Calling 811 before artificial turf: what Colorado counts as digging, and who files the ticket

01Does putting in artificial turf count as excavation?

Yes, from the first pass of the sod cutter. Colorado’s excavation law calls any operation that moves or removes earth with “any tools, equipment, or explosives” an excavation, and it names backfilling, grading, scraping, trenching and postholing among the examples (C.R.S. 9-1.5-102). A turf install does several of them.

The one exception that sounds like yard work is narrow. The statute’s “routine maintenance” is a regular activity, at least once a year, on an existing planted landscape, that goes no deeper than 12 inches by hand or 4 inches by machine and is “not intended to permanently lessen the ground cover or lower the existing ground contours.” Edging an existing lawn each spring can fit; the statute even lists lawn edgers. Replacing the lawn with turf does not, because the grass is meant to be gone for good and the ground is cut down to make room for the base.

Here is how deep each step of a turf install reaches, by the manufacturers’ own installation guides:

A 6-inch nail is longer than the 3 to 4 inch dig is deep, so the fasteners reach below the dig into ground that was never disturbed. SYNLawn also recommends a sod cutter, a machine, for any project over 150 square feet.

Colorado 811 reaches the same answer from its side. Its homeowner page lists landscaping, planting shrubs and trees, and driving landscaping stakes into the ground among the jobs that need a locate, and tells homeowners not to rely only on the landscaper (Colorado 811). It also says underground utilities are often very close to the surface, and the state’s Public Utilities Commission quotes 811’s director warning that lines can shift or become shallow over time (PUC). A line that was deep when it went in may not be deep now.

02Who has to place the 811 request: me or the installer?

Whoever digs. The law says a person “shall not make or begin excavation without first notifying” Colorado 811, and the notice has to give the name and phone number of the person filing it and of the excavator, plus the dig’s location, start date and a description of the work (C.R.S. 9-1.5-103). Colorado 811 puts it in practical terms: the party doing the actual digging, homeowner, contractor or landscaper, submits the request in their own name (Colorado 811).

On a turf project that usually sorts out like this:

• The installer’s crew digs. The crew’s company files for its own dig. Ask for the ticket number before install day: Colorado 811 lets anyone check a ticket’s responses with the ticket number and phone number, no account needed.
• You take out the lawn yourself first. Then you are the excavator for that part, and its ticket is yours to file.
• The turf runs into a neighbor’s yard. A residential request can’t be stretched past a single address, so the second property needs its own.

Even with an installer on the ticket, Colorado 811 tells homeowners: if in doubt, contact 811 yourself.

03How many days ahead, and how long do the marks last?

Two full business days at the legal minimum, not counting the day you file. Each utility then has those two business days to mark its lines, at no cost to the excavator. Colorado 811’s own fine print adds time in practice:

• A request counts only once its email confirmation arrives, and one received after 2 p.m. Mountain Time may be processed the next business day.
• 811 tells homeowners to wait at least 3 full business days, and to start only when every utility in the area has posted an all clear and the marks are clearly visible.
• The yard has to stay open to locators for two full business days, with no locked gates and no animals. Longmont Power & Communications says a locator kept out by a dog or a locked gate emails that the work couldn’t be done, and the customer has to call for a fresh locate (Longmont).

Marks also expire. They are valid only while clearly visible and for no more than 30 calendar days after the request’s due date, and a crew still digging must renew with Colorado 811 at least two business days before that period ends. A turf job held up by an HOA review can outlast its ticket, so ask for a renewal if the start date slips; our guide to HOA turf approval covers that review.

If a utility misses its two business days, the law has the excavator notify it again through Colorado 811. After that the excavator may go ahead and is not liable for damage to that line unless it failed to use reasonable care. Colorado 811 calls this step an excavator re-notification, and it comes before any digging.

04What happens to the marks when the sod comes up?

They leave with the sod. Locators paint on the grass, and the sod cutter rolls the grass away; Longmont notes that flags exist partly because painted grass gets cut. The law allows for this, since removing a mark is a petty offense only when it is willful or malicious and outside the ordinary course of excavation. It still expects the crew to keep track of every line:

• The excavator has to keep photographs, video or sketches of the marked lines at the site, and keep the marks adequate for the whole dig.
• If the marks or those records are lost, the excavator has to stop digging at that spot and ask through Colorado 811 for the lines to be reverified.
• Within 18 inches of a marked line, on either side, digging has to be by nondestructive means. The PUC spells it out as no machines in that tolerance zone, with hand digging or vacuum excavation exposing the line first.

Before the sod cutter starts, ask how the marks will be carried through the dig, and look for a photo or a sketch of each one.

05What do the paint and flag colors mean?

Each color is a kind of line. Utilities mark in the American Public Works Association’s uniform color code, within 18 inches horizontally of each side of the line, and include the depth only if they know it. In the PUC’s key, red is electric, yellow is gas, blue is drinking water, orange is communications such as cable TV or internet, and green is sewers and drain lines. Purple is reclaimed water, irrigation and slurry lines that a utility owns, not your own sprinkler system. White marks the area someone plans to dig, and pink is a temporary survey mark.

White is the color you can put down yourself. When a dig area is hard to describe on the request, the law lets the excavator outline it with white marks on a hard surface, send a marked map, plan or aerial photo, or meet the locator on site, and Longmont recommends white paint around the planned dig. Outlining the future turf area tells every locator where to look.

A line can also sit shallower than you’d guess. Colorado 811 says depths vary by place and type of line, can change through erosion or leveling, and show on a mark only when the locator knows them (What to Know Before You Dig).

06Which lines in my yard won’t 811 mark?

Any line you own. Utilities mark only their own lines, and Colorado 811 says private lines are not registered with it and must be located at the owner’s expense by a private locating company (Colorado 811). In a yard headed for turf, these are the usual ones:

• Sprinkler pipe and valve wire. 811 puts sprinkler systems at the top of its private list, and SYNLawn’s guide has every sprinkler in the turf area removed and capped before work starts. Our guide to your sprinkler system after turf covers the rest.
• Gas to a grill or fire pit. 811’s homeowner brochure names gas lines for barbecues and fire pits as unmarked private lines, and its blog says the customer owns all the gas pipe after the meter (brochure; blog). Planning a fire feature on the new lawn? See a fire pit on artificial turf.
• Power to a shed, shop or detached garage. The same blog lists electric running to a detached garage or shop, and says every electric wire after the meter is the customer’s. In Longmont, if the meter isn’t on the house, the line from the meter to the home is private too.
• Landscape lighting. VOLT’s install guide has homeowners bury low-voltage cable themselves, typically at least 6 inches deep, from a transformer (VOLT). That is wire on your side of the meter, so no utility marks it. Our putting green lighting guide covers running it around turf.
• A dog fence, a propane line or a septic system. All are on 811’s private list. Turf near a septic system has its own guide.
• Your water and sewer service. 811’s blog says the customer owns the water line from the meter, property line or stop box to the building, and Longmont says sewer, water and storm drainage lines have private parts, typically from the curbstop to the house.

Colorado 811 suggests calling a private locator once the public ticket is confirmed, and says private locates average $100 to $350, depending on the company and the property’s type and size. Our checklist for turf install day covers flagging the lines you already know about.

07What happens if a line gets hit?

Safety first, then the phone. Colorado 811 says to get to safety, call 911 in an emergency and report the damage to 811 right away, and damage reports go by phone, not through the online ticket system. The law adds that the excavator must tell the line’s owner and Colorado 811 at once where the damage is and how extensive, must cooperate with the owner to limit it, and must report escaping gas or hazardous liquid by calling 911.

Who pays depends on who was digging and whether the rules were followed (C.R.S. 9-1.5-104.4 and 9-1.5-104.5):

• An installer or other contractor who digs without notifying 811 faces a $200 civil penalty, and if that dig damages a line, $5,000 for a first offense and up to $25,000 for each later one within 12 months. Skipping the notice, or digging without reasonable care, and damaging a line also makes them presumed liable for the owner’s repair costs and any injury or property damage.
• A utility that marked carelessly takes that presumption off the excavator.
• A homeowner working on their own property is left out of those civil penalties, and out of the Safety Commission’s fines for failing to notify and damaging a line. The law adds that its penalties come on top of any other remedy at law, so being outside the fines does not settle who pays for a repair.
• The Underground Damage Prevention Safety Commission can fine a violator up to $5,000 for a first violation and up to $75,000 for each later one within 12 months. The statute sets that fine section to repeal on September 1, 2028, and schedules the commission’s work for a sunset review before then.

For your own lines, which no utility marks, settle before the dig who repairs one that gets cut.

08What should I ask before anyone digs?

It depends on who digs which part, so settle these before the first shovel:

• Who files the 811 request, and what is the ticket number? A good answer names the company on the ticket and gives you the number to check.
• Has every utility responded? A good answer is an all clear or marks from each utility on the ticket, with the marks visible.
• How will the marks survive sod removal? A good answer is a photo or sketch of every mark, and a call for reverification if they are lost.
• Who finds the private lines? A good answer names who hires the private locator, and who flags sprinklers, lighting, gas to a fire pit and power to a shed.
• What if the start date slips? A good answer is a renewed ticket before the 30 days run out.
• Who repairs a private line cut during the dig? Get that answer in writing.

More questions for any turf quote are in our guide to questions to ask a turf installer, and the whole calendar, locate wait included, is in how long turf installation takes. For the rules on turf itself, see artificial turf rules in Northern Colorado and the Longmont town page.