By Firm Fence · September 8, 2026 · 8 min read

Ask any commercial fence installer in the GTA what causes the worst preventable delays and cost overruns, and the answer is almost never the fence itself. It is the ground underneath it.

A single post hole in the wrong spot can hit a Bell fibre run, an Enbridge gas service, or a private irrigation main that nobody knew existed. That one strike can turn a routine three-day install into a six-figure liability event complete with utility crews, safety inspectors, and a phone call to your insurance broker that nobody wants to make.

This is why every serious commercial fence project in Ontario starts the same way. A locate request goes in before anything else moves.

What a Locate Actually Is

In Ontario, the legal starting point is Ontario One Call. Under the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012, anyone breaking ground has to submit a locate request before excavation begins. Requests go through the OOC web portal or by calling 1-800-400-2255. Ontario One Call then notifies every registered member utility that owns buried infrastructure in that area. Those utility owners, or the locate service providers they contract, come out and paint the ground using the APWA colour code (red for electric, yellow for gas or oil, orange for communications, blue for potable water, green for sewer).

Standard locate requests must be completed within 5 business days. Advanced or large excavation projects covering multiple properties, or sites with no civic address, get 10 business days. Locates are valid for a minimum of 60 calendar days from issue. Starting November 1, 2026, a new regulation lets eligible dig sites continue for up to 180 total days without a relocate, provided the site meets specific conditions (no transmission infrastructure present, digging happens at least 1 metre below the lowest identified utility, and self-attestation and documentation requirements are met).

Other provinces have their equivalents. BC 1 Call, Alberta One-Call, Info-Excavation in Quebec, Sask 1st Call. The rules vary. The principle does not. You do not put a shovel or an auger in the ground until you know what is under it.

Why Fence Projects Are Higher Risk Than People Assume

Most people think fence installs are low risk because posts do not go that deep. That assumption is wrong for Canadian commercial work.

Chain link and ornamental steel systems designed for Ontario winters need footings set below the frost line, which typically means 4 to 5 feet of concrete-set post depth to prevent heave. A 6 or 8 inch auger going down 48 inches will absolutely reach primary gas mains, secondary electric feeds, communication conduits, and water services. It will also reach the private lines that nobody put on a public utility map.

Public vs Private Locates: The Gap Nobody Explains

Ontario One Call locates public utility infrastructure only. That means mains and service lines up to a specific demarcation point, usually the property line or the utility meter. Anything downstream is the property owner's responsibility, and OOC will tell you exactly that in the locate package.

On a commercial site, private infrastructure typically includes:

• Private electrical feeds to yard lighting, security systems, gate operators, and detached buildings
• Private gas lines running from the meter to generators, patio heaters, or process equipment
• Irrigation lines and low-voltage landscape lighting
• Fibre-optic runs between buildings on a shared campus
• Site drainage, septic components, and stormwater management piping
• Private water lines feeding hose bibs, fountains, or outbuildings

None of this appears on an Ontario One Call locate. To identify these lines you need to hire a private locate contractor who uses ground penetrating radar and electromagnetic locators. On any commercial site with detached structures, security lighting, or irrigation, this is not optional. It is the second half of due diligence.

What Actually Happens If You Skip the Locate

The numbers here get uncomfortable. According to the Canadian Common Ground Alliance's DIRT reporting, damage to buried utilities costs the Canadian economy in excess of $1 billion every year. Historical DIRT data shows roughly 1 in 4 damage events happen because no locate request was made at all, and nearly 1 in 5 involve life-threatening facilities like gas mains or high-voltage electric.

For a commercial contractor, the fallout of a strike breaks into four categories.

Questions Canadian Property Owners Should Be Asking (But Rarely Do)

A few things that come up on almost every commercial call, and that most contractors never explain clearly:

How This Shows Up on the Actual Build

Once locates come back and both public and private infrastructure is identified, the design gets adjusted. Post locations shift. Sometimes a run has to be offset to avoid a shallow gas service. Sometimes a bollard cluster gets added to protect a gate operator instead of drilling deep footings next to a fibre trench. This is where an experienced commercial contractor earns their fee.

At Firm Fence, this is built into how the crews scope every commercial and industrial project. The company has installed perimeter security fencing across Etobicoke, the GTA, and Ontario for more than 45 years, and the product mix reflects what real Canadian sites actually need:

Every one of these product categories has post or footing requirements deep enough to matter for a locate.

The Bottom Line