Okie811 locate rules before a Tulsa concrete job

A concrete job looks like surface work, but the first day is mostly digging: stripping sod, cutting the grade, trenching an edge, drilling post holes for a patio roof. Every one of those steps can reach a buried line, and the state's one-call law sits between the plan and the machine. This note works through what that law says about a driveway, patio or walk, using the statute text and the one-call center's own pages, retrieved November 8, 2026.

The call itself

The statewide notification center is Okie811. Its I Want To Dig page says to dial 811 or 1 (800) 522-OKIE (6543), and the homeowners page calls the service safe, free and the law, retrieved November 8, 2026. The same page says that contacting Okie811 starts the process of getting the approximate location of underground lines marked at no charge. Nobody has to pay a locator to learn where the utility companies' own lines run.

That free marking has limits, and most of the surprises on a concrete job live in them. The marks are approximate, they cover the companies' lines and not the owner's, and they expire. The sections below take those limits in turn.

Does a concrete job count as excavation?

The Oklahoma Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Act, in the version Okie811 labels as in effect since November 1, 2025, defines excavating as digging, compressing or removing earth by mechanized equipment or blasting, and lists augering, backfilling, boring, drilling, grading, trenching and plowing among the activities, retrieved November 8, 2026. A skid steer cutting a new subgrade is grading. A mini excavator trenching for a thickened edge is trenching. An auger drilling for a post is augering.

Two carve-outs matter to a homeowner. Tools moved only by human power are outside the definition, except inside a private or public easement or right-of-way. An individual excavating on his or her own property who is not in the excavating business for hire is also outside it, with the same easement and right-of-way exception. Neither describes a paid crew with machines. The homeowners page lists planting trees, installing decks, digging for patios, replacing a mailbox and landscaping among the projects that call for a request, so the safe reading for a household is to place one whenever the ground will be disturbed.

Whose call it is

When a contractor does the digging, the call belongs to the contractor. The homeowners page says that if you hire someone, it is the contractor's responsibility to contact 811 at least three business days before digging, and it suggests asking for the locate ticket number to confirm the notice was made. The excavators page goes further and says it is not the responsibility of the client to request the one-call notification.

That makes the ticket number a good line in any bid. When you compare quotes for a new drive on the concrete driveways page, or for a slab with roof posts on the concrete patios page, ask each bidder who enters the request, on what day, and for which parts of the lot. Section 142.6 of the act lists what a notice has to carry: the name of the person serving it, the location of the work, the excavator's name, address and phone, a field contact who knows the site, the type and extent of the work, whether explosives are expected, and the date and time work begins. The extent of the work on a single notice may not exceed 500 linear feet in an incorporated area.

Accuracy on the ticket decides what gets marked. A request that names only the front yard will not bring marks for the side strip where the new walk will run. Walk the lot with the contractor and agree on the whole footprint, including any area where the old slab will be removed and the soil beneath it regraded.

How much notice, and for how long

The published numbers are not all the same, so it helps to see them side by side. Each row comes from a page read for this note.

Notice figures on the Okie811 pages and in the act. Retrieved November 8, 2026.

What	Figure	Where it is printed
Notice in the act	48 hours, not counting the day of notice, Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays	Section 142.6
Homeowner and excavator guidance	3 business days before digging	Homeowners, excavators
Another line on the dig page	2 business days, stated for excavators	I Want To Dig
Earliest a request may be scheduled	Up to 10 business days before the start date	Okie811 home page
Life of a notice	14 calendar days from the start date	Section 142.6

For a concrete job, plan on the longest of those figures. A request entered on a Friday cannot support a Monday start, because the day of notice, Saturday and Sunday do not count toward the 48 hours. Okie811 lists its 2026 holidays on every page, and the remaining ones this year are Thanksgiving Day on November 26, the day after on November 27, Christmas Eve on December 24 and Christmas Day on December 25. A request meant to cover a pour in a holiday week should go in early.

The 14-day life matters when weather moves a pour. The act says a notice expires 14 calendar days from the excavation start date and that no excavation may continue after that unless a new notice has been submitted. The home page adds a warning against submitting too early, so that markings do not expire before work begins. A crew that strips the grade on Monday and waits out three rainy weeks for the pour should ask whether the ticket is still alive before the next machine moves. The notes on curing in Oklahoma heat and cold and on drainage and runoff explain why Tulsa pours slip.

Reading the marks

Utilities mark with paint and flags in the American Public Works Association color code, which the excavators page prints, retrieved November 8, 2026. A few colors cover most of a residential lot.

Uniform color code as listed by Okie811. Retrieved November 8, 2026.

Color	Marks
White	The proposed excavation
Pink	Temporary survey markings
Red	Electric power lines, cables and conduit
Yellow	Gas, oil and steam
Orange	Communication, alarm and conduit
Blue	Potable water
Purple	Reclaimed water, irrigation and slurry lines
Green	Sewer and drain lines

The statute prints its own color table, and it differs in one detail: it lists slurry systems with blue, where the excavators page lists them with purple. Read a flag against the ticket and not against memory. What the marks mean is a strip, not a line. The act defines the approximate location of a facility as a strip two feet on either side, and it expects the excavator to use hand-dug test holes to find the precise position before digging.

Okie811's four steps for homeowners say the same thing in plain words: contact, wait, confirm that every facility operator listed on the ticket has responded, and respect the marks. The tolerance rule is to hand dig only within 24 inches of the marks until the line is exposed, and to keep the marks in place for the whole project. The act adds that powered equipment may not run directly over marked routes until the precise location is known, with one exception that suits demolition work: removal of pavement or masonry, and only to the depth of that pavement or masonry. A breaker may go through an old four-inch driveway over a marked line. The base below it is dirt, and dirt is excavation.

An operator that has no facilities in the area must tell the excavator so, and the act asks the excavator to check for a positive response before digging. A ticket with an operator still silent is not finished. The center's I Need Something Else page points to a locate request concerns form for a ticket that seems stuck, and it says not to use that form to start a new request.

The lines nobody marks

The line that does the most damage under a patio or drive is often the one outside the free service. The homeowners page says private utilities, typically between the meter and a building, are not owned by utility companies and may not be marked, especially where meters sit at the curb. Its list of unmarked lines includes sewer lines, private lighting, sprinklers, fire mains, secondary electric lines to detached garages and pools, and septic lines. It adds that property owners are responsible for the cost of locating and protecting these lines, and that plumbing companies and private locating firms do the work.

On a concrete job that list maps onto real places. A widened drive can cross the lateral that feeds a detached garage. A new patio can cover the sprinkler line to the back bed or the cable to a yard light. Before the contractor arrives, mark what you know: the sprinkler valve box, the sewer cleanout, any light or outlet in the yard. If you cannot say where a private line goes, hiring a private locator before the pour costs less than rerouting a line under finished concrete.

The homeowners page also warns that utility companies often bury lines along property lines, which is where a side-yard walk or a drive widening usually goes, and says to hand dig around service pedestals and meters.

Easements, the street and the City permit

Section 142.2 of the act removes the hand-tool exception inside a private or public easement or right-of-way. That is the strip where a driveway approach and the public sidewalk sit, so even shovel work there is excavation under the act. The City's right-of-way permit form, dated July 10, 2025, has a line the contractor initials promising to pot-hole all utilities after using OKIE locate at 1-800-522-6543 under the 1991 act, retrieved November 8, 2026. The permit fee, bond and inspection call are in the driveway permit note, and the sidewalk repair note follows the same call through a public walk.

If markings show up on your own property and you did not order work, the center's page says activity is likely taking place inside a utility easement and asks that all markings stay in place until the work is complete. Its public dashboard lets you search by street to see locate activity nearby, which is a quick way to learn why flags appeared.

If a line is hit

The act requires the excavator who causes damage to notify the operator and the notification center immediately. Where the damage endangers life, health or property, anyone responsible for the work must keep sources of ignition away, protect the public and minimize the hazard until the operator or police or fire officials arrive. Backfilling around the damaged line waits until it is repaired, unless the operator allows otherwise. Okie811's own guidance is shorter: stop digging, contact the facility owner and submit a damage ticket through 811.

On cost, section 142.9a says an excavator who damages or cuts an underground facility by negligently failing to follow the act, or by not protecting it, is liable to the operator for the repair. A request skipped to save two days is therefore the expensive path. Ask the contractor to show the ticket, and keep the number with your contract papers.

The order that works

1. Walk the lot. Agree with the bidder on every area that will be dug, graded or cut, and mark private lines you know of.
2. Put the ticket in the contract. Name who enters the request and ask for the ticket number once it exists.
3. Enter it early. Count three business days at least, add holidays, and avoid a request so early that it expires.
4. Check responses. Every operator on the ticket should have marked, answered on the ticket or told the contractor directly.
5. Keep the marks. Hand dig within 24 inches until lines are exposed, and renew the ticket if the job runs past 14 days.
6. Pour. Only then do forms, base and concrete follow. The quote form sends your measurements and your questions about locates to an independent local contractor, who calls back to confirm the scope and the price.

Official sources

• Okie811, Oklahoma Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Act (63 O.S. 142.1 to 142.13)
• Okie811, homeowners
• Okie811, excavators
• Okie811, I want to dig
• Okie811, I need something else
• Okie811, home page
• City of Tulsa, Right of Way Minor Construction Permit Application, July 10, 2025

Sources checked November 8, 2026.