Dry Utilities and Joint Trench
Dry utilities are the scope most likely to delay a project and least likely to be planned early. The trench is straightforward. The four franchise utilities that have to agree on it are not.
Joint trench is a coordination discipline wearing a construction costume.
The trench is easy. The coordination is the job.
A joint trench carries electric, gas, telephone, cable, and sometimes fiber in one excavation, at separations and depths each utility specifies, in a configuration all of them have to accept. Each utility has its own design process, its own scheduling queue, its own inspection, and its own idea of when it will be ready. None of them are working to your schedule.
The construction is a week. Getting to the construction is frequently a year.
What we install
Lead times you do not control
Utility design, engineering approval, material availability, and crew scheduling all sit with the utility. Transformers and switchgear in particular have had lead times measured in many months. The correct response is to start the applications before they feel urgent, which on most projects means during entitlement rather than after grading.
Getting the configuration accepted
The joint trench composite drawing has to satisfy every participating utility's separation, cover, and bend radius requirements simultaneously. Where a conflict exists, resolving it means going back to whichever utility is least flexible. Finding that conflict in the field, with a trench open and four crews scheduled, is the expensive version.
Sequencing against paving
Dry utility trench almost always runs under future paving or hardscape. It has to be complete, inspected, backfilled, and compacted before base goes down. A dry utility scope that slips does not just delay itself, it delays paving, which delays everything visible.
Dry utility capabilities
- Joint trench excavation and backfill
- Electrical conduit and duct bank
- Vaults, substructures, and pull boxes
- Transformer and switch pads
- Gas trench and service
- Telecom, cable, and fiber conduit
- Street light and signal conduit
- Sand bedding and shading
- Conduit proofing and mandrelling
- Franchise utility coordination
- Utility inspection scheduling
- Trench compaction under paving
How we run this work
Every scope is bid against real quantities and built to the governing agency's standard.
Utility application tracking
A register of every franchise utility application, its status, its owner, and its promised date, updated weekly.
Composite trench review
The joint trench configuration checked against each utility's separation and cover requirements before excavation.
Long lead register
Transformers, switchgear, and other utility supplied material tracked from application to delivery.
Sequenced work plan
Dry utility trench scheduled to complete, be inspected, and be compacted before base and paving.
Conduit proofing record
Verification that every conduit is clear and mandrelled before it is accepted and covered.
Trench compaction record
Documentation of backfill and compaction under future paving, which is what prevents trench settlement cracking.
Questions we get on this scope
Can you manage the utility applications for us?
Yes, and it is usually worth having one party own that register. The applications themselves belong to the property owner or developer, but tracking them, chasing them, and integrating their dates into the construction schedule is work we do routinely.
Why did our last project get delayed by dry utilities?
In our experience it is nearly always one of three things: the application went in late, a long lead item was not ordered when the application was approved, or a configuration conflict surfaced in the field. All three are preventable and none are visible on a plan set.
Do you install the utility company's cable and wire?
Generally no. We install the trench, conduit, substructures, and pads. The utility pulls its own conductors and makes its own connections. The boundary between our scope and theirs should be explicit in the contract, because it is a classic gap.
Can you do the street lighting and signal work?
We install conduit, foundations, and pull boxes, and coordinate the electrical contractor for poles, fixtures, and controllers under our contract where the scope calls for it.
Get a bid on dry utilities and joint trench
Send us the plans, the specification, and the schedule you are working to. We will tell you whether we are the right contractor for it and what it will cost.
Send us the project
Tell us the site, the scope, and the deadline. Initial consultations carry no fee and no obligation.