Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) in Richmond, BC

Standard locates serve excavation safety; SUE serves design. The ASCE 38 framework attaches a defined quality level to every utility shown, letting engineers allocate risk contractually and decide precisely where to pay for QL-A certainty. On capital projects, SUE routinely returns multiples of its cost in avoided redesigns and claims.

We scope and supervise QL-A test holes and survey the exposed utilities; the daylighting itself is performed by partnered hydrovac crews. One contract, one deliverable, with each party doing what they're equipped for.

Sealed-format CAD with utilities attributed by quality level, a basis-of-investigation report, and test-hole logs for any QL-A points — the package engineers of record expect to reference in contract documents.

Sometimes — and we'll say so. Many sites are served perfectly by QL-B mapping without the SUE formalism. The free consult sorts which investigation level your project and its risk profile actually need.

Only partially. BC 1 Call marks registered public utilities up to your property line — free, and you should always use it. Everything inside the line is private and unmarked: irrigation, gas runs to outbuildings, landscape lighting, old septic, abandoned services. Richmond's stock — slab-on-grade construction nearly everywhere, dyke-protected industrial parks, and extensive irrigation and drainage infrastructure. — is exactly where those private surprises accumulate. Private locating closes that gap before you dig.

Richmond sits on Fraser delta silts and peat with a water table often within a metre of grade. Richmond is BC's most depth-limited GPR environment — saturated silts attenuate signal fast. Shallow targets still image well, and we compensate with EM, acoustic, and tracer methods for deeper work. Where local conditions limit one technology, the survey leans on the others — EM tracing, sonde work, and acoustic methods — so the locate objective is met regardless of soil.

Richmond is inside our standing Metro Vancouver coverage — typical scheduling is 24–72 hours, with same-day service often possible during business hours (Mon–Sat, 8am–6pm Pacific). Pricing follows our province-wide structure with no regional premium; the free phone consult produces a firm number in about five minutes: 604-239-9934.