For homeowners
Digging this weekend? Make one free call first.
Colorado law requires everyone — homeowners included — to notify 811 at least three business days before digging. It costs nothing, and it's the difference between a finished project and a very bad afternoon.
How it works
- 1
Mark your dig area in white
White paint, flour, or white flags around where you plan to work. This is the step people skip, and it's the one that prevents most problems.
- 2
Notify 811
Call 811 or file online with Colorado 811 — at least three business days ahead. Most Colorado requests are now filed online.
- 3
Wait for every utility to respond
Several companies are notified, and each responds separately. You're ready when all of them have — not when three days have passed.
- 4
Respect the marks and dig carefully
Hand-dig within the tolerance zone around any mark. If you damage anything at all — even a scratch — call the facility owner.
Projects that need a call
Building a fence
Post holes go deeper than almost any other homeowner project.
Planting a tree
Root balls need holes wide and deep enough to reach services.
Installing a mailbox
Short, quick, and right at the road where services cross.
Sprinkler systems
Trenching across an entire yard crosses everything buried in it.
Decks and sheds
Footings and piers go well below the frost line.
Landscaping
Grading, retaining walls and new beds all move enough soil to matter.
What the paint colors mean
- RedElectric power lines, cables and conduit
- YellowGas, oil, steam and petroleum
- OrangeCommunications, cable TV, fiber and alarm lines
- BluePotable water
- GreenSewers and drain lines
- PurpleReclaimed water, irrigation and slurry
- WhiteProposed excavation — the area YOU mark before calling
What 811 does not cover
811 notifies the utilities that own lines in the public right-of-way. It does not cover private lines on your property — the gas run to a detached garage, your sprinkler system, invisible dog fence, landscape lighting, or the electric feed to a shed. Those are yours, and a private locating company can find them for you.
If you hit something
- Smell gas, or hit a gas line? Leave immediately, on foot, and call 911 from a safe distance. Don't start a vehicle, use a phone at the scene, or touch any switch.
- Hit an electric line? Stay away and keep others back. Assume it's live.
- Any other damage — even a nick? Report it to the facility owner. Small unreported damage becomes a failure months later, and by then nobody knows why.
Or read more in our homeowner guides.