Do locate marks expire before my Ottawa pour?

We found no expiry for locate marks in the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012, and no number of days from Ontario Dig Authority for how long a locate stays valid. That means you should not assume the marks on your lawn are still good just because the dig has not started yet.

Here is what the Act does say. You submit a standard locate request no more than 30 days before you expect to break ground, and each infrastructure owner has five business days to respond and mark their lines. The request window of 30 days before the dig gives you a practical outer limit for when to submit, but the Act does not say the marks themselves expire at 30 days or any other point. If your pour date shifts, or if rain, frost or site work disturbs the marks before the contractor digs the base, ask who will resubmit the request and get fresh marks before any ground is broken.

A few things worth knowing for an Ottawa concrete job. The Act defines an excavator as anyone who digs, grades, excavates or breaks ground, including a homeowner. Locates are free; the Act says no fee is charged for submitting a request or for doing a locate. Ontario Dig Authority relays your request to the buried infrastructure owners, who physically mark the lines. Ask your contractor who will submit the locate request before work starts, and confirm that any private lines, such as a line running to a garage, shed or outdoor lighting, are also identified, because we found no statement that those are covered by the public locate system.

The practical question for your pour is whether the marks on the ground will still be readable and accurate on the day the excavator arrives. If there is any doubt, the safest step is to resubmit through Ontario Dig Authority and wait for fresh responses before digging begins.

Ask your contractor directly whether they will submit the locate request or whether that falls to you, and get that answer before the job is scheduled, because whoever breaks ground is the excavator under the Act.