Those paint marks from your 811 locate show roughly where a line runs — not how deep it sits or whether a second line hides beneath it. That gap is where strikes happen, and utility potholing closes it: a small soft-dig test hole that turns an estimated location into one you've seen with your own eyes. This page covers the soft dig process, the tolerance-zone rules, and what a defensible record captures. Start a free trial to log potholing from the field.
811 Marks Are a Guess. A Pothole Is Proof.
Locate paint shows the approximate path of a buried line. Utility potholing exposes the real thing — exact depth, exact position, confirmed by eye before a single bucket of soil is moved mechanically. Here's the process, and how to make every verification a record you can stand behind.
The single most dangerous assumption on an excavation site is that a marked line is a known line. Locate marks are a starting point — a direction, not a depth. Everything below turns that starting point into verified fact, safely and on the record.
What 811 Gives You vs. What Potholing Confirms
Both matter, and one doesn't replace the other. The 811 locate is a legal first step; the pothole is the verification that makes the dig safe. Seeing the difference side by side is the whole reason soft dig exists.
- Approximate horizontal path of public utilities
- Color-coded paint and flags along that path
- A notification record that owners were contacted
- A required waiting window before you dig
- Actual depth of the line at that point
- Exact horizontal position, verified by eye
- Whether a second line sits stacked beneath
- Real soil and condition before mechanical dig
The rule from safety programs and utility owners is blunt: flags show where a line roughly runs, but the only way to know its true depth is to dig a pothole and see it. That's why soft dig verification belongs alongside your daily operator reporting — a field record, captured before the work, that proves the site was safe to open. Book a demo to see verification logged before the dig.
The Utility Potholing Process, Step By Step
Potholing isn't one action — it's a sequence, and skipping a step is where the risk creeps in. Here's the safe soft dig workflow crews follow before any mechanical excavation begins.
Call 811 and wait
Notify before you dig, then wait out the required window. Keep the ticket reference, date, and expiry — a compliance officer may ask for it.
Verify the locates
Confirm the marks against your own locator and the site plan. A designated competent person pinpoints exact position before anyone breaks ground.
Soft dig in the tolerance zone
Within the marked tolerance zone — commonly 18 to 24 inches each side of the line, per state rule — only soft excavation is allowed: hand digging or vacuum excavation.
Expose to full planned depth
Pothole to the depth of your planned dig — even past the deepest known line — so a stacked second utility can't hide beneath the first and cause a strike.
Record, then backfill
Photograph the exposed line, note depth and position, log the verification, then backfill and restore the surface. The record is what makes it defensible.
That last step is the one most crews treat as optional — and it's the one that protects the company when a line is later damaged by someone else, or an audit asks for proof the site was verified. A soft dig with no record is just a hole; a soft dig with a photo, a depth, and a timestamp is a safety artifact. Start free and turn every pothole into a logged verification.
Air vs. Water Soft Dig: The One Method Choice
Vacuum excavation does most soft digging today, and it comes two ways. Neither is wrong — they suit different jobs, and knowing which to reach for is part of a safe potholing plan.
Whichever medium a crew picks, the safety precautions during the soft dig are the same — and the verification at the end is identical. The method changes; the requirement to expose, confirm, and record the line does not. If your crews run a hydrovac for the dig, the hydrovac maintenance behind the soft dig keeps that truck ready for it.
The Soft Dig Verification Checklist
A defensible pothole record captures more than "we dug a hole." This is what a good utility potholing verification confirms before the crew moves to mechanical excavation — the fields that turn a soft dig into proof.
Before the dig
- Valid 811 ticket on file, matching the work area and in date
- Locates verified against site plan by a competent person
- Tolerance zone marked; soft-dig-only rule understood by crew
- Correct method chosen (air or water) for soil and utility type
At the pothole
- Line physically exposed and visually confirmed
- Dug to full planned excavation depth, not just to first line
- Checked for a second, stacked utility beneath
- Actual depth and horizontal offset measured and noted
On the record
- Photo of the exposed line attached to the job
- Depth, position, and utility type logged
- Timestamp and location captured automatically
- Any unmarked or conflicting line escalated as stop-work
On paper, the "on the record" column is the one that quietly disappears when a site runs hot — and it's the one that protects the company later. On HVI, each field is a required, photo-backed step, so a verification can't be closed until the line is actually exposed and documented. Book a demo to see the soft dig verification template.
From a safety manager who audits the dig records
The crews were doing the potholing right. Where we got hurt was proof. A line got clipped on a job months later, the owner came back at us, and we had a locate ticket but nothing showing we'd exposed and verified that line before we opened the ground. That's an expensive gap to have.
Now the verification lives on a phone — photo of the exposed line, depth, position, timestamp — and it won't close until those are in. I can pull any pothole record in seconds. The digging didn't change. What changed is that now we can prove it.
Frequently asked questions
What is utility potholing?
Utility potholing — also called daylighting or soft dig — is digging a small, precise test hole to physically expose and visually confirm the exact depth and position of a buried utility before major excavation. It uses a non-destructive method (hand digging or vacuum excavation) so the line isn't damaged, turning an estimated 811 location into a confirmed one.
Why isn't an 811 locate enough on its own?
811 paint and flags show the approximate horizontal path of a line — the direction it runs and its rough position — but not its true depth, its exact offset, or whether a second line sits stacked beneath it. Assuming the marks are exact before power digging is a common cause of strikes. Potholing is how you verify what the locate only estimates.
What is the tolerance zone for soft digging?
The tolerance zone is the buffer on each side of a marked utility where only soft excavation is allowed — commonly 18 to 24 inches per side, though the exact figure is set by state rule. Inside it, you use hand digging or vacuum excavation, never mechanical equipment, because that's the zone where a bucket or blade is most likely to strike the line.
How deep should you pothole?
Pothole to the full depth of your planned excavation, even if that's deeper than the deepest known line. Digging only to the top of the first utility you find can hide a second line stacked beneath it, which is a classic strike scenario. Exposing to full planned depth confirms the whole vertical space you're about to work in is clear.
Do you need to document a potholing verification?
You should. The dig itself keeps the crew safe that day, but the record is what protects the company later — when a line is damaged by someone else, when an owner disputes what was verified, or when an audit asks for proof. A photo of the exposed line with depth, position, and a timestamp turns a soft dig into a defensible safety artifact, which is exactly what field-logged reporting captures.
Turn Soft Dig Verification Into Proof You Can Pull In Seconds
Field-logged potholing records with photo, depth, position, and timestamp. Required verification steps that can't be skipped on a busy day. Escalation for unmarked or conflicting lines, and an audit-ready history against every job — on one platform, live in under two weeks.
No credit card · No hardware · Soft dig verification templates ready on day one
