811 doesn't mark the line you're most likely to hit.
Here's what almost nobody tells you: 811 locates public utilities only. Your private sewer lateral and your septic lines — the pipes crossing exactly where the deck, driveway, or addition is going — are yours to find. That's what we do.
Public lines get marked. Yours don't.
When you call 811, utility companies come mark their lines — power, gas, water, telecom — up to the edge of your property or the meter. Everything past that point is private, and private lines are more than 60% of the buried infrastructure on a typical lot. Your sewer lateral runs from the house all the way to the city main or septic tank, right through the yard you're about to dig in — unmarked.
North Idaho adds its own wrinkle: Idaho's Dig Line service doesn't even cover the five northernmost counties, so the public-side process here confuses locals and newcomers alike. The private side isn't confusing — it's just on you.
Hit your own lateral with an auger and you own the repair: commonly $2,000–$25,000, sometimes far more. A locate costs a fraction of the first hour of that dig.
One scope note, so there's no confusion: we locate sewer and septic lines. For water, gas, or electrical locating, call the appropriate utility or a general private-locate outfit.
What a locate gets you
- ✓The line traced with a Ridgid Scout locator — path AND depth
- ✓Painted, flagged, or marked to your (or your contractor's) specification
- ✓Marked-up site photos delivered so the marks outlive the weather
- ✓Septic tanks and lines located — including "we honestly don't know where it is" situations
- ✓Bundle with a scope and know the line's condition while we're at it
Projects that hit sewer lines every year in North Idaho: decks and deck footings · fences · driveways and concrete flatwork · shops and garages · additions and ADUs · irrigation and landscaping · tree planting and stump pulls.
If it involves a shovel, an auger, or an excavator — locate first.
Dig date on the calendar?
Get the line located this week — and dig like you know exactly where it is. Because you will.