Private service runs can sit in the same ground as the stump you want pulled. Texas 811 explains how a request reaches participating utilities. Talk to the person responsible for the property about additional lines, such as irrigation or a service to a detached structure, and arrange appropriate locating before disturbance.
Follow the job beyond the visible stump
Extraction can disturb soil beside the trunk, and a machine may also travel, turn or stage heavy material nearby. Show the entire work area when coordinating the locate. A mark on the proposed building line alone may leave the extraction approach unresolved. Keep the person responsible for the locate involved if the work boundary changes.
Ask what is known and what has changed
Gather records from the owner, installer or previous improvements. A disconnected shed or removed gate can leave evidence of former service even if the visible equipment is gone. Indicate uncertainty clearly. Do not probe the ground yourself or infer a safe route from the absence of a marking.
Give unresolved sections a boundary
If the route of a line is still unclear, identify the area that must wait and consider whether other work can proceed separately after appropriate review. Record the decision alongside the stump or route on the plan. This lets the contractor explain the effect on the job without treating a missing answer as clearance.
Official public authority guidance on utility locates
Tell the locator what the work actually involves
A shallow pass through brush and lifting an entire root mass disturb different parts of the ground. On the clearing sketch, mark where the stump is, where the machine would stand and where the recovered material would be placed. Give that sketch to the contractor coordinating the locate. If a proposed route changes, ask whether the original markings and response cover the new area.
Public utility notifications and owner-installed services have different responsibilities. Texas 811 is the starting point for notifying participating operators. Ask what their responses cover and whether a separate qualified locator or installer is needed for private runs. Keep any old plan as a reference for that conversation. Let the people responsible for locating establish the working information.
An old shed can still affect a new driveway
Imagine a stump between a house and a former outbuilding. The shed is gone, but the owner remembers electricity and water at that end of the yard. That history is enough to flag the location. It cannot establish the route, depth or current condition of what might remain. Tell the clearing contractor about the former shed before accepting an estimate that assumes unobstructed extraction.
Ask for two clear boundaries on the quote: the portion that can be considered once the normal checks are complete and the portion that depends on resolving the old service. If one stump has to wait, the owner and receiving builder can decide whether the rest of the opening is useful on its own.
Have the receiving trade sign off on the exception
When a stump is retained pending further information, record its position against the latest plan. Give that record to the builder or driveway contractor. Ask whether the exception blocks their next step or whether access can come from another direction. That turns a concealed conflict into a specific scheduling decision without asking anyone to expose a line to find out.