Confirm the job location
Before any planning work begins, confirm the correct job location. Verify the address, parcel, entrance, work zone, and excavation limits. On larger sites, the mailing address may not describe the actual area where the work will happen.
If the crew will use an alley, service road, staging zone, or separate access point, include it in the planning record. Ground disturbance outside the original work area can require additional review.
Gather site plans and drawings
Collect the documents that explain the site. This can include owner drawings, civil plans, previous repair notes, utility sketches, drainage layouts, survey files, permits, photos, markups, and screenshots from approved sources.
The goal is not to prove that every line is known. The goal is to gather enough context to understand what may be present and what must be confirmed before excavation.
Research known underground lines
Review available information for underground utilities, drains, sewers, water services, gas, electric, communications, storm lines, private laterals, pipelines, and other infrastructure that could affect the excavation. Use the sources appropriate for the region and project type.
Look for conflicts with the planned excavation area. A route that looks far away on a high-level map may still matter if the work zone changes or if the record is approximate.
Identify high-risk areas
Flag areas where the information is incomplete, old, conflicting, or hard to interpret. Pay special attention to private service routes, older structures, additions, abandoned lines, crossings, and locations where several utilities may share a corridor.
High-risk does not always mean the job cannot proceed. It means the team should slow down, verify, and brief the crew before the work starts.
Request official locates
Request official utility locates through the required local process. This may involve a one-call service, dial-before-you-dig system, utility-owner coordination, private locate provider, or other regional requirement.
Track the request date, ticket or reference number, status, expiry, and any notes from the locate provider. If the project scope changes, confirm whether a new request is needed.
Document assumptions
Assumptions should be written down, not carried in someone's memory. If a record is approximate, a line is private, an owner drawing is old, or a field condition is unknown, record that clearly.
A short note can prevent a costly misunderstanding later. It also gives the crew a better reason to stop and ask questions if the site does not match the plan.
Share a crew-ready summary
Turn the research into a simple summary for the field. Include the work area, known risks, locate status, attached drawings, contact person, and stop-work triggers. Avoid burying important notes in long documents that are hard to scan.
A crew-ready summary should make the first conversation on site clearer. Everyone should understand what is known, what is uncertain, and what must be verified before ground disturbance.
Keep records after the job
After the job, keep the planning record, files, notes, locate references, and final report together. Future repairs, follow-up work, warranty issues, and similar projects all benefit from a clean record of what was reviewed.