Before any shovel or machine goes into the ground, there’s one rule that matters more than any other: know what’s buried before you dig. Hitting a gas line, a water main, or a fibre cable is dangerous, expensive, and entirely avoidable.
Two things get mentioned when people talk about this — BC One Call and utility locating — and they often get treated as the same service. They’re not. Here’s the difference, and when each one matters.
BC One Call: always the first step, and it’s free
BC One Call is a free service that notifies participating utility companies about your planned dig. You submit a request, and the utilities that have infrastructure in the area arrange to mark their buried lines — or confirm they have none where you’re working.
A few things to know:
- It’s free, and it’s the law’s expectation. Calling before you dig is the baseline standard of care for any excavation in BC.
- Submit it a few business days ahead. Locates take time to arrange, so don’t leave it to the morning of.
- It covers member utilities’ lines — the mains and services owned by the utility companies that participate.
If you take nothing else from this article: call BC One Call before you dig, every time. We cover exactly when it’s required in our BC One Call guide for Nanaimo.
Private utility locating: filling the gaps
BC One Call marks the utilities’ own lines. But a lot of what’s buried on a property isn’t owned by a utility — and that’s where private locating comes in.
Private utility locating uses equipment to find things like:
- Private service lines — the water, power, or gas run between a utility’s connection and your building, or between buildings on the same property.
- Irrigation, septic, and drainage you or a previous owner installed.
- Anything added over the years that no utility has a record of.
BC One Call won’t mark these because no member utility owns them. On an older or heavily developed property, they can be the lines most likely to get hit.
When do you need both?
Think of it as two layers:
- Always submit a BC One Call request before excavating. No exceptions.
- Add a private locate when you’re digging on a property with private service lines, past landscaping or irrigation work, outbuildings, or anywhere the ground has been worked before and the records are thin.
For a simple dig in an open area with a clean BC One Call result, the free locate may be all you need. For anything near buildings, property lines, or old infrastructure, the private layer is cheap insurance against a very expensive mistake.
Our approach
We treat “know before you dig” as non-negotiable. Every excavation job starts with the right locates in place — and if a site looks like it has private lines that BC One Call won’t catch, we’ll say so before we break ground. It’s the same care we bring to tight-access and small excavation work across Central Vancouver Island.
Planning a dig? Request a quote and we’ll walk through what your site needs — or see what a water-line trenching job actually involves from start to finish.
FAQ
Is BC One Call really free? Yes. Submitting a locate request through BC One Call costs nothing and notifies member utilities to mark their buried lines. Always do it before you dig.
What’s the difference between BC One Call and private utility locating? BC One Call marks utility-owned lines. Private locating finds privately owned lines — service runs, irrigation, septic, and drainage — that no utility has on record.
Do I always need a private locate? Not always. For a simple dig in an open area, a clean BC One Call result may be enough. Add a private locate when you’re near buildings, property lines, or old infrastructure.
How far ahead should I submit a BC One Call request? A few business days before you plan to dig, since utilities need time to arrange their locates. Don’t leave it to the day of.