Know the Colors
Utilities are marked in colors based on their type. Utility locators use a uniform color code system to mark utilities. Utilities can always be identified by their specific color, whether they are marked with paint, flags or both.
Tolerance Zone
Colorado law requires you to use reasonable care when digging within 18” of the marked utilities. This area is known as the tolerance zone and hand digging is required. Always use caution when digging near underground utilities.
Planning to Dig Soon?
- Contact 811 before you dig. Click online at co811.org or call 811.
- Wait the required time. Click or call 811 at least three business days before you plan on digging. This allows the utility locators to mark the underground lines.
- Respect and protect the marks. Marks are good, while visible up to 30 calendar days.
- Dig with care. Always exercise extreme care when digging near underground utilities.
Private Utilities
There may be private utilities within your dig area. Private utilities are owned by the property owner and therefore will not be marked with your request. It is the responsibility of the excavator to have private utilities located at expense of the property owner. To learn more and for a list of private locate companies in your area please click here.
Note: Private utility locates can range from $75 to $150, depending on
What Happens If I Don’t Contact 811?
If you do not contact Colorado 811 before you dig, you could cause damage to the environment, service outages, project delays or even injury to you or your community.
Emergency and Damage tickets cannot not be processed through this program. Call 811 for all Emergency and Damage tickets.
- Tips for using iDig811
- Property Lines
- Contact Info
- Dig Site Access
- Help
- iDig811 is for single address locate requests only. If you are trying to process point-to-point or intersections online, please email ticket@co811.org for assistance.
- When prompted to “Allow Location Services” in your browser, consider clicking “Yes” to improve the chances of a successful address look-up.
- Remember, the more complete the address entered, the more likely you are to get a successful result. For example, adding the city, street suffix (St, Cir, Blvd, Ave, etc.) and zip code to the street address will increase the likelihood of a successful ticket submission.
- Be sure to drop a “dig point” within the displayed property when mapping your dig area.
- If you are trying to process point-to-point or intersections online, please email ticket@co811.org for assistance.
- Reminder – tickets are released directly to the utility owners/operators without the review of Colorado 811 staff.
- iDig811 works well with Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Edge browsers as these browsers are fully HTML5 compatible. Other browsers not mentioned here that support full HTML5 compatibility will also work well with iDig811. iDig811 is an HTML5 web application that does not work with the Internet Explorer browser as Internet Explorer does not support all HTML5 features.
You are always required to call or notify Colorado 811 when any excavation occurs on your property. You have started the notification process. When you complete your request using iDig811, a notice is sent to utility owners who have gas, electric, cable TV, phone or other lines near your property.
You may have some utility lines inside of your property boundaries and those lines are called “private lines” or “private facilities”. You are responsible for being sure that the lines inside of your property boundaries are properly marked before excavation starts. Some of the utility companies Colorado 811 will notify regarding your pending excavation consider lines within your property boundaries to be “private utilities” and they will communicate that to you but only after you have completed your Colorado 811 form. Utility lines on your property such as propane lines to fire pits or grills are also considered private utilities and will not be marked by a utility company.
Do not use the services of a private locate company until you have submitted a request through Colorado 811 and have received confirmation that a ticket or notice of pending excavation has been generated by Colorado 811. You will receive a confirmation directly from Colorado 811.
There are companies who will mark the utility lines inside of your property boundaries but they do charge a fee for that service. Please CLICK HERE for a list of private locate companies. The failure to mark lines inside of your property boundaries and the cutting or damage to those lines can result in serious personal injury or death. You will be responsible for any damage to any lines on your property regardless of who marks the lines.
The party doing the actual excavation (Homeowner, Contractor, or Landscaper) must create a locate request in their name. Provided addresses and street names must be posted.
A valid email address must be provided, this email address will be used to send vital information regarding the request including a ticket confirmation. Markings are typically completed within three (3) business days after receiving an email confirmation.
The area to be marked must be completely accessible, free of locked gates and animals for three (3) business days from the date the email confirmation is received.
If your location could not be confirmed in our database. Please attempt your request with the correct street name and suffix. If the error continues, please contact Colorado 811 at ticket@co811.org to complete the processing of your request.
If you are trying to process point-to-point or intersections online, please email ticket@co811.org for assistance.