Quick Verdict
Call before you dig in Oregon by placing an 811 locate request through the Oregon Utility Notification Center before any excavation. You submit the request, wait the required legal notice period, and then the utilities send locators to mark their public lines with color-coded paint and flags. Once the marks are down, you dig carefully by hand within the tolerance zone around each line. The locate is free to you, it is required by law, and skipping it puts you on the hook for a struck gas, power, water, or sewer line.
What 811 Is and Why It Exists
811 is the national "call before you dig" number that routes to your state's one-call center. In Oregon, that center is the Oregon Utility Notification Center, often called Oregon 811. One request notifies every public utility that has lines registered in your dig area, and each sends a locator to mark its own facilities.
The whole point is to stop people from hitting buried gas, electric, water, sewer, and communication lines. A struck line can mean an outage for the neighborhood, a serious injury, or a five-figure repair bill. The locate is the cheap insurance that prevents all of it. For where this fits in planning and budgeting a dig, see our excavation cost and hiring guide.
The 811 Process Step by Step
The process is the same whether you are planting a fence post or trenching a new water service.
- Place the request. Call 811 or use the Oregon Utility Notification Center's online portal. You describe the dig location, mark the area (white paint or flags help), and give the dates.
- Wait the notice period. Oregon law sets a minimum advance notice before you can dig. You cannot submit at 8 a.m. and dig at noon. Plan ahead.
- Utilities mark their lines. Each affected utility sends a locator who paints and flags the approximate path of its public lines using the standard color code.
- Confirm before you dig. Check that the area is marked. If a utility did not respond or you have questions, follow up before you put a tool in the ground.
- Dig carefully in the tolerance zone. Near any mark, slow down and hand-dig within the tolerance zone on each side of the line.
The Utility Color Code
Locators mark public lines using a national color code. Learning it takes thirty seconds and tells you instantly what is under your feet.
| Color | Utility |
|---|---|
| Red | Electric power lines |
| Yellow | Gas, oil, steam, petroleum |
| Orange | Communications, cable, fiber |
| Blue | Potable (drinking) water |
| Green | Sewer and storm drain |
| Purple | Reclaimed water, irrigation |
| White | Proposed excavation (you mark this) |
| Pink | Temporary survey markings |
811 Marks Public Lines Only
This is the part homeowners miss. 811 locators mark the public utility's lines, generally up to the meter or the point where the utility's responsibility ends. They do not mark the private lines you own on your side of that point.
Private lines that 811 will NOT locate include:
- The water line running from your meter to the house, or out to a barn or shop
- Irrigation and sprinkler lines and their valves
- A propane line from a yard tank to the house
- Buried electrical to a detached garage, sub-panel, well pump, or landscape lighting
- The sewer or septic lateral on your property
- Low-voltage, invisible-fence, or data lines you installed
Those are your responsibility to locate or have privately located. Hitting one is on you, and on a busy lot the private lines are often the most likely thing you will strike.
Why This Is Required by Law
Calling before you dig is not optional in Oregon. State law requires anyone excavating to notify the one-call center in advance so public lines can be marked. The requirement applies to homeowners and contractors alike, to hand digging and machine digging, and to jobs as small as a deck footing.
Skipping the locate is where the trouble starts. If you dig without a valid locate and hit a line, you can be liable for the repair, for outages, and for penalties, and your insurance may not cover damage from an illegal dig. We spell that out in digging without an 811 locate, and the question of who pays after a hit is covered in who is liable for a utility strike.
Digging Carefully in the Tolerance Zone
Getting the marks down is only half the job. The other half is digging carefully around them, because the marks are approximate, not exact.
- Marks are approximate. The paint shows the approximate horizontal path of a line, not its exact position and not its depth. A line could be anywhere within a band on each side of the mark.
- The tolerance zone. Near any mark, you slow down and switch from machine digging to careful hand-digging or vacuum excavation within the tolerance zone, the buffer that accounts for the marks being approximate.
- Depth is unknown. Do not assume a marked line is buried deep enough to dig over with a machine; lines settle and were not always installed at standard depths.
This is why a real excavation crew machine-digs up to the zone, then hand-digs in close to expose and confirm each line before continuing. The locate puts the lines on the map; the tolerance zone keeps the bucket off them. Respecting both is what makes the locate worth anything.
Current Market Reality
The locate request itself is free to the person digging. There is no cost table here because you do not pay for marking. What costs money is getting it wrong. A struck gas or fiber line can run from a few thousand dollars into the tens of thousands once you add emergency repair, restored service, and any penalty, and that exposure is uninsured if you dug without a valid locate.
The Bottom Line
Calling 811 before you dig is free, it is required by Oregon law, and it is the single cheapest thing you can do to avoid a catastrophic repair bill. Place the request, wait the notice period, respect the color-coded marks and the tolerance zone, and remember that private lines are still on you. A licensed contractor locates as a matter of routine. See our excavation services, read the Oregon excavation contractor guide for the full process, and request a free estimate.