North Carolina law requires you to call 811 at least three full business days before digging and wait for utility lines to be marked on your property. Every digging job deserves a call, even small projects like planting trees or shrubs. The depth of utility lines varies and there may be multiple utility lines in a common area. Utility lines need to be properly marked because even when digging only a few inches, the risk of striking an underground utility line still exists.
Choosing not to call 811 before beginning a digging project could have serious results, such as injuries, disrupted service to entire neighborhoods, fines, and repair costs. You can avoid these unnecessary consequences by making one free phone call to 811 three days prior to digging.
Please use all precautions when digging around utilities. Do not remove any flags, alter paint marks. Do not attempt to repaint faded marks. Calling in an update to ticket will prompt the respective utility to repaint the marks if they are faded. Use a buffer zone when digging around utilities and hand dig where marks or flags are placed to prevent damage to a utility. If there is a damage to a utility, regardless of the severity, call it in to the utility group, immediately.
https://call811.com/