A utility or cable crew is digging on our HOA common area and nobody told us. What should the board do?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 29, 2026

What an HOA board does when a utility or cable crew digs on common area without notice: 811 rules in TX, FL and CO, private lines, restoration and damage claims.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Don't order the crew off the property, and don't let the day pass without writing things down. A crew with a locate ticket and a permit may have every right to be there, because much of what looks like HOA lawn is public right-of-way or a platted utility easement. What the crew almost never has is the right to leave the ground torn up or to cut the association's irrigation and lighting lines without paying for them. So the board's job has four parts: get the company's name and ticket number the same day, find out whose ground it is, protect the association's private lines, and hold the company to restoration in writing. Most of these end with the company fixing the damage once someone asks in the right form. This guide covers that process. Rules vary by state, by city and by your declaration and plat, so treat it as education, not legal advice.

On the day: what to get from the crew

Send one director or the manager, not a crowd. Be polite; the crew didn't pick the route. Ask for five things and write them down: the company doing the work, the utility or cable provider it works for if it's a contractor, the 811 locate ticket number, any city or county right-of-way permit number, and the name and phone number of the project supervisor. Take dated photos of the trench, spoil piles, equipment, any cut lines, and the condition of the sod, sidewalks and curbs on both sides of the work zone. A short video walking the route helps later. Then tell the supervisor, in one sentence, what the association owns underground there: 'Our irrigation mains and landscape lighting run through this strip, and 811 won't have marked them.' If your irrigation contractor can come out that day to flag valves and mains, pay for the visit. It costs far less than a cut main in July. If the crew refuses to give a ticket number or says it doesn't need one, don't argue. Note it and call the provider's customer or damage line that afternoon.

Find out whose ground it is

The answer decides what the board can ask for. Pull the recorded subdivision plat and the association's deed or title policy for the common area tract, and compare them to where the crew is digging. There are three common answers. Public right-of-way. Street right-of-way often extends past the back of the curb, across what everyone thinks of as the entrance lawn or the parkway. The plat shows the right-of-way width, so measure it on the ground. If the digging is inside it, the city or county controls access, and the company needs its permit, not the board's consent. The board can still demand restoration and ask the city's right-of-way office to enforce the permit's restoration conditions. A platted or recorded utility easement. Many plats dedicate easements along lot lines and street frontage. Work inside one is usually allowed, but the easement rarely lets the holder leave damage behind. Common area with no easement. If the route crosses a greenbelt, a pool lot or open space with no recorded easement, the company needs the association's permission, and it didn't get it. Put that in writing and point the company to the board's process for easement requests; our guide on how to respond to a utility easement request on HOA common area covers the terms to negotiate. Have the association's attorney send that letter if the crew keeps working.

What 811 does and doesn't protect

Every state requires excavators to call the one-call center before digging so member utilities can mark their lines. In Texas, Utilities Code section 251.151 requires notice at least 48 hours before excavation, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and section 251.159 requires an excavator who damages a line to contact the line's operator immediately. Florida Statutes 556.105 requires at least 2 full business days' notice, says the locate information is valid for 30 calendar days, and requires an excavator who contacts or damages a facility to notify the member operator right away. Colorado's rule at C.R.S. 9-1.5-103 is at least two business days, not counting the day of notice, and the marks stay valid while visible but no more than 30 calendar days after the locate request's due date. Here is the part that catches boards. The one-call system marks the lines of member operators, not yours. Texas section 251.003 excludes lines located solely on an owner's property that serve only that owner. Florida defines an underground facility by reference to a member operator's right-of-way or easement in 556.102. Colorado section 9-1.5-105 exempts owners of private lines that serve only their own property and sit outside public right-of-way. Irrigation mains, landscape lighting circuits, private storm lines and gate operator wiring belong to the association, and no locator is coming for them. Keep an as-built map of those lines, give it to any crew that shows up, and ask your irrigation or electrical contractor to mark them whenever work is announced.

Getting the ground put back

Send a written restoration demand within a week, by email and certified mail, to the provider, not only its contractor. List what was damaged, attach the photos, and set a deadline, such as 30 days, to restore sod, irrigation, paths, curbs and fencing to their prior condition. Ask the company to confirm in writing who its claims contact is. Cable companies have a specific federal duty. Under 47 U.S.C. 541(a)(2), a cable franchise lets the operator use public right-of-way and easements dedicated for compatible uses, but the operator must ensure the property owner is justly compensated for damage caused by installing, operating or removing its facilities. Quote that section when a cable contractor says restoration isn't its problem. If the city issued a right-of-way permit, call the city's right-of-way or engineering office too. Permits usually carry restoration conditions, and a city inspector's call often moves faster than an HOA's letter. When the crew finishes, a director should walk the route with the company's inspector before anyone signs off, and should run every irrigation zone in the area that week.

When the company won't pay

Get two written repair estimates from your own contractors and send them with a final demand. If the company still stalls, the board has three routes. The first is paying for urgent repairs, such as a cut main or a trip hazard, and billing the company, keeping every invoice. The second is small claims court, where the association can recover repair costs without a lawyer in many places. The limits differ: Texas justice courts hear civil claims up to $20,000 under Government Code 27.031, Florida's small claims rules cover demands up to $8,000 under Rule 7.010, and Colorado's small claims courts handle $7,500 or less. Check your court's rules on who may appear for a nonprofit corporation before filing. The third, for larger damage or a crew with no right to be there at all, is a letter from the association's attorney. Tell the insurance agent about any damage over your deductible, but expect the carrier to point at the company first.

A sample timeline and wording

Day 1: photos, ticket number, permit number, supervisor contact, irrigation contractor on site if possible. Days 2 to 5: pull the plat and title policy, map the route against them, email the board a one-page summary. Day 7: send the restoration demand. Day 10: call the city right-of-way office if a permit was issued. Day 37: if nothing has happened, send the two estimates with a final 14-day demand. Day 51: board vote on whether to repair and bill, file in small claims, or refer to the attorney. A demand paragraph the board can adapt: 'On [date], crews working for [company] under 811 ticket [number] excavated on property owned by [association] along [location]. The work damaged irrigation mains, sod and a concrete path, shown in the enclosed photos. We ask that [company] restore these to their prior condition by [date], 30 days from this letter, and confirm the name of its claims contact in writing.' A notice for owners: 'A contractor for [provider] is installing lines along the greenbelt behind [street]. The board has asked the company to repair any damage within 30 days of finishing. If you see damage to irrigation, lighting or paths, send a photo and location to [contact].'

Mistakes boards make

Blocking a crew that turns out to be working in public right-of-way, which makes the city an adversary for no gain. Losing the ticket number, which is the one fact that connects the damage to a company. Assuming 811 marked the association's sprinkler lines. Arguing with the contractor's foreman instead of writing to the provider. Letting the restoration deadline slide until the company's job closes and the crew moves to another state. And failing to keep an as-built map of the association's private lines, so the next board faces the same problem with less information. File the photos, the demand letters and the sign-off with the common area records.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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