Over the years, Pepper Construction, like most general contractors, has hit its share of underground utilities installed beneath jobsites. “That’s not a phone call the CEO of our company wants to get,” says Mike Alder, Virtual Construction Manager at Pepper’s office in Indianapolis.
These breaches have occurred despite standards and protocols that have been in place for decades to identify and avoid underground pipes, wiring, and cables. Pepper typically hires a public or private locating company—depending on who owns the land—that relies on a combination of schematics on record, what’s visible above ground, and what’s underground that can be tracked by certain equipment.
