Realty SignPost's Miss Utility Policy Compliance Letter

August 3rd, 2009

Due to the State Corporation Commission's (SCC) more aggressive enforcement of the "Miss Utility Law", this letter states Realty SignPost's (RSP) plan to comply with the State of Virginia's utility marking requirements.

For every real estate agent that schedules their signpost installation at least 4 business days in the future, Realty SignPost will call "Miss Utility" and request that the utilities at the property be marked with flags (and not paint). Four business days is the required lead time since one day will be required to call Miss Utility and Miss Utility may take up to 3 business days to mark the property. Please note that Miss Utility states that some properties will require more than 3 business days to mark the property, and this may delay the signpost installation further.

So, if an agent places a signpost install request on Monday, the agent must schedule the post to be installed the following Monday. This is to allow time for RSP to call Miss Utility (Tuesday) and 3 days for Miss Utility to mark the property (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday).

Realty SignPost still encourages real estate agents to call Miss Utility as soon as they have the listing agreement, since by law, Miss Utility MUST be called if the agent installs any type of personal ground sign on the property. Additionally, the real estate agent has details about the property that RSP does not have, such as, if the property has a fence or if there are animals on the property. Please also note that, if an agent places a personal ground sign and orders a post, the law requires BOTH the agent and Realty SignPost to call Miss Utility, and have the property marked twice. Please request that the entire property be marked, since RSP installers will not know the best location to install the signpost until they arrive at the property.

RSP recommends the agent request the property be marked with flags, and not paint, to avoid having lots of paint marks on the yard right before a scheduled Open House or a prospective buyer tours the house. But please also note that, even if you request flags be used, Miss Utility may disregard that request and mark the property with paint.

Please note that by the Miss Utility law, RSP may be required to have the property marked before doing a signpost service call or removal, since those types of orders meet the Miss Utilities definition of "excavation". RSP plans to work with the SCC to clarify this requirement, and to encourage the electronic transfer of property information, since this would greatly reduce the administrative hassle and time needed to comply with this law.

FYI, in the 5+ years that my brother and I have owned this business, we have completed on average around 20,000 jobs per year. In those same 5+ years, we have only had 3 utility incidents. This means that about 40,000 tickets will be created to prevent 1 utility incident.

Sincerely,

Douglas Myers and Ryan W. Myers
Brothers and Co-Owners, Realty SignPost