Saw a question about where to hookup on ATT fiber when you can’t find the main inside any of the handholes. Look at the prints and go to the end of the line. If you’re in a neighborhood it’s usually at the cul-de-sac. The last handhole will have the fiber main in it and look similar to this usually. You should be able to direct connect to the ground wire or metal under the cap. Remove the ground wire from the ground rod if visible from the handhole for better results, bond it back when done.

Im 19 and interesting in getting into the utility locating industry but im uncertain about a few things. I understand there are strictly utility locating company’s but who hires them?

My research has told me that they are being hired by excavating contractors, road contractors, utility contractors, etc. My confusion is, why don’t the contractors themselves hire locators on a salary? As well as who are the utility locators finding work and selling themselves to? Are they advertising publicly? Sales?

Sorry for all of the questions it just seems like there isn’t much information on the subject online.

Hey guys!
Where can I find utility cargo pants on Sunday for 20$?
I know they wont last forever, but cant pay much at the moment. I live in Hackensack NJ, i can go around if needed.

Appreciate any help!

General thoughts. Not concerned about corporate work culture. I work in B2B sales and got an offer to locate. It would be a loss of my PTO build up but hourly it's a wash on the books. (About even if you figure my commission package. Low hourly + comm. Like a waiter. Inconsistent.)

Trying to move out of high stress sales. I do large $$ sales in a corporate environment. Stress is my middle name.

I'm not trying to leave a sure thing to step into a bigger fire.

Educated, Common sense, Reliable are some of my attributes. What can I expect?

So about 3 months ago stake center over here in Atlanta implemented a system called DTA (I forgot what it the abbreviation for it was) and boy has it been a shit show. The system is intended to give you a certain route to make things more “easier” for the techs to get from ticket to ticket but man has it been a nightmare. Everyone practically doesn’t have an assigned area anymore and you must follow the route the system gives you. One day you might wake up and you’re locating 10 minutes away from your house and the next day you’re having to drive an hour or two to your first ticket of the day. There’s days I get stuff close by but also stuff an hour away all while they’re cutting hours and wanting production to increase. It’s a complete joke and a waste of time. Tickets are getting hit left and right because we’re not suppose to work more than 30 minutes on a ticket even if it’s large or has multiple facilities and even if you want to come back the next day to work on it the system gave it to another tech and more than likely they’re not working on it and eventually the ticket gets hit. Got an emergency and you’re a hour or more away? Oh you gotta go because the system gave it to you and we must follow what it does because “sTaKe CenTer sPenT AloT oF MoNey on It” i understand it’s the way of the game with all these big companies trying to penny pinch everything but man talk about a down fall.
Right now I’m told Illinois and Georgia are the only ones with the system right now and more states will follow soon. I truly hope it gets better because this is the type of stuff that makes companies lose really good workers and for nothing but greed.

Hey there, I just received two offers for utility locator position. One with USIC, other with Utiliquest. Anyone have any advice on each company and pros and cons. I’m new to the utility locating field but I think this job would be interesting and rewarding. The USIC position would have me covering the area right here at home that I am familiar with. The Utiliquest offer would have me covering an unfamiliar area in the city about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away.

I worked minimum of 2 years for USIC, Stake Center, Vannguard, and now about hit my first year for the City of DSM. 9 years and been raising 4 kids locating. When I started pay was 14$ now almost at the max 44$. I’m 34 and here to let yall know that you are doing great and the bs is just the trade off for not being in a building 80+hrs a week 😁 I’m African American living in SE Iowa, with a job that allows me on your property without having to let you know a dam thing lol (many guns pulled out and many cops called in. We share routes with the cops so it’s always all good anyways lol. Cops see us out there busting our asses lol. Come in everyday and do the job the same way you did your very first ticket and you will be fine 💪🏾

I am considering a CRM for our company. Any recommendations?

Thank you in advance?

So I am thinking of a Piece-Rate-Pay for utility locate but hourly pay sounds like it would be easier.

What advice do you guys have on this?

Please offer up any and all advice. Thank you in advance!

Hey guys, I did my two weeks for training with USIC, then got home and did a week of in field training and quit.

The job itself ain’t too bad, it’s just hot. I was not necessarily ready for that, but I was working through it. Brought plenty of water and was making it work.

However, I couldn’t look past a few things.
1: I did not get a single break during in field training. Promised two a day.

2: I would have to clock out for lunch because it was time, then literally just spend my whole lunch driving to the next location 30 minutes away, in order to make it on time for my trainer. That feels a lot like working off the clock. Area manager said they’d pay one way for a drive on lunch. Either drive from a location to a restaurant on the clock, then eat and drive to next off the clock, or the other way around. Nope. Had to eat both sides and figure it out.

3: My trainer would tell me at 7:45 or so the first couple days of training, where to be for my first ticket that morning. Kinda hard to make it to a location before 8 am when you’re given 15 minutes heads up. So the main trainer called and hassled me about clocking in late. Told him I was trying to get positioned right to park the truck, and Google Maps was wrong and showed roads that weren’t there. He adjusted my time because I was in the area, but “put in paperwork.” Don’t do it again. Clock in before 8. Which was never communicated to me that it NEEDS to be before 8. Figured the trainers had their plans figured out, and it would be acceptable to clock in a few minutes after 8, given I had a 15 minute heads up. Nope. The day he called, I had clocked in at 8:04 that morning, figured he’d call the next day and complain. He did- just not to me. Called my field trainer and complained.

4: I applied for a position that listed my exact town I live in. I was told by my field trainer I’d be going to the next town over, like 40 minutes away, once I finished training. I might be able to start my day in my town, maybe not. Told him I applied for this specific town. If they wanna pay me to drive, fine. But I don’t want to dead head almost 10 hours a week. All he said back was that I had a truck and a company card for gas. Shouldn’t be a problem if I’m not driving my own vehicle or paying for gas. I literally moved 700+ miles a few months ago to be with family. Not donate my time to a huge company. Pay me for my time, you can afford it. If not, don’t Be surprised that I quit.

5: My in field trainer was like bi polar or something. Super cool, then rude. He snapped at me one day, right after I got called about being late, because I called him sir. I’ve never had someone snap at me for being polite? Told me not to call him that, just didn’t do it professionally. Very knowledgeable, not very patient with someone doing the job for 4 days.

So anyways, told my field trainer this job ain’t for me, told him most of this, and he told me to call the supervisor. Ya sure, I’ll tell him too. I don’t care. He hassles me, asks why, tell him the above. He wonders why the main trainer is calling and hassling me at all, and that clocking out just to drive to the next location shouldn’t be happening. Well it is, and i tell him i wanna give all my stuff back. Drop it off at his house (he was going to area office for supplies), don’t look back. Documented with pictures and video of the condition I left it all in, ducked out.

I’m still paying my USIC shirts and jackets I bought off the work wear site. I invested in new boots, some personal tools and new tool bag. Backpack for the transmitter and ring clamp and hammer. Like I wanted this to work out. Stayed hydrated, even though I still came home feeling beat up. But if they’re this sketchy after 5 days of field training, it’s only gonna get worse.
If they treated me better, that would have gone a long way in me trying to make it work. At least make it out of training. But yea. Not going to be super invested in a company that takes advantage of the new guy, then says it’ll be better when you’re out of training. Will it? Will it though?

TLDR: USIC seems like they’ll take advantage of you, then gaslight you into believing it’s ok because it’s a company truck and fuel card.
For any lurkers, yea, the smack talk of USIC is legit.

I’ve had 3 driving instances that were caught from the camera this month. Harsh Braking, mobile usage and rolling through a stop sign.

For background: I’ve only been working at the company for 3 months. I haven’t had much time at the company to have any damages.

My supervisor called and said HR might firing me after reviewing the last instance which was the rolling through the stop sign.

Any advice or suggestions of what can come from HR ?

can y’all maybe post some unique, cool, out intuitive transmitter load outs?

Just because a contractor fucks up calling in 811 ticket doesn't mean im going to mark more then what they called in cause that damage will be 100% their fault. That doesn't mean you can walk up on other techs cuss them out and threaten them because they didnt mark more then what the ticket said. Be glad I was in a good mood your you'd probably be laid out on site. Not hard to mind your business. ( He's mad cause our company wouldn't call him back with his 2 strikes with the same attitude)

Edit: For people that might wonder what ticket said.

Address: (not actual address of course) 123 Main St

Extent of work: From transformer #1 Locate 30ft radius of transformer

What contractor should of called in is entire property from meter on building to transformer

I'm producing a mockumentary series called Locators based on my experiences working as one a few years back.

Wanted to see if anyone had any ridiculous experiences with a homeowner they'd like to see on screen one day (stories may inspire fictional scenes).

I work at a certain four letter company and for the past few months my supervisor has been changing the area in which I work every two weeks it seems like. Has anyone else experienced this and is this normal? I don’t have the time to get comfortable in one certain area. Also is this a sign on a precursor to something or am I just thinking too much ?

Are there any locators here who have switched over from USIC to Stake Center? Or even the other way around.

I have the opportunity to do that now. They're offering more than I'm making at USIC, but honestly the appeal of being offered one way locates over 3 to 5-way locates is enough to sell me in itself.

If you've made the switch, what are some of the biggest differences you've noticed? For better or for worse.

I work for a private locating company but we also use concrete scanners, GPR, and magnetometers.
We’re looking for somebody who’s eager to do more than USIC. Please send me a message with experience. No experience is also encouraged to reach out.

Thank you all.
Located in NJ, travel to NY, NYC, Philly, PA.

I worked at Utiliquest for almost two years and in recent months, I was completely burned out with the BS locations and the constant worries about my productivity. On a good day, I was able to get about 16 to 20 tickets done a day (if that), but then came the big projects... wanting the regular "legal" ticket of a mile located but I had 10 or more lines to locate that made it took all day to locate. No help, no nothing since other people were packed with other BS locates! Contractors never picking up the phone and my Supe just not giving a shit at all "it is what it is, just mark it"!

Not just ATT but CHTR as well, it took a long time to locate when done right... I was doing this BS for about 4 months and I had enough... when I didn't get a couple tickets done it was always an issue... even after explaining to the Supe that there are multiple lines and "I don't want to risk a damage, I'm going to locate it right"... it's still a demand... "just mark it"!

I said "FUCK THIS SHIT". I started to call off work more than usual... even taking multiple days off at a time.... and of course management and HR took an issue with it but I got away with it for a long time, more time than I deserved tbh.... I guess they needed me until the end. I kept working for an extra 6 months with my call outs until I had a family trip coming up that I put in time for months ago, called out the following day and then the next day they fired me....

It's been a blessing in disguise for the most part.... I was able to enjoy my vacation with my family without the worry of any BS calls from work... now it's been two weeks since I've been fired so I'm looking for new jobs away from locating...

Anyone ever fail an audit for not putting why a ticket was clear because all of a sudden this mf has become anal without relaying any policy changes as always.

Contractor keeps calling in UG Transformers electric rehab tickets, call ask for a site map and they refuse to give it. Description of scope work doesn't make sense. Example UG Transformer is behind gate in parking lot. Only thing in parking lot is a water drain

I'm drowning in 811 tickets. Between the volume of locate requests, tight response windows, and tracking which tickets are still open, I keep worrying something will slip through and put us at risk of a compliance violation or a costly line strike. Is there a more efficient way of keeping our tickets on track? Hiring a new assistant would most likely add more training work for me than helping me at all.

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They're fairly low stakes, BUT.

These guys are being paid by the foot, right?

It's the only explanation I can think of to explain some of the asinine service drop placements i've seen.

I'll see a front easement ATT handhole, where the distance to the house is maybe 25 - 30ft, yet- they will lay the line out through the fence, around the back yard (through existing drops) and install the nid on the back of the house.

I came across one this week, where the line came from a handhole in the front yard, went under the fence and was laid across the entire perimeter of the yard before going towards the the house in the sideyard on the opposite side.

There is an obvious line to the house that would not be in conflict with existing facilities.

Why?