Utility Locating for Data Center Construction
Data centers land in dense fiber and electrical corridors and are built on a schedule with no room for a strike. Locating is the front end of that.
Why locating matters for data center construction
The two things that make a data center site hard are the same two things that make locating essential. The fiber that connects it runs through corridors already full of other carriers' plant, where a strike takes services down far beyond the job site. The electrical service runs to substation-adjacent ground where strike consequences are measured in more than dollars. On top of that, the buildings themselves are heavily cored and cut for conduit and cooling, so concrete scanning runs through construction as well — a saw into a post-tension tendon is a structural repair, not a patch.
Common project types
Typical locating scopes within the data center construction segment.
- Fiber and conduit route clearance before trenching or boring
- Substation, switchgear, and duct bank sweeps on live electrical ground
- SUE designation and QL-A test holes for the civil design package
- Concrete scanning ahead of coring and saw cuts for conduit and cooling penetrations
- Generator, fuel line, and vault location during expansion phases
- Pre-construction site sweeps and utility conflict identification
How to pick the right locator
What to evaluate when shortlisting locating companies for this work.
- 1Experience with the documentation and reporting hyperscale programs require
- 2Both a subsurface crew and a concrete-scanning crew, or a partner who has one
- 3Background-check and badging capability for crews inside secured facilities
- 4Deliverables that integrate with the project's CAD and construction management platforms
- 5ASCE 38 quality-level literacy — the design package will ask for it explicitly
- 6Crew availability that matches an aggressive construction schedule
Frequently asked questions
Why scan concrete on a new build?
Because the slab stops being new the moment it is poured, and everything after that is cut into it. Conduit penetrations, floor drains, anchors, equipment pads, and later retrofits all mean coring and sawing through structure that already contains rebar, embedded conduit, and in many decks post-tension tendons. A tendon is stressed; cutting one releases that energy violently and turns a routine penetration into a structural repair. A scan takes a fraction of the time the repair would.
What quality level should the design package specify?
Normal practice under ASCE 38-22 is QL-B designation across the corridor to establish what is there and where it runs horizontally, then QL-A test holes only where the design actually conflicts — crossings, proposed foundations, bore entry and exit. Specifying QL-A everywhere is usually overselling and it inflates the scope without improving the design. Say what stage the design is at and let the SUE firm scope to it.
Can locating crews work in a secured facility?
Many can, but not all, and it is worth confirming before you shortlist. Crews working inside secured space typically need background checks, NDAs, and facility-specific badging, and some sites restrict what data can leave with the crew. Ask early — it narrows the field more than any technical criterion does.
Reach locating companies in this segment
Tell us about your data center construction project and we’ll send your request to local locating companies that handle this work.
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Utility Contractors
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Municipal Public Works
Public works departments own decades of layered infrastructure with imperfect records. Locating is how the map gets rebuilt, one asset at a time.
Solar & Renewable Construction
Renewable sites are usually farmland, and farmland is full of buried infrastructure that no utility owns and no ticket marks.
Fiber & Telecom Buildouts
Fiber routes run through every kind of congested ground there is, and the plant already in the trench belongs to someone who will notice.
