal position is typically within a few inches under normal conditions. Depth is a calculated reading and is treated as an estimate, which is why hand digging or hydro excavation is still used at the last stage near a known line.

**Do I get anything to keep?**

You get marks on the ground with depths noted, and where a sonde run was used you get the camera video of the line as well.

## Related Services

- [Line Locating and Marking](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/methods/line-locating-and-marking) The method behind the locate: transmitters, sondes, receivers, and how depth is read.
- [Sewer Camera Inspection](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/methods/sewer-camera-inspection) Camera survey of the buried line, and the sonde run that makes a locate possible.
- [Drain Locating and Troubleshooting](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/drain-locating-and-troubleshooting) Finding a buried drain line that has no record and no obvious access point.
- [Excavation Services in Denver](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/excavation/denver-co) Open cut, hydro, and utility excavation once the route and depth are marked.

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Denver Sewer and Water is a privately owned, licensed and insured plumbing contractor. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Denver Water, the municipal water utility, or any government entity. To pay a municipal water bill or reach the public utility, visit denverwater.org.

Source: https://www.denversewerandwater.com/utility-locating/denver-co