How deep can I dig in a utility easement?

Owning the land under an easement does not give you a free hand inside the strip. You keep title, but the holder has a right to use the corridor, and damaging its line can leave you paying for repairs and, in some cases, facing fines. Shallow gardening is usually fine. Digging for a footing, a pond, a retaining wall or deep fence posts is where trouble starts.

State one-call laws require you to request locates before excavating, and the call is free. Most states also set a tolerance zone on each side of the marks, often a foot or two, where you must expose the line by hand. Those zones differ by state, so check the rule where you live.

Marks show the line's path, not its depth. Because a line may be shallower than expected, even a small hole near a mark should be dug carefully. If your plan puts anything permanent in the strip, ask the utility in writing first. Many publish an encroachment policy that lists what they allow.

What this looks like in practice

A homeowner plans a six-foot fence along a rear utility strip and wants post holes thirty inches deep. The 811 marks show a buried line running along the same path. Hand digging the holes near the marks reveals the line only a foot down, and the fence has to move or the posts have to be shifted.

A different owner wants a poured footing for a pergola inside the strip. The utility's policy says no permanent structures, so the footing is refused. A fence on removable posts, or a garden bed, would likely have been approved.