Insurance to use my tractor to make money. Question?
- Thread starter LDowney
- Start date
In Kansas you call DIG SAFE and they locate. The contractor is required to hand dig 24" on each side of the mark. (Many folks who call for locates do not know this and the TV ads say nothing about it. You find out about it when you go to a DIG SAFE sponsored contractors meeting.)
Some folks believe the locator company can tell you the depth of a line. They many and they may not, but they are not libel for you hitting a line if they mis-inform you. Depth is the contractor's responsibility to discover.
Around here, the company doing the locates will contact the company owning the fiber optic. The representative of the fiber optic co. will be onsite until you located and cleared their line. They will take pictures of the hole for their records.
The contractor can cover his butt by taking pictures of the locate marks before any digging has begun. When you hit a line it becomes a difficult situation to say where the marks were if there is not a solid paint line in the dirt.
My advise to anyone with a digger of any kind, call locates even if you're installing a mail box post!! NEVER take a home owners, or anyone elses, word on where utilities are.
Some folks believe the locator company can tell you the depth of a line. They many and they may not, but they are not libel for you hitting a line if they mis-inform you. Depth is the contractor's responsibility to discover.
Around here, the company doing the locates will contact the company owning the fiber optic. The representative of the fiber optic co. will be onsite until you located and cleared their line. They will take pictures of the hole for their records.
The contractor can cover his butt by taking pictures of the locate marks before any digging has begun. When you hit a line it becomes a difficult situation to say where the marks were if there is not a solid paint line in the dirt.
My advise to anyone with a digger of any kind, call locates even if you're installing a mail box post!! NEVER take a home owners, or anyone elses, word on where utilities are.
Water company put new lines out the main highway several years back. And the contractor called the gas company the one call thing and they all came out and laid out the existing gas lines, I know this because an 12 inche line runs through the bottom of my field. Anyway after all the marks were laid out, the contractor started to dig, and found a live gas line 8 feet from where everybody said it was. A really good operator was working that day so it didnt get busted or punctured. Point is even the companies that own the lines cables, and the one call screws things up,, sometimes BIG TIME
skeets, you are so right!
I my years of contract digging I hit "gold" twice. Had called LOCATES both times. The utilities sometimes don't get the correct info. to the locate co. so they don't go a long ways in different direction to check because they are not directed that way.
I was burying a power line for a pole to a newly built home. The homeowner is a friend and has lived there 35 years. When the locate co. came they were on the other side of the road (a gravel road out in the country side) scanning for a line. He came out and told them it was on his side of the road. They disagreed. They kept arguing. Jerry finally said alright then mark it OK so we're clear.
I took pictures of the OK with a circle around it with the KCP&L flag in the ground. I actually hand dug about 6' out from the pole. Finally go tired and hopped on the trencher. Soon I saw the KCP&L boom truck coming down the road real slow.....
They had been down the road a couple of miles when they lost signal. Severed a pretty good size cable serving a couple of small towns.
They were going to have to call in their operators with a hoe to dig now to give them working room to splice. I told them I'd be glad to do it for them. So I pulled out of the trench and used my hoe to do what they wanted.
Never heard a word from anyone. But the guys there did show appreciation for helping them get back online asap.
I my years of contract digging I hit "gold" twice. Had called LOCATES both times. The utilities sometimes don't get the correct info. to the locate co. so they don't go a long ways in different direction to check because they are not directed that way.
I was burying a power line for a pole to a newly built home. The homeowner is a friend and has lived there 35 years. When the locate co. came they were on the other side of the road (a gravel road out in the country side) scanning for a line. He came out and told them it was on his side of the road. They disagreed. They kept arguing. Jerry finally said alright then mark it OK so we're clear.
I took pictures of the OK with a circle around it with the KCP&L flag in the ground. I actually hand dug about 6' out from the pole. Finally go tired and hopped on the trencher. Soon I saw the KCP&L boom truck coming down the road real slow.....
They had been down the road a couple of miles when they lost signal. Severed a pretty good size cable serving a couple of small towns.
They were going to have to call in their operators with a hoe to dig now to give them working room to splice. I told them I'd be glad to do it for them. So I pulled out of the trench and used my hoe to do what they wanted.
Never heard a word from anyone. But the guys there did show appreciation for helping them get back online asap.
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Ain't that the truthBetter yet leave everything and leave the country!
I worked for a fence company years ago down in florida. Guy working with me cut one I soon found out that the company had a rider policy on there insurance just for that purpose. One little line in a neighborhood, and it was major $$$$$$$When they built gramps house and were laying in the culvert, they had to have the fiber optic company come out and supervise the digging. There was a main trunk line under the ditch. As soon as they hit a certain depth, the guy said that was enough. Do not go any deeper!!!!! Guy mentioned to my dad it was around 150k $ to splice that one line. And went up from there
When those guys come out in their white jackets and set up their "tent" their clock is already turning.....and you do not want to see the bill!
I bought a landscaping policy with 2 million dollars of liability coverage. Costs me $400 per year. I also fully insure my Grand L 4060 with Erie for another $160 per year. Total policy $560 a year. Money well spent.
Tractor business is good. I'm working about 3 weeks out right now and it's still February. Never thought owning a tractor would be so profitable.
No. The services I provide with my tractor include bush hogging, garden rototilling, box blade, auger/post hole digging, and back filling. My policy covers me to dig up to 3 feet. Post holes are about the deepest I break the surface. Most of the time I only do 24" on those.
If you plan on digging at deeper depths with a backhoe, you may need an additional endorsement. Just like when we are forecasting snow here, I call my insurance guy and add snow removal to my policy for $2 per day. Once the weather clears and I'm done salting and pushing snow, I have him remove that endorsement.