Before You Dig

Gather all the information you need for your locate ticket. White lining your proposed dig site with white paint or flags if/when possible.

You’ll need the following information handy when you contact us:

• Your name, company name (if applicable), phone number, and mailing address.
• Field contact information.
• Type of work to be done.
• The county, city, address, and nearest cross street of the proposed excavation site.
• Where on the property you want marking done.

The proposed areas of excavation can be marked with white paint in order to show the location or boundaries of the proposed excavation. This helps with the efficiency of the locate process.

Submit your ticket by calling 811 or (800) 351-1111 or by one of our online entry options.

A normal locate request requires at least three (3) working days' notice. That’s 72 hours excluding weekends and holidays.

You can provide as much as ten (10) working days' notice when you know that your schedule is a little more flexible – we call this “postdating” a ticket. Because of the high volume of tickets each day, postdating your ticket and giving more than three days’ notice may mean that you can better rely on the start date of your ticket.

You will need to wait to start your work until the legal start date and time on your ticket. This allows all affected facility owners the required time to mark their facilities. The more notice you give the more likely the facilities will all be able to respond prior to your excavation start date.

You can view up-to-date responses from all utility companies notified by Tennessee 811 by checking Positive Response.

Positive Response is a service that TN811 provides to help you track the status of your locate request. 

Once you’ve received responses from all members, compare the ticket response codes to the marks you see at the dig site. If they don’t match, contact 811 to have a 2nd Notice sent to that member.

Locating is not an exact science; therefore, the actual location of the facility could vary from the position of the marks. 

Tennessee state law establishes a tolerance (or safety zone) that is the width of the buried facility plus 2 feet (or 24 inches) on each side. The tolerance zone is often based on the surface marking provided by utility locators, but utility locating is not an exact science, so the best way to pinpoint of a buried line is to carefully expose it. 

Utilities are not required to provide depth information with their utility markings, and the depth of a utility line can vary over time, even if an as-built drawing reflects depth of cover at the time of installation.

Tickets are valid for fifteen (15) calendar days after the legal start date requested on the Tennessee 811 ticket. 

If your excavation will not be completed within fifteen (15) calendar days, contact 811 three (3) working days prior to the expiration of your ticket to request an update to ensure that your ticket does not expire during excavation.  Working on an expired ticket is against state law and may result in you being reported to the state and being responsible for repair costs if a damage occurs. 

Once you have completed digging, do not continue to update the ticket.