USA North 811: Call Before You Dig in Kern County

We deliver a lot of containers to jobs that involve digging — footings, fence posts, landscaping, pool prep, utility work — and we get asked often enough about underground utility safety that it's worth laying out plainly. Before excavation of any kind starts on a Bakersfield or Kern County property, the call to make first isn't to us. It's to 811.

What USA North 811 actually is

California's call-before-you-dig center serving Kern County is USA North 811 (usanorth811.org). It's the free service that notifies gas, electric, water, and communication utility owners that excavation is planned at a specific location, so they can come out and mark the approximate location of their underground lines before anyone breaks ground. It exists because underground utility lines aren't visible, and hitting one with a shovel, auger, or excavator can mean anything from a costly repair to a genuinely dangerous gas or electrical incident.

How to make the call

You can reach USA North 811 by dialing 811 directly, or by calling 800-642-2444. Either number connects you to the same service. You'll be asked for the address or location of the planned excavation, a description of the work, and how deep the digging will go. From there, USA North 811 notifies the relevant utility companies, who send crews out to mark their lines with flags or paint directly on the ground.

Timing: give it at least two working days

USA North 811 requires a minimum of two working days' notice before excavation begins. That means calling the same morning you plan to dig isn't going to work — plan your project timeline around that lead time. If your dumpster delivery is tied to the start of digging work, build the 811 notice period into your schedule before you call us to book the container, so the two timelines line up instead of one holding up the other.

Why this matters even if the dumpster itself isn't being buried

We're not digging holes with a roll-off dumpster, obviously. But a huge share of the projects we deliver to — fence replacements, deck footings, landscaping overhauls, pool or spa installation, irrigation work, shed foundations — involve digging somewhere on the same property, sometimes close to where the container ends up sitting. If any part of your project involves breaking ground, the 811 call applies to that work regardless of what else is happening on-site the same week.

What happens after the call

Utility companies typically mark their lines with color-coded flags or spray paint directly over where the buried line runs. Once those marks are down and the notice period has passed, you can proceed with digging in areas that are clear of marked lines, using caution and hand-digging near any marks. This process is standard across California and isn't specific to any one utility or contractor — it applies to homeowners doing their own digging just as much as it applies to licensed excavation crews.

A step worth taking seriously across Kern County

Whether your project is a backyard fence in Northwest Bakersfield, a new driveway pad out in Tehachapi, or a landscaping job in Oildale, the same rule applies: call 811 first, wait out the notice period, then dig. It costs nothing and takes a few minutes, and it's the single easiest way to avoid an expensive and dangerous mistake before your project ever really starts.

A note on private utility lines

The 811 process covers utility-owned lines — the gas, electric, water, and communication infrastructure that runs from the street to your property. It generally does not cover private lines a previous owner may have installed on the property itself, like a line running to a detached shop, a well pump, or a private irrigation system that isn't tied to the municipal utility. If your property has any of that, it's worth locating those lines yourself, through old permits, a site survey, or a private locating service, before digging near them, since USA North 811's notification won't necessarily flag them.

Common Bakersfield and Kern County jobs that need a call

We see this apply constantly on the kinds of projects that also call for a dumpster delivery. A new fence line around a property in Southeast Bakersfield means post holes, which means digging. A patio or shed foundation out in Shafter or Wasco means excavation for footings. A sprinkler or drip irrigation overhaul on an older Oildale property means trenching across the yard. Even a mailbox post replacement technically counts, since utility lines can run surprisingly shallow and surprisingly close to the street in older neighborhoods. If a shovel is going into the ground anywhere on the property, it's worth the call.

Coordinating the 811 call with your dumpster delivery

Because USA North 811 needs at least two working days before digging can start, and because our container delivery can often happen much faster than that — including same-day in many cases — it's worth sequencing the two correctly. If digging is the first phase of your project, place the 811 call as soon as you know your start date, then call us once you have a firmer sense of when debris will actually start coming off the property. That way the container isn't sitting empty in the driveway for two extra days waiting on utility marks, and your dig crew isn't waiting on us either.

What to do if you're not the one doing the digging

If you've hired a contractor or landscaper for the excavation portion of your project, confirm with them directly that the 811 call has been made and the notice period has passed before work starts. Licensed contractors generally handle this as a matter of course, but it's a fair question to ask, especially on a smaller job where a single crew is handling everything from digging to hauling. It's your property, and it's worth a two-minute confirmation rather than an assumption.