Your utility locate tickets expire on a clock that does not match the length of the job.
Utility locating is the process by which an excavator notifies a one call centre before digging, facility owners mark their buried lines, and the resulting locate ticket authorises the work for a limited period. It is governed by state law rather than federal rule, so the notice period, the ticket life, the response window and the marking standard all differ by jurisdiction. The ticket is the permission, and it expires.
Neurobird Utility Locating 811 Ticket in short
- Track ticket expiry against the planned duration of the dig, and prompt renewal before it lapses.
- Record which utilities responded and which are still outstanding before a crew breaks ground.
- Log remark requests when markings become unclear, since the marks are the working evidence.
- 21 calendar days A standard locate ticket expires after 21 calendar days, which is why long running projects need renewal or a large project arrangement. Georgia Rules 515-9-4
- 24 hours The locator or utility must be available within 24 hours and respond in that time so the site is marked or existing marks confirmed. Georgia Rules 515-9-4
- Pricing runs 130 to 680 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
What excavation contractors and utility locators actually deal with
Why it stays broken
One call obligations are administered per state and per ticket, while construction is managed per project. A long project outlives many tickets, each with its own expiry, its own set of responding utilities and its own marking condition on the ground. Project software tracks the schedule. It does not track which authorisation is currently valid for the trench being dug today.
21 calendar days is how long a standard locate ticket lasts in Georgia, which is why long projects need renewals or a large project arrangement.
Duct structures marked in excess of 36 inches in total will require the underground facility notify the excavator and identify the size of the marked.
What the numbers say about utility locating
Every figure here is a deadline or a duration. Digging is the easy part; staying inside the authorisation is the work.
A standard locate ticket expires after 21 calendar days, which is why long running projects need renewal or a large project arrangement.
Georgia Rules 515-9-4The locator or utility must be available within 24 hours and respond in that time so the site is marked or existing marks confirmed.
Georgia Rules 515-9-4State law requires a locate ticket before mechanised excavation begins, with defined exceptions.
Georgia Rules 515-9-4Before breaking ground an excavator should review the ticket to confirm every utility has responded by marking the site or clearing the ticket.
North Carolina Department of LaborNeurobird Utility Locating 811 Ticket Dispatch Platform
Hold the ticket, its responding utilities and its expiry against the excavation it authorises, so work never outruns its permission.
- 1Track ticket expiry against the planned duration of the dig, and prompt renewal before it lapses.
- 2Record which utilities responded and which are still outstanding before a crew breaks ground.
- 3Log remark requests when markings become unclear, since the marks are the working evidence.
- 4Keep the ticket history against the site, because a strike investigation asks for exactly that.
What changes with Neurobird Utility Locating 811 Ticket?
The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.
| Today | With Neurobird Utility Locating 811 Ticket |
|---|---|
| A job runs on longer than the ticket and excavation continues under an authorisation that expired weeks ago | Track ticket expiry against the planned duration of the dig, and prompt renewal before it lapses. |
| Nobody checks whether every single affected utility has actually responded before the crew breaks ground | Record which utilities responded and which are still outstanding before a crew breaks ground. |
| Marks are disturbed by weather or by traffic and work carries on against paint that no longer means anything | Log remark requests when markings become unclear, since the marks are the working evidence. |
Who is this for?
Three ways a properly ticketed job becomes an unticketed one.
The ticket outlived by the job
Georgia's rules acknowledge that excavators on projects lasting months find it cumbersome to have a locate ticket expire after 21 calendar days and to reapply for renewal. The alternative is a large project arrangement with a negotiated marking schedule, which has to be set up deliberately.
Responding inside the window
The locator or utility must be available within a defined period and respond inside it so the site is marked or existing marks confirmed. Tracking which tickets are approaching that window is the whole job on a busy day.
Notifying as soon as possible
Ohio requires an excavator beginning an emergency excavation to make every effort to notify a protection service, before starting or as soon as possible after. The protection service then provides a reference number and the list of utilities notified, which is the record worth keeping.
See it work
A short walk through a ticket from notice to expiry.
Drag a job onto a supervisor to assign it.
How does Neurobird Utility Locating 811 Ticket work?
Notify
A ticket is raised for the excavation and recorded against the site, with its expiry date visible to the crew rather than buried in a confirmation email.
Confirm marking
Responses from each affected facility owner are tracked, so ground is only broken once the site is marked or the ticket cleared.
Maintain
Long jobs renew before expiry, and remarks are requested when conditions degrade the markings rather than after a line is hit.
Utility locating 811 ticket software questions, answered
Key terms
- What is an 811 locate ticket?
- It is the record created when an excavator notifies the one call centre before digging. The centre passes the notice to the facility owners with buried plant in the area, who then mark their lines or confirm they have none. The ticket authorises the excavation for a limited period and identifies which utilities were notified. Because it expires, it is better thought of as a temporary permission than as a completed formality.
How long does a locate ticket last?
It depends on the state. In Georgia a standard ticket expires after 21 calendar days, and the rules explicitly acknowledge that excavators on projects lasting months or years find repeated reapplication cumbersome. For those cases a large project ticket can be used, with a negotiated written agreement setting out the schedule for marking the project. That arrangement has to be established deliberately rather than assumed.
What has to happen before breaking ground?
Every affected utility must have responded, either by marking the site or by clearing the ticket. Guidance is direct about reviewing the ticket to confirm this before digging. If weather or site conditions later make the markings unclear, a remark should be requested before work continues, because the paint on the ground is the working evidence of where the lines are.
What about emergency excavation?
The duty does not disappear, it moves. Ohio requires an excavator beginning an emergency excavation to make every effort to notify a protection service before starting, or as soon as possible afterwards. The protection service then provides a reference number and a list of the utilities notified. That reference number is the only proof the emergency was handled properly.
Is the software available now?
No. It is in development and open for early access. We are building the ticket and expiry model with contractors who run long jobs across more than one state.
Why we are building this
A locate ticket is a permission with a shelf life, and almost nothing in construction software treats it that way.
Projects are planned in weeks and months. Tickets expire in days. Somewhere in the middle a crew is digging against paint that was sprayed under an authorisation that has since lapsed, and nobody has done anything obviously wrong.
So we are tracking the authorisation rather than the project. The Neurobird Team is starting with contractors running long jobs, because that is where the mismatch actually bites.
Where the requirement comes from
Primary sources, straight from the regulators.
- Georgia Rules 515-9-4, enforcement under the Underground Facility Protection Act Ticket life, large project arrangements and locator response duties.
- Ohio Revised Code 3781.29 Marking standards, emergency excavation notice and protection service duties.
- Maryland MOSH, safe digging State occupational safety guidance on excavation near buried facilities.
- North Carolina Department of Labor, call before you dig Practical excavation steps around the ticket and the markings.
How much does Neurobird Utility Locating 811 Ticket cost?
Early access pricing, held for the first 12 months for contractors who help shape the build.
Get free early access
We want site supervisors who have had a ticket expire mid trench.
Straight answer on where this is: The software is unfinished. Ticket records, expiry warnings and response tracking work. There is no direct one call centre integration and state profiles are limited.
Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.