Oh to be young again........

[wroughtn_harv]

I live in a subdivision surrounded by country. The goats and chickens are less than a half mile away at the shop. But the area is growing, I mean growing.

We got a new neighbor this week. The old neighbor was a neat guy who did great bodywork. We did some trading and got along just fine.

The new neighbor is a young couple, thirtyish and he appears to know it all.

The place is about six or seven years old. It's never had a complete fence around the back yard. So he decides to put one in, nothing to it.

First thing, no permit from the city. That's just a little thing unless you don't do it. Then it's a big thing.

Second thing, he cuts the cable tv. Of course he didn't get any locates. He's actually lucky. There's telephone, electric, and gas right there too.

I stopped and talked to him today to find out how hard the cable company was talking about hitting him. He let me know he wasn't worried because their cable was on the property line and it was their fault.

I told him to order the cable and not to even consider DISH or Direct tv. He is looking at my best guess a seven to eight thousand dollar hickey. Maybe if he kisses their butts and orders the maximum system and signs a long term contract they might play nice.

If you're going to dig a hole deeper than six inches call the locating company and have them alert the utilities. Times are hard for the utilities right now. They're looking for saving every penny in expense and grabbing every opportunity for revenue.

My new neighbor just caused them considerable expense and that doesn't include replacing the damaged cable, that's just for the tempory service patch. They now have the opportunity to have him pay for not only fixing it but they get a handling fee for their trouble.

I'd estimate three hundred and fifty feet hand digging to replace the cable at ten dollars or so a foot. Power equipment is out because of the telephone, power, and gas. Two twenty four foot bores and fifteen dollars a foot for the driveways. Then there's the cost of the cable and the labor to install it. Let's not forget the grass has to be replaced and the city will want to charge for a permit because it is on city property and there will be a city inspection.

Call your utility locator service before you dig. The property line is only about where you can put the fence. The easement for utilities is about where you put the posts.

If you call for a locate and you hit it they might not get ugly, stuff happens. If you don't call and you hit something you've shown the ultimate disrespect for them and their property. There's a difference between stuff and stupid rude. They know it.

A sprinkler contractor the other day cut four buried drops to a temporary trailer. SBC billed him two thousand dollars for the repair. Two thousand dollars!!!!!!

Call before you dig.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I kind of went overboard the other way. The property I have has no natural gas, no municipal water or sewage and no cable. The electric comes in overhead on poles along the drive to a transformer and from there to my building (also overhead). Regardless of knowing all of this, I still called the locator people before I did any digging. They told me what I already knew and I still had them send me something by fax confirming our conversation.

I couldn't imagine there would be anything buried anywhere near where I was going to dig, but on that 1% chance I'd be wrong, I thought it was worth the call. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[r0GuE]

I work for a phone company and let me tell you that you are right on the money expense-wise. We are in tight times with lack of new orders etc. There is no way we would eat the cost of a crew of men and equipment for a day or two. Even if he wanted to sign a long term contract. Loaded cost for line men is WAY high.

 

[ScottAR]

He does know it all...

He knows that utilities usually have an easement of 5-10 feet on a property line and put their services whereever they want inside the lines. (here at least)

He knows they'll come out and find em for ya for free if you plan ahead a day or two.

yup a good head on that one... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Taylortractornut]

Harv that neighbor sounds like my newest neighbors. Cant tell em anything. My older brother is often used by a company to dig on fiberoptic and gas lines for Level 3 Communications here. The city of COrinth a few miles from here had there workers out one morning putting up some kind of decorations that had anchors mad from a plate welded to a peice of rebar, He stopped on his way to his normal employer to let the city workers know they were in an area of a fiber optic line. They let him know that they knew every thing abut that city and that it was a 1/2inch line and was in a 5 foot wide area what are the chances. Well brother got a called to action they drove the 1/2 inch spikes into the lines in 4 places. I cant think of what it cost the city but one bill was 280 000 and they got a few more. The first example of the cost of fiber optics i saw was Level 3's line ran next to the sewer pipes, they had concerns that on such a long bor that underground debris might mis direct the boring head. THe city only gave them the one place beside the line and the boring tool went tright in the sewer. Rather than dig it up they left it in there and put in new sewer lines around the mess up. I learned along time ago it pays to listen to the more experienced, it where i learned from plus what mistakes i make.

 

[alco141]

as my departed father lectured me many years ago "son, it cost you money to learn" and "if you arent smart you better be rich and tough"

looks like your neighbor will find out about what an underground line replacement will cost. i guess you should talk to him in a couple of weeks to see what he has to say after the work is all done. he will probabley have some new knowledge to share with you.

alex

 

[knucklehead]

I think it's especially funny that the subject is fences. Guess he really doesn't know who he lives next to, yet, huh? What's he digging with, Dubya-Harv?

When we moved in 17 years ago, we called the town sewer office because of the manhole in the back yard - never had one before & wanted to know about the care n' feedin' of it. We got a really nice plan and elevation drawing through the mail. They have always been very polite when they needed to do some maintenence, and even were going to come up the ROW over a few hundred yards of rough ground until we told them to go across the back yard. When they did some ROW clearance, they did a super job and left very little mess. We always talk to them and joke around about setting up ice fishing traps over the hole, or painting the cover yellow with a smiley face (still want to do that).

Same deal when the roadside distribution lines where being cut back. The crew did a great job and even shaped around the back side of our maple tree to even it up (we didn't announce who we worked for, either). They left all the larger wood along the road in an accessable place when they found out we burned wood, instead of chipping it. Same deal again with the town codes officer, water district, the cable installer, and the town snowplow guy - he got a kick out of me measuring his wing to set my mailbox above it, and since then we've gotten a little cleaner job on that side, and much less banking damage on the house side.

Maybe, Harv, you can make a little difference in the world by helping Einstein along a little over time. Not a job I'd volunteer for...but there he is, right next door. I got one, too, only he's 40 years older than me. Knows absolutely everything, has since his teens, still manages to inform everyone. Lost all his friends; relatives don't visit, family moved several states away. Makes me sad, until I get another dose of why.

It's all about who's first in their own eyes, and people get treated accordingly. I guess that point doesn't need to be made here, from my experience so far.