Private utility locating
Full sweep of your dig area with paint and flags marked to APWA color code. Everything past the meter that 811 will not touch.
811 stops at the meter. GroundScout finds the private lines nobody else marks — water, gas, electric, telecom and sewer — so your crew digs with confidence.
Same-week scheduling across Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties.
Every site gets swept with both electromagnetic induction and ground penetrating radar. Two methods, because one alone misses non-conductive pipe and unmarked abandoned lines.
Full sweep of your dig area with paint and flags marked to APWA color code. Everything past the meter that 811 will not touch.
Finds PVC water line, clay sewer, plastic gas, buried tanks, voids and vaults — the non-conductive targets an EM wand walks right past.
Field data delivered as a marked-up site plan or CAD-ready file. Quality levels B and D to ASCE 38 standards.
Sonde and camera work to trace laterals, find cleanouts, and pinpoint septic tanks and drain fields on unmapped property.
Confirm depth of cover before boring, trenching or grading, so your crew knows exactly how much room they've got.
Three steps, and you are usually on the schedule within a few days.
Send the address, the dig limits and what you are installing. A site plan helps but is not required. You get a flat quote back, not an hourly guess.
We walk the area with EM and GPR, marks findings in paint and flags, and shoots depth readings where they matter to your crew.
A photo-documented field sketch lands in your inbox. Need it on the plan set or in CAD? That comes next.
The free 811 ticket covers member-owned utilities up to the meter or right of way. Past that point, every line on the property belongs to the owner — and no one is coming to mark it for free.
Hit one of those and you own the repair, the downtime and the liability. A private locate costs a fraction of a single strike.
Locating is not a licensed trade in Florida, so anyone can buy a wand and call themselves a locator. Here is the training and the work behind GroundScout.
Marks on the ground last one rain. For projects that run past next week, findings get delivered as a scaled site map with every run traced, labelled and color coded — the record your crew, your engineer and the next contractor all work from.
Tampa Bay is home base. GroundScout also serves the Orlando corridor, Sarasota-Bradenton and the markets between them.
Yes. Always call 811 first — it is free, it is the law in Florida, and it covers the utility-owned lines. GroundScout handles everything 811 leaves unmarked, which on most properties is the majority of what is in the ground.
Most residential and small commercial jobs are quoted on a half day or full day rate, based on the size of the dig area and the deliverable you need. A half day cost $600 and a full day is $1,100. Send an address and a scope and you'll recieve a quote' — no hourly surprises.
EM locating typically reaches 10 to 15 feet on a traceable conductor. GPR depth depends on soil — Florida sand reads well, wet clay does not. Expect 4 to 8 feet in most Tampa Bay conditions, and you will be told on site if a target is out of range instead of getting a guess.
Often, yes. Non-metallic pipe has no signal to trace, so it takes GPR, a sonde pushed through the line, or a traceable interpretation of surrounding features. This is exactly why every job gets both methods rather than an EM wand alone.
Same-week is typical and next-day happens often. Emergency and after-hours work is available — call rather than emailing if the excavator is already on site.
Paint and flags on the ground marked to APWA color code, plus a photo-documented field sketch delivered the same week. CAD files, ASCE 38 quality level deliverables and full utility maps are available when the project calls for them.
Fill this out and you'll hear back the same business day. In a hurry? Call or text — that is always fastest.
Practical answers for planning excavation, choosing a locating method and documenting what is underground.