CRAPPY locator service!!!!!!! I swear these guys are getting worse by the day! Crew calls on Monday last week. Requests pin flags. Nothing Tuesday or Wednesday. beeper jockey calls Thursday At noon says he'll mark it that day. That's nice since the crew works 4-10s ....crew goes out Monday. Nothing. No flags, no tracks in the snow, no sign of activity around the telpeds, even on bare ground under tree cover. Crew calls on the ticket. Well they said they marked it. Do you want a new ticket? Last year we were working a corridor and the outfit would only Mark 1000 feet a week... And wanted a separate ticket for each 1000.... Rassen frassennnnn... Git of my lawn!!!! (R/w)
We use to "depend" on an outfit named "SMP" for locates. I figured it stood for "simple minded people". I don't know who does it nowadays.
I realize the great demand and pressure these folks are under, but I really think all you need is a driver's license and a need for a minimum wage pay check to work for these guys. I use to think you probably needed to know a little English, but that theory was dashed to the ground about six months ago....
I had a job that had "DANGER - HIGH PRESSURE GAS LINE" placards on the fences, maybe indicating a crossing, and a locator that said since they weren't on his atlas sheet, it was probably an abandoned line (I wish I had a video of that conversation).
My humble and inexperienced opinion is they do not provide adequate locating services...but they are all we have.
I had a locator mark one side of a city street but not between the street and the railroad. When I asked him about the other side, he said his map did not show anything. I pointed out a phone pedestal and he said "yea, but I don't know which way it goes from there."
Well duh, hook that little gizmo to it and see which way it goes!
"Simple Minded People", I like it.
James
If your "locator" doesn't provide something like this along with the paint/flags, you're using the wrong consultant
Wow James that is fantastic, never get anything like that around here.
I have now found that the only way to get them to do anything on one-call is to LIE. Tell them that you are doing soil borings over the entire site, and the specific location will not be determined until the drill rig gets there. Only way I can get them to mark anything.
This is one of those cases where telling lies routinely is a VERY GOOD THING.
toivo1037, post: 356513, member: 973 wrote: Wow James that is fantastic, never get anything like that around here.
I have now found that the only way to get them to do anything on one-call is to LIE. Tell them that you are doing soil borings over the entire site, and the specific location will not be determined until the drill rig gets there. Only way I can get them to mark anything.
I used to do that years ago when at an engineering firm, until the person answering the call told me there are huge fines for abusing the system and I was on a hot list of potential problem callers. That practice stopped and we went to private mark-out companies. Fortunately, NY now provides marks for site plans, but not as a priority. When they are busy, it seems to never be a priority.
Ken
This is why all one call locator marks we designate as SUE QLD. Engineers can't understand why we refuse to designate marks made by a "locator" as QLB. The spec says "Quality level B data should be reproducible by surface geophysics at any point of their depiction." The only way to get reproducible location at any point is from a SUE contractor doing their own locating. Most are unwilling to pay for the professional approach.
Rankin_File, post: 356494, member: 101 wrote: CRAPPY locator service!!!!!!! I swear these guys are getting worse by the day! Crew calls on Monday last week. Requests pin flags. Nothing Tuesday or Wednesday. beeper jockey calls Thursday At noon says he'll mark it that day. That's nice since the crew works 4-10s ....crew goes out Monday. Nothing. No flags, no tracks in the snow, no sign of activity around the telpeds, even on bare ground under tree cover. Crew calls on the ticket. Well they said they marked it. Do you want a new ticket? Last year we were working a corridor and the outfit would only Mark 1000 feet a week... And wanted a separate ticket for each 1000.... Rassen frassennnnn... Git of my lawn!!!! (R/w)
Locators are contracted through the utility companies and requests are administered through 811 or whatever your area uses. (Some utility franchises or municipalities may mark their own utils) The only way to get rid of bad locators is to complain and document continuously to the complaint resolution through the same 811 service. When the Utility companies start getting notified that their contract Locators are not doing their jobs then contracts get revoked and people can then be held accountable. You also have to be following the various laws to the tee. Around here that means marking on the ground locate areas. Detailing the work area, potentially meeting a locator onsite if they request it. We always state we are setting 36 inch iron rods in the ground and can't determine location until the locates are down. We also know to budget a good amount of time to deal with utility coordination or budget for a private locate company to do some onsite and potentially verify some of the public.
Rant font?!!? He doesn't need a RANT FONT. Just change your color, change your font, hit the Italics button AND THEN TYPE YOUR ENTIRE POST IN UPPERCASE!!! AND USE LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!
Andy Nold, post: 356741, member: 7 wrote: Rant font?!!? He doesn't need a RANT FONT. Just change your color, change your font, hit the Italics button AND THEN TYPE YOUR ENTIRE POST IN UPPERCASE!!! AND USE LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!
That's funny!!!
I do 90-95% of my text on my plats in capital letters. If I reply to my wife and forget to hit the caps lock button, she will reply back and ask me why I'm "yelling" at her! LOL
It took her a little while to understand, and after I showed her a few drawings she laughed too.
JUST PLAIN OLD CAPS-LOCK SHOULD BE RELATIVELY GOOD!!!!....I THINK IT'S CALLED THE TDD-FONT AROUND THESE-HERE PARTS!!!! TYPING IS STILL THE SAME EXCEPT YOU NEVER HAVE TO HIT THE SHIFT BUTTON!!!! EXCEPT YOU HAVE TO SHIFT-EXCLAMATION AND PUSH THE EXCLAMATION POINT A MINIMUM OF THREE TIMES MORE THAN A SIMPLE STANDARD PERIOD!!!!
Tom Adams, post: 356758, member: 7285 wrote: I THINK IT'S CALLED THE TDD-FONT AROUND THESE-HERE PARTS!!!!
LOL, that's what I was thinking.