The following is an excerpt from What is the Cost of Utility Locating by Jen Britt at GPRS. You can read the full article, here.

By Jen Britt, GPRS

April 2026

When it comes to the cost of utility locating, the most important thing to know is this: with GPRS, you only pay for what you need, and investing in accurate utility locating services saves you far more than it costs.

You can always count on GPRS for straightforward, upfront utility locating pricing built around your project goals and timeline, so you never pay for services you don’t need.

GPRS tailors every utility locating quote by project scope because every building and site are different. Utility locating pricing depends on several factors, including:

• Soil conditions
• Site size
• Utility depth
• Number of utilities present
• Night/weekend work
• Level of detail required
• Deliverables required

Comprehensive Subsurface Utility Detection

You will receive on site field markings with spray paint and pin flags, color-coded to American Public Works Association standards, plus utility maps to give your team a clear understanding of the exact location, depth, and layout of all underground utilities on your job site, including:

• Electric power lines, cables, conduit and lighting cables
• Gas, oil, steam, petroleum, and gaseous materials
• Communication, alarm or signal lines, cables or conduit
• Potable water
• Reclaimed water, irrigation, and slurry lines
• Sewers and drain lines
• Underground storage tanks
• Abandoned lines
• Unknown utilities
• Manholes & well heads

Why Accurate Utility Locating is Essential for Damage Prevention

Utility locating services are significantly less expensive than the cost of striking a utility line.

A white paper published in April 2023 by the Infrastructure Protection Coalition (IPC) highlights major failures in the nation’s damage prevention system used to protect the public and prevent damage to underground utility lines. These failures are responsible for over $30 billion in annual societal and utility line damage costs, and an additional $61 billion in annual waste and excess costs.

The Common Ground Alliance 2024 DIRT Report, the only comprehensive accounting of buried infrastructure damages in North America, found that 9 of the top 10 known root causes of utility damages occur during utility work itself. This means that the very activities intended to install or maintain utilities are often the ones most likely to damage existing buried lines when locating is inaccurate.

Why Professional Utility Locating Matters

Accurate utility locating helps your team to:

• Avoid costly strikes and delays
• Keep your crew and site safe
• Stay compliant
• Prevent change orders and rework
• Keep your project moving confidently and on schedule

Read the full article here.

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