Utility Research With AT&T

Sunburned_Surveyor · Post by **Sunburned_Surveyor** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:25 am

I'd like to know how my peers and mentors are handling AT&T facilities when they do underground utility mapping. On a recent topographic survey project AT&T told us they would charge $500 for their utility as-built information and they want us to sign a very strict non-disclosure agreement. I believe the strong terms in the non-disclosure agreement wouldn't let us show the utility facilities on our topographic survey, which sort of nullifies the point of obtaining the as-built plans.

This is a little irritating, as AT&T has their facilities located in the public right-of-way.

How are you handling this? Are you signing the non-disclosure agreement and paying the fee? If you do sign the non-disclosure agreement, do you show the AT&T facilities on your topo and distribute to your client? Do you simply inform the client that you won't include AT&T facilities in your survey product?

This is a city project, so I can have the city engineer put pressure on AT&T if I need to, but I wanted to see what other surveyors in California were doing first. I can't be the first person to deal with this issue.

Seems like an issue we may need to deal with at a professional society level...

Thanks for any advice or information.

Landon

RasterMaster · Post by **RasterMaster** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 11:13 am

No signature and no fee, go around them by having a utility locator locate the facility, and then show it on your plan.
Nearly all of the as-built information I have dealt with over the years have always been schematic like and not very accurate. Thus always using a Private utility locator by GPR or magnetic methoods, depends on the tolerance needed.

I am not sure of the extent of your work but $500.00 would pay for a good stretch of located utility.

land butcher · Post by **land butcher** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 11:29 am

RasterMaster wrote:No signature and no fee, go around them by having a utility locator locate the facility, and then show it on your plan.
Nearly all of the as-built information I have dealt with over the years have always been schematic like and not very accurate. Thus always using a Private utility locator by GPR or magnetic methoods, depends on the tolerance needed.

I am not sure of the extent of your work but $500.00 would pay for a good stretch of located utility.

I agree. My experience with underground utilities has resulted in the actual locations might be somewhere close to what the plans show. Underground utility locators are the best way to go. Many times electrical, phone, etc are not even in the easements they were granted.