We manage a property that was having drain field issues for awhile, got estimates and had the owner approve one of the vendors. Our office signed the contract and they got the permit and replaced the drain field. About 3 months have gone by and we just received an email from a communications company billing us $4,000 for breaking a communication line buried in the yard. I have the chain of emails between them and the contractor pretty much saying that they saw the cable but rather then calling they called after digging through the cable. After reading back through the contract it states the contractor isn't responsible for rocks, trees, driveways, or utility lines. Who would be responsible for paying this? The property owner, our management company, or the contractor? While they did mention they aren't responsible for utility lines aren't they suppose to stop digging and call the "call before you dig number" if they find a wire.
Investor · Clairemont, CA · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
1y
Well anyone can write anything into a contract, but whether it is legal and enforceable is for the courts to decide...
It is State law here that a contractor must call 811 or they are liable for the costs. If they call and then hit something incorrectly marked then there is some relief from that liability. I'm not sure if they can realistically pass that liability off to you simply by stating it in their contract. So ultimately this may require a discussion with counsel, and you may have to settle on splitting the cost. I had a project last year that a sub hit a conduit that was marked out and the utility made a claim many months later. The GC and the sub ended up sharing in the cost mostly (I think) because it was better than the finger pointing game that had already started, and realistically the attorney's were the only ones about to win...