How Texas Roofing Restoration Contractors Can Protect Their Payment
The Cromeens Law Firm
October 1, 2026
Quick answer: If you hit an unmarked line in Texas after fully complying with the 811 process, Texas Utilities Code Section 251.157(c) says you may not be liable for damage to a line the operator failed to mark. However, that protection is not automatic. It applies only if you did everything the law requires, only if the line was one an operator had a duty to mark, and fault is still decided under Texas comparative-responsibility law.
To protect yourself: keep proof of your 811 ticket, confirm every operator has responded before digging, photograph the site immediately, save all documentation, and carry insurance without an underground exclusion.
Here’s the scenario: your excavator hit a utility line no one had marked. You showed up on-site, and the locates looked complete. You called 811. You waited the required time. Now you’re staring at a damaged utility line, an angry property owner, and a growing concern about who’s going to pay.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Striking unmarked or mismarked underground lines is one of the most common and most stressful situations underground utility contractors face in Texas. The good news: doing everything right before you dig puts you in a far stronger position, both legally and with your insurance carrier.
At The Cromeens Law Firm, we regularly represent underground utility contractors in these types of disputes. This guide walks you through who is typically at fault, who ends up paying, and the concrete steps you should take to protect your business when you hit an unmarked line.
Underground work carries a unique kind of exposure, especially in Texas. You can follow every rule, use every best practice, and still strike a line because someone else failed to locate and mark it. When that happens, the financial consequences can be significant: repair costs, service-interruption claims, third-party property damage, and even bodily-injury allegations.
Preparation makes these situations manageable. Texas contractors who document their process carefully tend to resolve claims quickly and favorably. Contractors who don’t often find themselves absorbing costs they never should have paid.
In Texas, your defense begins long before your equipment touches the ground. Texas law requires excavators to notify a notification center by dialing 811 before any excavation that disturbs soil 16 inches deep or more with mechanized equipment.
You must call no earlier than 14 days and no later than 48 hours or two business days (excluding weekends and holidays) before you dig. Your call generates a locate ticket and triggers the operator’s duty to mark its lines or tell you it has none within 48 hours.
Calling on time is only the start. Before you dig, Texas law expects you to confirm that every affected operator has actually responded, either by marking its lines or telling you it has none in the area. Do not dig just because the site looks marked.
A missing response can mean an operator has not located yet, and digging anyway can cost you the legal protection you would otherwise have. Full compliance, not just the phone call, is what determines fault later.
A fault in Texas raises more than one question, but it starts here: did an operator with a duty to mark the line fail to do so, and did you fully comply with the 811 process?
One more possibility catches contractors off guard: sometimes no one had a duty to mark the line at all. Texas exempts certain lines from the 811 system, most commonly private or customer-owned lines that serve only the property owner and sit entirely on their property, like a line running from the meter to the house or a private line across a farm.
Utility companies often will not mark past the meter. If the line you hit was private, no operator failed in their marking duty, so the “not your fault” logic doesn’t apply.
On jobs with possible private lines, hiring a private locator before you dig is the protection.
The distinction matters enormously. A contractor who fully complied and struck a truly unmarked line that an operator should have marked is in a far stronger position than one who cut corners.
But even then, Texas decides who ultimately pays under its comparative-responsibility law, so the utility or its insurer will usually argue that you share some of the blame.
This is why your documentation, not just your good intentions, decides the outcome.
Once fault is established, payment usually follows one of a few paths:
When an operator failed to mark a line it had a duty to mark, it should bear the cost, but Texas rarely makes that call cleanly. Fault is apportioned between the parties, so how much you recover, or how much you owe, depends heavily on the proof you gather in the hours and days after the strike. The following steps are how you build that proof.
Your 811 locate ticket is your most valuable piece of evidence. It records the date and time you called, the dig area you described, and the utilities notified. Keep it.
Save the ticket number, confirmation emails, and the positive response from every operator, the record showing each one either marked its lines or reported none in the area. If a dispute arises months later in Texas, it can come up to two years later. This documentation proves you called on time and confirmed responses before breaking ground.
The moment you hit a line, start documenting the scene. Photographs taken right away capture conditions that disappear quickly.
Focus your camera on:
Time-stamped photos and video are difficult to dispute. If the line truly wasn’t marked, your images will show it.
A utility damage claim rarely lands on your desk the same day. In Texas, a utility generally has two years from the date of the damage to bring a claim, so a demand can arrive long after the job is done. By then, memories fade, and evidence vanishes.
Build a dedicated file for each incident and hold onto it. That file should include:
Treat these records as long-term assets, not paperwork to discard once the job wraps.
When a demand letter arrives, don’t ignore it or make admissions over the phone. Respond in writing with a factual account: that you followed the 811 process, that the line was unmarked or mismarked, and that your documentation supports it.
Do not admit fault. This is where legal guidance pays off, and where the underground-strike situation meets the broader question of how to respond to a demand letter, which The Cromeens Law Firm covers in detail here.
If a demand becomes a lawsuit, the single most important thing is to respond before the deadline. An unanswered lawsuit can result in a default judgment against you, no matter how strong your defense would have been.
As soon as you are served, notify your insurance carrier and call an attorney experienced in underground utility disputes. Whether you defend directly or tender the claim to your carrier depends on your policy, and acting early protects both options.
Even a contractor who does everything right needs the right coverage. Review your policies before you ever hit a line, and confirm you carry:
Many contractors discover too late that their policy carries an XCU exclusion. If it does, you can often close that gap with an endorsement, so ask your agent to confirm underground work is covered before you take an underground job. An annual policy review and an attorney’s read of the fine print can close those gaps before they cost you.
Hitting an unmarked line doesn’t have to mean absorbing a loss you didn’t cause. When you’ve fully complied with the 811 process, documented the scene, and preserved your records, Texas law gives you a solid basis to push the cost back onto the at-fault party. What you need next is a partner who knows how to make that case.
At The Cromeens Law Firm, we represent Texas underground utility contractors through every stage of these disputes—from responding to a first demand letter to defending a full lawsuit. We understand the industry, the regulations, and the practical realities of job-site life. Our goal is to protect your business, your reputation, and your bottom line.
If you’ve struck an unmarked line or want to make sure you’re protected before you do, contact us for a consultation. Let us help you dig with confidence.
It depends on whether you fully complied and whether anyone had a duty to mark the line. If you followed the full 811 process and the line was one an operator should have marked, Texas Utilities Code Section 251.157(c) says you may not be liable for the damage.
But two things can change that: if the line was private or customer-owned, no one had a duty to mark it, and if you missed any compliance step, you could lose that protection. Even when you did everything right, Texas apportions fault between the parties, so expect the utility to argue you share some. Your documentation is what proves your compliance.
In Texas, a utility generally has two years from the date of the damage to file a property-damage claim against you. A demand can still land long after the job wraps up, which is why keeping complete records for at least two years is essential.
Stop work and make the area safe first. If it is a gas, electric, or other hazardous line, call 911 and the utility’s emergency number before anything else. Then photograph the scene immediately, including the strike point, the distance to the nearest mark, and the absence of locate marks. Preserve your 811 ticket and positive-response records, and notify the operator as Texas law requires. Document everything before conditions change.
Not always. Many general liability policies carry an “XCU” exclusion that removes coverage for explosion, collapse, and underground property damage, the exact risks in utility work. The good news is that you can often add coverage back through an endorsement. Confirm with your agent that your policy has no XCU exclusion, or that it’s been bought back, before you begin an underground job.
You can, but it’s wise to involve an attorney. A carefully worded written response that documents your 811 compliance—without admitting fault—can resolve many claims early. Legal guidance helps ensure you don’t say something that undermines your defense.
Karalynn Cromeens is the Owner and Managing Partner of The Cromeens Law Firm, PLLC, with over 17 years of experience in construction, real estate, and business law. A published author and passionate advocate for contractors, she has dedicated her career to protecting the businesses her clients have built. Karalynn is on a mission to educate subcontractors on their legal rights, which inspired her books Quit Getting Screwed and Quit Getting Stiffed, as well as her podcast and The Subcontractor Institute.
