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Terms of Service, Privacy Policy & Billing Structure

Terms of Service

 

Read this entire document carefully. Upon retaining our services, you are bound by and accept these terms and acknowledgements. This document is subject to change. We will make our best effort to notify you of any changes, however, it is your responsibility to read these terms and check for updates.

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The terms and topics covered here supersede all master service agreements, purchase orders, requests, or contracts entered between the client, excavator, and Know Before You Dig Locates LLC.

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By receiving an emailed copy of a locate report from Know Before You Dig Locates LLC, the client has read, acknowledges, and agrees to the following: 

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Client
A client is any person, partnership, corporation, public agency, agent, or other entity that is responsible for retaining services from Know Before You Dig Locates, LLC and/or it’s sub-contractors.

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Excavator
An excavator is any person, partnership, corporation, public agency, agent, or other entity that is responsible for carrying out a ground disturbance.
 
Ground Disturbance / Excavate
Ground disturbance or excavate means any work, operation, or activity on or under the existing surface resulting in a disturbance or displacement of the soil or ground cover. Ground disturbance or excavate can include, but are not limited to, the following: digging; excavation; trenching; ditching; tunnelling; boring/drilling/pushing; augering; topsoil stripping; land levelling/grading; plowing to install underground infrastructure; tree planting; clearing and stump removal; subsoiling; blasting/use of explosives; quarrying; grinding and milling of asphalt/concrete; seismic exploration; driving fence posts, bars, rods, pins, anchors, or pilling; and, crossing of buried pipelines or other underground infrastructure by heavy loads off the travelled portion of a public roadway.
 
Limit of Locate
The excavator must not work outside the indicated locate area without further locates by Know Before You Dig Locates LLC (subsequently referred to as Premier Locates).
 
Multiple Excavators
When a locate is being provided for more than one party working on the project, the person named on this locate report is considered to be acting on behalf of the excavator in accepting and ensuring the excavator receives a copy of this locate.
 
Validity of Locate
This locate is only valid for 60 days unless stated otherwise on the locate report. A re-mark of surficial markings placed on the site by Know Before You Dig Locates must be obtained prior to any excavation if: the date of excavation is past the validation period; markings become unclear, disappear, are disturbed or displaced; the sketch and site markings do not coincide; the work location has changed; and, if anything occurs which may indicate that a new, better, or different locate service is needed.
 
Ground Markings
If the markings disappear or are displaced or should sketch markings do not coincide with ground markings. The private locate is invalid and Know Before You Dig Locates must be contacted to either refresh the markings or fix any discrepancy.
 
Legal Requirements
You are required by law to have all buried public and private facilities located and marked in the vicinity of any work before performing any type of excavation or drilling activities. You must have valid public locates for your work area. Fines and penalties by public authorities can be given if working with expired locates.
 
Public Locates
Any public utility owned services (gas, telephone, cable tv, hydro, water, sewer, etc.) Within the limits of this locate and shown on this locate report. Are for reference only. These public facilities have been marked by others or marked by Know Before You Dig Locates with pink paint. Any buried facilities marked with pink within the locate area, are for survey purposes only, and require a public locate before excavating. It is the responsibility of the client to ensure and verify that the intended work are coincides with the work areas drawn or described on all public and private utility locate reports.
 
Scope of Work
The private locate report is based on information given at the time of the locate. Any changes to the location or scope of work requires a new locate report.
 
Building and/or Service Room Access
Some cables or pipes may not be detected or located if direct physical access to building service rooms is not provided at the time of the locate.
 
Physical Limitations
If there are any physical limitations at the site (i.e., snow-covered ground, parked cars, equipment, or materials, etc.) congesting the area to be located) the client is hereby made aware and acknowledges that some cables or pipes may not be detected or located if the locate area is not clear of these obstructions at the time of the locate.
 
Interior Locates
Due to building interferences, congestion, and hidden or inaccessible electrical conduits or pipes, some cables or pipes may or may not be detected with the equipment employed by Know Before You Dig Locates. Know Before You Dig Locates uses ground penetrating radar (GPR) with a 1000 Mhz antenna along with electromagnetic cable locate equipment while performing interior private locates. Sewer lines inside buildings may not be visible with GPR if they are deeper than 2 feet or are comprised of a material such as plastic or clay that are not visible to GPR.
 
Sanitary and Storm Sewers
Premier Locates employs CCTV cameras with built-in sondes to locate sewer lines provided: 
•    The client has requested to have the sewer lines traced
•    sewer drawings have been provided to Premier Locates from the private landowner or the landowner has notified Know Before You Dig Locates with the number of sewer lines, manholes and catch basins on the property
•    there is sufficient access to the sewer line that does not require confined space entry, and
•    the sewer line is on private property. 
If a manhole or catch basin is shown on a drawing or found during the locate, Know Before You Dig Locates will attempt to open and mark the invert direction if sewers were not requested to be traced. Only if instructed by the client, our Technicians will attempt to locate the sewer line using a CCTV camera with sonde. If Premier Locates is unable open a manhole or catch basin, determine the direction of the inverts, find the building cleanout or exit point, or locate the buried sewer line, it will be indicated as a limitation and noted on the locate report. The client also acknowledges that trunk sewer and water mains within easements on private property may not be detectable, are not the responsibility of Know Before You Dig Locates and require a public locate from the locate municipality directly or through Texas811. 
 
Underground Storage Tanks and Associated Equipment
Know Before You Dig Locates does not locate underground storage tanks or any associated equipment unless ground penetrating radar and/or an em61 time domain metal detector is employed at the time of the locate. The client also has been made aware of and acknowledges that any excavating or drilling within Know Before You Dig Locates defined critical areas (found in the member login area at www.premierlocates.ca) around any underground petroleum equipment and structures such as underground storage tanks (USTs) and fuel dispensers; and, within the area between USTs, pump dispensers and fuel kiosk, requires hand digging or soft digging with vacuum excavation equipment to expose the work area.
 
Utility Locate Limitations
The technologies employed by Know Before You Dig Locates to locate and mark buried facilities are compliant with ASCE Standard 38-22 Level B methods that are assigned to have a moderate risk. These geophysical methods are not 100% effective and cannot detect all buried services since there are too many variables that can work against the equipment and the operator. It may not be possible to absolutely "clear" regardless of the skill, effort, or technologies used by Know Before You Dig Locates. Locating methods used by Know Before You Dig Locates only helps reduce risk of striking a buried facility and does not eliminate the risk. If precise horizontal and vertical locations of buried facilities are needed, then ASCE standard 38-22 Quality Level A methods are recommended by this standard. Quality Level A methods involve the actual exposure of a facility by means of either hand digging or the use of vacuum excavation techniques. 

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Some cables or pipes may not be detectable or located accurately due to depth, lack of or malfunctioning tracer wires, material makeup, confined spaces, or inability to connect properly. This may be compounded by the lack of access or access too far from the area to be traced.

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The location and marking of buried facilities by the Know Before You Dig Locates locate technician for the client representative is for the convenience of that said applicant only and does not relieve said applicant, or any person or corporation, from liability for damages or personal injury including death to any person or for property damage caused to the said plant or to any other property. By reason of the said applicant, or any other person or corporation, having relied upon the location and marking of facilities by Know Before You Dig Locates.

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If there are any limitations noted on the locate report and/or site services checklist, the client accepting this locate report must inform all involved with the project of the limitation including and not limited to: all field staff; project managers; their client; and the property owner of the subject property. The property owner is ultimately responsible for their buried facilities and should have the final decision in how to excavate near their buried facilities if they cannot be accurately located and marked. Whomever accepts the limitation claims responsibility if a buried facility is damaged as a result of the limitation.

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The private utility locate prepared by Know Before You Dig Locates is for the use of the client. If the client provides the locate report to a sub-contractor for reliance, the sub-contractor must be given a copy of the locate report and notified of any limitations noted within the locate report.
 
The person accepting the private utility locate report, agrees that they fully understand all the information presented in the locate report, site services checklist, and client company acknowledgement.
 
Geophysics Technical Limitations
 
The interpretation of the geophysical data (from GPR) obtained during the investigation is intended for the guidance of the client only. Should this interpretation of the data be used during any subsequent programs, the user must be aware of the following interpretive restrictions:
 
The client acknowledges that the laws of fundamental physics apply and do not enable Know Before You Dig Locates locating equipment to detect all utilities, objects, features, and structures or to provide all coordinates of the position thereof. Pipe, cable, conduit, utilities, objects, features, or structures which are not detectable (i.e., not “locatable”) because of the laws of fundamental physics cannot be located by Premier Locates and are not the subject of the provision of the “service” pursuant to this contract.
 
The “service” provided to this contract is the location, laterally and longitudinally, of buried facilities, objects, features or structures and the subsequent marking of the site according to the standard subsurface utility locating industry practice. The depth and/or size of pipe, cable, conduits, utilities, objects, features and structures is recorded only if the client has requested prior to the start of the survey.
 
A “detectable feature” defined by a Know Before You Dig Locates geophysical investigation may consist of a cable, wire, pipe, conduit, structure, or other object contained within the subsurface. Differentiation between these types of features is not promised nor guaranteed. A feature is only detectable if the subsurface allows the GPR signal to propagate deep enough to define the feature. GPR penetration into the subsurface varies depending upon the subsurface conditions and is not controlled by the radar equipment or the technician’s ability. Limited penetration is caused by high-conductivity materials such as clay and silt soils and solids that are salt contaminated. Performance is also limited by signal scattering in heterogeneous conditions (e.g. rocky soils, large tree roots, construction debris etc.), snow, dissolved solids, moisture, voids, and features having a significant electromagnetic variance.
 
Accuracy of inferred buried detectable features will vary due to subsurface soil conditions and surface conditions (i.e. loose dirt, ice, salt, snow, tall grass, and water).
 
Areas considered to be inaccessible (an “inaccessible area”) for the service include, but are not limited to, the following: those of physically restricted access; those covered by a structure or object (i.e. building walls, vehicles, equipment, debris, stockpiles of material or snow etc.); those covered by open water; those covered by woods or vegetation too thick to permit easy walking; those with surfaces terrain slopes steeper than 1:3; and, those where the safety of the technician is jeopardized (i.e. unstable footing, environmental hazards, uncontrolled roads, etc.). The judgement of the Know Before You Dig Locates technician will prevail on accessibility decisions.
 
It is the responsibility of the client to provide direct and simple access free from surface objects to all survey areas. Know Before You Dig Locates accepts no responsibility for surveying in any areas where the client does not provide access and/or appropriate workplace safety measures. Areas considered to be inaccessible for scanning and marking, aside from restricted access, include the following, but not limited to: within 1.0 m of a structure or object (i.e. walls, vehicles, equipment, debris, stockpiles of materials, etc.).
 
Limits of Know Before You Dig Locates LLC Liability
 
Any information provided by Know Before You Dig Locates regarding the location of underground utility infrastructure using electromagnetic locate equipment and GPR, does not substitute for a full private utility locate performed by Know Before You Dig Locates. The service is provided to assist with excavation planning only. The client is always responsible for obtaining sanctioned locates from the owners of underground plant such as electric cables, natural gas, any type of pipeline, telecommunications, cable tv, fibre-optic cables, water, sewer, oil, steam, etc. The client must contact the utility owners directly, or their call center, to facilitate these locates.
 
Know Before You Dig Locates marking of underground features is only for the convenience of the client, and this does not relieve the client, or any other person, or corporation, from liability for damages for person injury including death, or for property damage or liability caused to or from any underground utility, within the area on the property where the underground utility and/or clearance was marked, or any other property, by reason of the client, its representatives, or any other person, or corporation having relied upon the surface marking provided by Premier Locates.
 
Know Before You Dig Locates is not liable for damages resulting from physical exposure of any underground features by the client, its representatives, their sub-contractors or any other person or corporation.
 
The service completed by Know Before You Dig Locates is based on information provided by the client at or prior to the earlier of the time when the service is described in this contract or the performance of the service. The service provided by Know Before You Dig Locates regarding the location of any underground utility, object, or structure, is on a best effort and best practices basis.
 
A re-mark of surficial markings placed on the site by Premier Locates must be obtained prior to any excavation if:
•    markings become unclear, disappear, are disturbed, or displaced;
•    the sketch and site markings do not coincide;
•    the work location has changed;
•    If a mistake by the Know Before You Dig Locates Technician is identified;
•    if anything occurs which may indicate that a new or better or different locate service is needed.
 
If the client excavates outside the limit of locate area, Know Before You Dig Locates accepts no responsibility.

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The client warrants that Know Before You Dig Locates is not liable for any claims for damages to any underground facility where Know Before You Dig Locates was not notified of such damage forthwith, such that Know Before You Dig Locates can complete a damage investigation to physically view any such damaged underground facility whether any such damage may be attributed to errors or omissions committed by Know Before You Dig Locates in performing the work. 
 
Know Before You Dig Locates shall not be liable for any amount more than the fees paid by the client to Know Before You Dig Locates for the service on account of any loss, injury, death, or damage whether resulting directly or indirectly to a person or property irrespective of the cause or origin of such loss, injury, death, or damage including, without limitation, loss, injury, death or damage attributable to the negligence of Premier Locates, its employees and agents in the performance or non-performance of the service.

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Privacy Policy

We receive, collect, and store any information you enter on our website or provide us in any other way. In addition, we collect the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; login; e-mail address; password; computer and connection information and purchase history. We may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page. We also collect personally identifiable information (including name, email, password, communications); payment details (including credit card information), comments, feedback, product reviews, recommendations, and personal profile.

 

When you conduct a transaction on our website or contact us using the embedded methods, as part of the process, we collect personal information you give us such as your name, company name, address, and email address. Your personal information will be used for the specific reasons stated above only.

 

We collect such Non-personal and Personal Information for the following purposes:

 

  • To provide and operate the Services;

  • To provide our Users with ongoing customer assistance and technical support;

  • To be able to contact our Visitors and Users with general or personalized service-related notices and promotional messages;

  • To create aggregated statistical data and other aggregated and/or inferred Non-personal Information, which we or our business partners may use to provide and improve our respective services;

  • To comply with any applicable laws and regulations.

 

Our company is hosted on the Wix.com platform. Wix.com provides us with the online platform that allows us to sell our products and services to you. Your data may be stored through Wix.com’s data storage, databases and the general Wix.com applications. They store your data on secure servers behind a firewall.

 

We may contact you to notify you regarding your account, to troubleshoot problems with your account, to resolve a dispute, to collect fees or monies owed, to poll your opinions through surveys or questionnaires, to send updates about our company, or as otherwise necessary to contact you to enforce our User Agreement, applicable national laws, and any agreement we may have with you. For these purposes we may contact you via email, telephone, text messages, and postal mail.

 

If you don’t want us to process your data anymore, please contact us at support@knowbeforeyoudig.com or send us mail to: 18208 Preston Road, Suite 346, Dallas, Texas, 75252, USA. 

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We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

 

If you would like to: access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, you are invited to contact us at support@knowbeforeyoudig.com or send us mail to: 18208 Preston Road, Suite 346, Dallas, Texas, 75252, United States of America.

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Billing Structure & Fees

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You are requesting a paid service.

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Your cost estimate and job will be billed as per the following criteria:

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  • Our hourly rate is $175 per hour with a 4-hour minimum charge.

  • Our Utility Locate Technicians (ULTs) will have the following equipment at each project:

    • Electromagnetic Cable Locate Equipment (Vivax Vloc3)​

    • Ground Penetrating Radar (GSSI)

    • Sewer Camera with Sonde (Vivax) (add an additional equipment and cleaning charge fee of $200 per site)

  • We charge round trip travel from our closest office to your work site. 

  • We cannot control vehicle traffic, and if we are mobilizing during rush hour times, travel time may increase. 

  • Our minimum charge is 4-hours for each project. However, if you have multiple sites, we charge hourly and charge in 4 hour blocks. 

  • If your work site requires mor time to complete than originally estimated, we will notify you before we work the additional time. 

  • Please ensure you are prepared for our Technicians arrival at the scheduled time as our standby rate is billed as regular time. 

  • Due to the unique nature of every work site, we cannot guarantee results beyond those outlined in our terms of service. Please read our Private Utility Locate Guideline to learn more about our private locate process. Our Damage Prevention Consultants / Utility Locate Technicians are happy to speak to you f you need help requesting private locates for the first time. 

  • For new customers or those that have not established credit with our firm, we will not deliver the locate report until full payment is received.  

 

  • Know Before You Dig Locates LLC is not affiliated with Texas 811 and does not provide "no-fee" services. To comply with the law, you must also submit an Texas811 request for your project through their online submission portal. 

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