How to Work Around Utility Locate Delays and Protect Your Bottom Line

Delayed locates can stop a job in its tracks. Here’s how to keep projects moving while staying safe and compliant.

If you work in underground construction, you already know the pain of utility locate delays. Whether it’s waiting on 811, dealing with incomplete markings, or navigating rescheduled tickets, these delays add up fast. What may seem like a minor inconvenience can quickly become a major hit to your project timeline and your bottom line.

From idle crews to equipment downtime and missed deadlines, we’ve seen firsthand how these challenges can create real cost pressures. But we’ve also developed proven strategies to help keep jobs moving, maintain compliance, and avoid costly utility strikes.

The Hidden Cost of Waiting on Locates

Delays in utility marking can create a domino effect across your project. While waiting, you may be paying for labor and equipment that’s not being used. You may also face scheduling conflicts with subcontractors, strained client relationships, or missed milestones that lead to liquidated damages.

Even worse, proceeding without verified locates can result in dangerous utility strikes. These incidents come with steep consequences, injuries, legal liability, environmental impact, and heavy fines. Historically, the cost of a single utility strike can be anywhere from tens of thousands to $100,000 when factoring in damage, downtime, and regulatory penalties.

How Modus Keeps Projects Moving

At Modus, we know that waiting on utility locates can leave crews stuck and projects stalled. That’s why we take a proactive, layered approach designed to keep work advancing without cutting corners.

• Detailed Documentation
  Our projects begin with careful record-keeping. Every ticket number, white-lining effort, and outreach attempt is logged. This not only ensures compliance but also provides a clear record that protects both our crews and our clients if questions come up later.
  

• Proactive Communication
  We do not sit back and wait on the 811 process alone. Our team reaches out directly to locator companies to confirm schedules and troubleshoot delays. When needed, we escalate to utility owners, who often help expedite the process because they share the goal of avoiding strikes. By staying engaged, we can often keep jobs moving where others might stall.
  

• Responsible Field Safety
  Our crews use every tool available to keep people and infrastructure safe. Emergency tickets are filed only when there’s a true risk to life, health, property, or essential services, never just to save time. In all other cases, we rely on safe practices like daylighting bore paths to expose utilities before crossing them, ensuring we can move forward with confidence and care.

Through documentation, proactive communication, and safe field practices, Modus minimizes the impact of locate delays. The outcome is fewer costly interruptions, greater safety, and more predictable timelines for our clients.

Why This Matters to Our Customers

Whether you’re managing a fiber buildout, a new development, or infrastructure expansion, delays in utility locating can impact everything from cost forecasting to customer satisfaction.

Our job at Modus Utility Group is to minimize those impacts. We bring practical experience, detailed planning, and real-time coordination to every project, so you can avoid surprises and keep your budget intact.