Why grinding triggers the locate law
North Carolina General Statute 87-115 defines excavation as any operation that moves earth, and grinding wheels routinely dip 8 to 18 inches below grade. A single hit on a live gas service can kill a crew and level a house. The locate ticket is not paperwork; it is why you are not on the news.
The five-step process
Step 1. File the ticket. We call NC 811 or file online with your address, the work area, and the intended start date. You do not touch this.
Step 2. Wait three business days. The utilities have 72 business-hour hours to respond. If your quote lands on a Monday morning, the ticket is usually complete by Thursday.
Step 3. Read the paint. Locators leave a color-coded map on your yard: red is electric, yellow is gas, orange is communications, blue is potable water, green is sewer, and white is the pre-marked work area we defined on the ticket.
Step 4. Grind inside the tolerance zone. State law says machine excavation must stay 18 inches clear on either side of a marked line. Inside that band the contractor works by hand or does not work at all.
Step 5. Document. We photograph the finished grind with any remaining marks visible so the ticket record shows we stayed within bounds. The paint fades on its own in a week or two.
Private utilities are still on you
NC 811 covers public utilities only. Irrigation lines, invisible dog fences, landscape lighting, private wells, propane runs from a yard tank, and drain lines are not on the map. If you have any of them, tell us on the quote form so we can flag them ourselves. If you cannot remember whether the previous owner installed an irrigation zone, we grind conservatively around the likely paths and stop the moment we hit anything that is not soil.
What happens if a mark crosses the stump
Old cable television runs sometimes tunnel right under a stump because the tree was planted after the utility went in. When that happens we call the utility, request a re-mark or a temporary shutoff, and grind around the line. The line is not our problem to move. The homeowner keeps their service, we keep our machine, and nobody explains an outage to the neighborhood.
None of this costs you extra. The locate ticket is included in every quoted grind. See how much does stump grinding cost for the full quote breakdown.