New Law Means it May Take a Month to Get a Sign Post Installed
August 1, 2009 by Danilo Bogdanovic
Filed under Seller Resources
Update: This is not necessarily a new law. What is new is Virginia’s seriousness about enforcing the law and actually imposing fines.
Virginia just passed the has begun enforcing it’s “Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act”, which requires that Realtors® and sign companies call the Virginia Utility Protection Service (aka Miss Utility) before putting up any sign that involves sticking something in the dirt (including typical spike signs).
How does this affect Virginia home sellers?
It means that the time to get a sign put in your front yard just went from a few days to well over a week, a potential delay in putting your home on the market.
Why so long?
Because Miss Utility is quoting 3 to 4 business days to mark the property (despite the law claiming it only needs 48 hours). Then, the sign company takes 2 to 3 business days to install the sign post. That equals 5 to 7 business days from start to finish.
And that time frame will soon increase dramatically. A total of 4059 new listings came on the market between 1/1/09 and 6/30/09 – in Loudoun County alone. Imagine what is going to happen now that almost every new listing in Virginia has to go through Miss Utility before putting a real estate sign in the ground. I’d be willing to bet that it will soon take up to a month before Miss Utility has a chance to make it out to mark your yard.
Who is allowed to call Miss Utility to mark the property?
Only the person/company actually installing the sign. The overwhelming majority of agents use a sign company to dig the hole and install the sign post in their seller clients’ yards. That means that only the sign company can call Miss Utility. The problem with that is, the sign company has no clue what your property looks like nor how it’s situated on the lot, where underground utilities are, etc., so they can not tell Miss Utility precisely where the sign will go nor where to mark the property. This could further delay the process and/or increase the cost.
Is there a way around it?
Home owners are exempt from the law, but I have yet to find a seller who is willing to dig up a hole and put a real estate sign in their front yard on their own. And don’t forget – whoever installs the sign post is probably going to be the person listed as “at fault” should an underground utility line be damage/broken.
The other loop hole is to use a “coat hanger” sign with “wires”, but that looks about as professional and appealing as a hand written “For Sale” sign hanging by a string from the tree in the front yard.
And no…you can’t claim that your dog dug the hole and the sign post just happened to end up in the hole somehow.
P.S. If Miss Utility finds out that the person/company who installed the sign didn’t call them first, it’s a $2,500 fine.
What’s the solution?
Allow either the homeowner or their listing agent to call Miss Utility to mark the property even if they’re not the one actually installing the sign. Miss Utility could easily be called a week or several weeks ahead of time so that when the sellers are ready to go on the market, the sign can be installed by the sign company within 2 to 3 days just like normal.
As far as the “safety concerns” cited by Virginia regarding this solution, I don’t buy it – once the property is marked, the sign company can easily see where Miss Utility marked the property and put the sign in safely.
Local and state Realtor® Associations (and others) are lobbying Virginia to come up with a solution. Until there is one, plan on at least 1 to 2 weeks to get a sign post in the ground.
Doug Francis on Sun, 2nd Aug 2009 9:03 pm
I saw this notice on the NVAR web site but didn’t really pay attention… but I guess that I need to do some homework since paying a $2,500 fine is going to be an issue (especially for my accountant).
After Katrina, I remember a lot of people just spray-painted their garage doors… but I guess that sounds like a bad idea too.
Do they actually say “sticking” and not “digging”? Wow.
Okay, more homework for the study group!
Mitch on Tue, 4th Aug 2009 10:02 am
As someone who call Miss Utility of a semi-regular basis something seems a little off on this post- typically the person doing the digging DOES NOT have to be the same person who calls in the locate request- in fact they have separate fields for the caller and excavator. Same goes for marking the property- the realtor should be able to white line the spot where they want the sign without any issues- just a couple of bucks for a can of white spray paint.
The interesting part here is what part did companies like Utiliquest have in this; they are the ones that stand to make a lot more money from the increased locate requests.
VA811 on Tue, 8th Sep 2009 10:09 pm
There is a lot of bad information in this article. First, the sign company timeframe does not need to change. If a realtor lists a new property and hires a sign company, call the ticket in the same day and (it’s called planning) and when he is ready, in 2-3 days, the ticket will be ready to go (48 hour waiting period). That’s about the same timeframe that current installations are on.
Next, the law is over 30 years old and has always applied to this type of excavation, just people did not know about it.
Enforcement is not new either. It has been enforced since 1995.
The article makes it sound like every single time someone breaks the law it’s automatically a $2,500 fine, when the reality is that a maximum fine is pretty rare.
There are real estate companies that have been calling in tickets all along. A lot of sign installation companies have been doing the same.
This is an education campaign to make people more aware of the fact that they may have been in violation of a law that was designed to keep them and the people they list for safe, and it’s a free call/service.
Danilo Bogdanovic on Wed, 9th Sep 2009 10:38 pm
The time frames came straight from the horse’s mouth – sign companies in the area. As an agent or seller, you can do all the planning you want – you still have no control over how long Miss Utility takes to do their thing.
It’s up to a $2500 fine, but ther made it very clear to agents, brokers and Realtor associations that they are going to be more harsh on agents when they do fine them. You may be right about a much smaller fine, but I’m not going to take the chance (nor a $2500 risk) to find out you’re wrong.
If the real estate company/agent isn’t actually installing the sign, they can’t call Miss Utility – it is the person or company that physically installs the sign that must call.
Nathan Voss on Mon, 15th Mar 2010 5:25 pm
As the owner of a sign installation company serving Loudoun county, I thought I would comment. The Real Estate agent CAN place the call in to miss utility even if they are not the one doing the installation. The miss utility website is very clear on the fact that an agent can also be held liable for a struck utility even if an installation company has been hired to do the work. All agents should find out whether or not the companies they are hiring are placing tickets with miss utility or not.
As for the turn around time from miss utility, even with the harsh winter we have had, the response time has been fairly quick; rarely taking longer than 3 days.
Agents can call me with any questions. 703.727.3499
Danilo Bogdanovic on Sun, 21st Mar 2010 1:05 pm
Nathan – Yes, the agent can call it in to Miss Utility. But that’s added liability to the agent/broker. If the owner/seller wants a sign in their front yard, why not have the owner/seller call it in? One way to increase the chance of compliance while diminishing liability for owner/sellers and agents/brokers is to have the sign installation company put in writing that they will call Miss Utility and adhere to all laws and regulations. But I have yet to get a sign installation company to do that. Would you be willing to do that?
Nathan Voss on Sun, 21st Mar 2010 1:34 pm
For any agent who requests that I handle Miss Utility, I will. I do work for agents who call it in for themselves; I also work for agents who specify that they do not want to wait the extra couple of days and request an immediate install. Of course, the liability is in their hands. I have been in business for four years, installing thousands of posts, and have never (knock on wood) hit anything. I have a good working relationship with miss utility and their web ticket entry is really easy to use.
I see your other blog is about foreclosures. Do you currently have any active foreclosure listings? My business also handles all aspects of foreclosure work. From lock changes to carpet and paint, plumbing and electrical. Let me know if there is any way I can assist you
Nathan
703.727.3499
Danilo Bogdanovic on Sun, 21st Mar 2010 3:14 pm
As I read the regulations, alongside the agent, the sign installation company is also held liable if Miss Utility is not called.
I don’t do REO listings, but most of my buyer clients (including investors) have been buying REOs and short-sales over the past several years.