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Radar imaging of the subsurface that finds plastic pipe, tanks, and voids no signal can be put on.
In Des Moines, Iowa — population 214,133, with buried infrastructure laid down over decades and recorded unevenly — ground penetrating radar is how a site gets read before anyone breaks ground. Local construction, utilities, municipal, telecommunications work drives most of the demand.
Ground penetrating radar pushes short radio pulses into the ground from a wheeled or handheld antenna and records what reflects back off boundaries between materials. Because it reads a change in material rather than a current on a wire, it reaches the targets electromagnetic locating cannot: PVC and HDPE with no tracer wire, clay tile, concrete pipe, septic and storage tanks, vaults, and voids. It is also the instrument that shows what is NOT on any map, since it images whatever is down there rather than only the lines someone thought to record.
Project-planning data for Des Moines, IA — soil, climate, and regulatory factors that shape how locating crews scope work in this market.
Des Moines sits in a continental climate, with winter ground freeze reaching 48 inches — frost changes what ground penetrating radar returns, and it stops paint from bonding, so cold-season work leans on recorded offsets and coordinates. Local ground: Clay, Loam, Sandy loam. Soil conductivity is the variable that decides how much of a locate radar can contribute, because conductive ground absorbs the radar pulse instead of reflecting it. Primary industries — construction, utilities, municipal, telecommunications — drive steady demand for ground penetrating radar across the Polk County area.
Iowa One Call (811) requires 48 hours of advance notice before any excavation in Iowa. That notification is free and it is separate from ground penetrating radar: it brings out the member facility owners to mark the lines they own, and stops at the meter or the right-of-way. Wait for every member to respond before ground is opened.
Locating is quoted per job rather than off a rate card, because the work is a search and a search scales with the site rather than with the clock. On a Des Moines job, the things that move the number are how much ground has to be covered, how many targets are in play, whether there are meters, valves, risers, or panels a transmitter can be clipped to, what the lines are made of, what the local ground (clay, loam, sandy loam) does to the instruments, and whether you need surface marks or a record you keep.
Describe the job once through Utility Hotline. Our team reviews the request, then locating companies covering Des Moines and Polk County send you their own quotes, so you are comparing them against the same scope. It is free to request.
Tell us about your project and we’ll send your request to locating companies that handle ground penetrating radar in Des Moines.
Get Free QuotesCommon questions about private utility locating in Des Moines
Finding and marking the buried lines on the owner side of the meter, the ones a one-call ticket does not cover.
Scanning a slab, deck, or wall for rebar, conduit, and post-tension tendons before anyone cores, cuts, or drills.
ASCE 38 quality-level deliverables — records research, field designation, and test-hole verification, sealed by an engineer.
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Iowa One Call — Always call 811 before excavation.
