Alberta first call

[scotts]

As usual just had Another bad experience with the first call system.telus responded to a first call request for a subdivision we are building to locate their lines. Gave us written confirmation of NO conflict. As a standard practice we have a secondary line locate done, only to find that telus had failed to locate their primary transcanada fiberoptic line.
This is not an uncommon experience for me at all unfortunately. The first call system is extreamly flawed
young contractors take an old mans advice, always have a secondary locate done.

 

[imdoo'n]

As usual just had Another bad experience with the first call system.telus responded to a first call request for a subdivision we are building to locate their lines. Gave us written confirmation of NO conflict. As a standard practice we have a secondary line locate done, only to find that telus had failed to locate their primary transcanada fiberoptic line.
This is not an uncommon experience for me at all unfortunately. The first call system is extreamly flawed
young contractors take an old mans advice, always have a secondary locate done.

i second that, make the call, still lots of digging with no call being made.







friggin locators

 

[Longhorn]

Two isnt always enough LOL...We get Midwest surveys to do a 3 pass sweep, then we bring in Line Find in addition to Alberta One-Call...

So far this summer, 3 phone lines tagged, 1 fibre optic, a 14,400 volt power line, and a 200 amp service from fortis...All missed, and I found em...

Nice thing about doing the level of sweeps that I am doing, is that there is no onus on us as a contractor, we have covered our butts big-time, hasnt cost me a dime, but it has caused some frustration and downtime for sure...

Good advice Scotts

 

[Orrin]

Twice I've called Alberta First call to locate the lines in my back acre, the second time they identified different lines than the first time. There's still an obvious trench that has settled since I bought the place but when I call the utilities nobody has anything about the trench on their records. I think I'll steer clear of it.

 

[boydo]

i always love their "i love my job" vibe they send out! if micky D's was better why did you leave?! last time i dealt with one i might as well shat in his mouth because thats the attitude i got!!

 

[imdoo'n]

Twice I've called Alberta First call to locate the lines in my back acre, the second time they identified different lines than the first time. There's still an obvious trench that has settled since I bought the place but when I call the utilities nobody has anything about the trench on their records. I think I'll steer clear of it.

may be water/septic lines you are thus on your own......steer clear
telus, power, gas should be marked the rest is yours



oops should have gotten a plan from previous owner or builder.




you could call a private locator, need checkbook.

 

[scotts]

I guess really my beef is with telus as I understand the limitations of the first call system in that it's only as good as it's registered members. But come on iam not talking about a residential service line there needs to be some repercussions for failed locates

 

[Orrin]

may be water/septic lines you are thus on your own......steer clear
telus, power, gas should be marked the rest is yours



oops should have gotten a plan from previous owner or builder.




you could call a private locator, need checkbook.

I have an acreage I know exactly where the water and sewer lines are and they are nowhere near the trench, good thought though.

 

[Modman]

I guess really my beef is with telus as I understand the limitations of the first call system in that it's only as good as it's registered members. But come on iam not talking about a residential service line there needs to be some repercussions for failed locates

the little disclaimer on the bottom of the page that says they are not responsible removes all liability from them and puts it on you as the contractor. that way when you hit their line and knock out phone service to 1000 people, you make the front page news and they just shrug their shoulders because the story about them failing to locate their line properly never makes the front page after the fact.

We have an internal policy that states they need to give us a plan of the facility so that we can verify it ourselves, most of the time they do not know what side of the page they are looking at.

about 4 yrs ago they decided it was going to be cheaper to not respond to one calls, they were just going to let people dig and if they contacted their line then Telus would come out and fix if free of charge - that lasted about 1 month and they had so many line hits I think the costs were like triple what it would have been to locate and CAPULCA and the rest of the utility companies finally said enough is enough.

4 -way sweep is mandatory for us, plus multiple radials around the dig site to confirm. We also have 2 sweeps by privates to check the one call clearances, and to clear the general dig area as well. Then we will typically expose (by hydrovac) most of the lines, even if they are not directly in the dig area, to confirm they are where they are supposed to be. I deal with historical pipelines and wellbores daily (almost 100 yrs old) and we have many methods to locate them, often times we do ground penetrating radar (GPR) sweeps to identify anomalous features as well.

 

[Haggis]

I have an acreage I know exactly where the water and sewer lines are and they are nowhere near the trench, good thought though.

If they are secondary lines they will not locate them. I have power and gas lines running from my house to the shop - when I called to have lines located they flagged to the house but did not flag to the shop - they said they don't do that. So I had to pay to locate the other lines.

 

[Longhorn]

I guess really my beef is with telus as I understand the limitations of the first call system in that it's only as good as it's registered members. But come on iam not talking about a residential service line there needs to be some repercussions for failed locates

I am working on the Suffield Block right now, and have the actual Telus ground plans and drawings from their engineering department. We are still finding lines that they dont even have on their drawings from AGT days. Most of their work is guesswork...

I will try and take some pics of the last one we did, it is quite hilarious, 26 miles of above ground cable and they actually staked and flagged it for us, and 6ft into the dig we hit a buried AGT line that they sliced into but never added to their construction drawings, Telus guys were still on site banging stakes into the ground around the above ground line LOL

Oh well at least the splice crew was there to handle the repair. Ever wonder why nobody at Telus knows what is going on?? It takes 3-5 crews to install a phone line after we have dug the trench, installed the DB2 conduit, we even install their pedestal for them (that crew quit), all they have to do is the splice, terminate in the building, and mount the lightning protectors...And most of them dont know each other or what they do, its a joke. Oh yea and the best thing?? My client Cenovus has to pay Telus 1500 - 3000 per site to have this high quality work done LOL

Thats over and above my costs to install the lines...We need provincial competition badly...

 

[bubs]

I just phoned them yesterday for locates...you think Alberta is bad, try Sask One Call I almost came unglued on that snotty women, but managed to bite my tongue. I've never used either of these services before but WOW I might just get a private guy in next time. And as for the ONE CALL...I'm up to 7 calls now. I'm not even doing anything major just want to tear up the lawn in the backyard to get it ready for Sod next spring, I couldn't imagine trying to utilize this "convenient system" for a major project.
Wish me luck hopefully I don't find any surprise lines