Standard locating is billed at $150/hr. Ground Penetrating Radar is billed at $150/hr with a 2 hour minimum, no-
tracer-wire all-plastic water pipe locating is $200/hr, using the extra large sewer reel to locate sewer mains is
$200/hr. Prevailing wage jobs are billed at a separate rate, please esquire for more information on locating at a
public works job.
For anything electrically conductive such as: power, most communication, and metal pipes; we need one end of
the utility to directly connect to in order to energize the utility with a signal that can be followed. This has to be
done individually to every utility to determine the path of that utility. So we either need to know where access to
a utility is or be able to see it while on site.
For lines that are not electrically conductive like plastic drains, storm, or sewer; a push rod/sewer scope has to be
pushed into the pipe from an accessible cleanout or otherwise usable access point and then the push rod can be
energized and located. The path can only be marked as far or where the push rod is able to access.
The normal rodder locator can’t go very far in pipes 6″ or larger in diameter, but we can go up to 200′ with a
camera locator in pipes 4″ and up to 400′ in smoothly swept conduits up to 4″. For pipes larger like storm or
sewer mains we can use a extra large rodder with prior notification and there we can locate pipes up to 24″ in
diameter for up to 300′ depending on how far we are able to push the locator beacon. All of these require good
access points to the drain opening. For drain pipes larger than 24” we can use a robot crawler unit to go up to
600’ however this requires 4 hours minimum on site and is billed at $250/hr, uninterrupted safe access to a
manhole is required to do this.
All plastic water pipes without tracer wire can sometimes be located acoustically by connecting a pressure
thumper to a hose bib or hydrant and following the noise create by that pressure wave a short distance. You can
learn more about this here: http://www.rushlocates.com/pipes/. This situations requires a fairly quite surrounding
and access to a working hose connection.
Locating buried water leaks can be done using ultrasonic listening tools and is billed at $350, this service
typically requires a quite surrounding and access to a connected host bib in the line as well as the need to turn off
the water at the meter during the search.
We have a very limited ability to perform a blind-scan which can detect power with an active load on it as well
as some shallow wires which rebroadcast terrestrial radio waves.
An electrical fault search to find a wire break, if the failing wire is electrically isolated at both ends and the path
between the ends is not paved, is $150/hr. So is thermal scanning with a FLIR camera.
GPR can sometimes find objects the normal tools cannot but it can only be used on a fairly flat and level ground.
It will find many things including things which are not utilities and can only note the location of an object. It can
typically find things roughly X inches in diameter for every X feet down, so that it can find a 2″ pipe at 1′ deep
and maybe at 2′ but not any deeper. It can be useful for finding some but not all buried pipes or buried metal
objects.
We have concrete scanning GPR which can be used to find rebar and post tension cables in concrete which is
$200/hr with a 2 hour minimum.
Any as-builts or utility maps you might be able to get would be helpful to us. If there is anyone on site who is
familiar with the facility who can assist us in accessing cleanouts and mechanical rooms or pipes that is helpful
as well.
We can also make a digital map of the utilities which requires a little more time on site. All appointments are
booked in advance and require 24 hours notice for cancellation or rescheduling.