Due to the nature of sites changing and, more frequently, in built-up areas the ground has become heavily congested with existing underground utilities. As a result of this in a lot of areas it has become almost impossible to excavate utilities with traditional methods for site investigation work. In most circumstances either potholing damage is caused by the excavator which is putting operatives at danger and in some cases the public too, or if manual excavation is to be employed then this can come at a great expense as the excavators have to be paid for and there is no return for this.

How much does a utility strike cost your company and is it worth the risk?

For utilities supplier there is the disruption to supplies, the lost revenue, the negative publicity and the customer service issues. For a service contractor there are serious cost implications, project delays, and the potential damage to a relationship with the vacuum excavation client. Above all, utility strikes can injure operators and members of the public. Sadly, in some cases, potholing utilities can kill.

What is Utility Potholing?

Utility Potholing is a newer technology which uses a high power vacuum suction system to excavate soils or other materials during site investigation, Utility verification, remediation programs, construction projects or other civil engineering work. This less invasive digging technique is used to loosen soils, rather than heavy machinery or hand held tools. After loosening, the soil is extracted from the sub-surface through an air vacuum hose which transports it to an on-board spoil/debris tank for later disposal or backfilling.

Vacuum Excavating Technology

Util-locate have increased their use of vacuum excavation technology to assist with meeting client demand for this safe excavation potholing service. Our utility potholing technology allow us to continue to meet client demand using our fully trained and competent excavation team and expand our services within the wider Utilities Infrastructure industry.

Why Use UTIL-LOCATE for Potholing Utilities?

Util-Locate is recognized as One of “The best” Utility Locating And Vacuum Excavation Companies in the state of California, by all its existing clients and in the utilities infrastructure world. We are referred to as “Masters of our craft”. When it comes to Subsurface Investigations & DAMAGE PREVENTION…we lead the way.
Util-Locate not only make it their personal challenge to Locate some of The most difficult utilities and unknown utility lines beneath the ground - but have greater success than all other potholing companies.
Util-Locate continues to save the Utility Infrastructure Community, hundreds of thousands of dollars, valuable time and headaches in potholing and vacuum excavation DAMAGE PREVENTION each year.
Util-Locate have been established as the “GO-TO” potholing and vacuum excavation company for any preliminary/pre-design phase site-work investigation, and on the majority of utilities infrastructure projects in Southern California.
Util-Locate is fully capable of; locating the utility line, potholing, cleanup, verifying & documenting it. We can provide you with the Exact Depth, Direction, Material and Size of Pipe or Line below the ground.
What better company to hire than Util-Locate who is very familiar with the Utility Underground world, and will stop at nothing until we give you a clear understanding of your potholing project.
Other potholing companies, JUST-DIG-HOLES, and will give you just that. They have no clue of the site’s utilities infrastructure and how investigation at this level works. Holes and trenches will eat away at your budget and time - when you hire the wrong company for potholing.

Advantages of Potholing Utilities over Traditional Excavation Methods

The main advantages of vacuum excavation over conventional mechanical and hand excavation techniques are as follows:

It allows positive visual identification of Utilities, avoiding utility strikes and vastly improving safety at job sites.
It is faster and safer than physical hand digging
There is a reduction in manual handling and hard physical labor reducing the risk of injury and exertion
Excavation can be carried out in areas otherwise inaccessible by traditional machinery
Less surface damage, a cleaner restoration and often a potential to reduce the size of the excavation
Excavated spoils are removed from the area leaving surrounding roads/footpaths clear of debris
Less expensive to reinstate/repair the surface once the project is complete
Reduction in disruption to other site traffic, personnel and surface activities