Eric’s Question: Knowing when to get involved in a neighbor’s project

Dear Eric: My husband and I live next door to a family who typically use low-wage, unlicensed workers to work in their home. We found out that they were renovating the driveway.

The men my neighbor and I saw were driving an unmarked truck and were probably not professional concrete workers. I told my husband that if they started jackhammering the driveway without calling the utility company to mark the underground utility, I was going to call the utility company. My husband said I wasn’t allowed to do that.

He insists that I am not advising anyone and that the neighbors should bear the consequences of what may happen. My husband said I was too nosy. I said I wasn’t nosy, just concerned. If they hit a gas line, it could have consequences for many homes in the area. So am I being too nosy or rightly concerned?

– Paved paradise

Dear Concrete: Your concerns are valid; The consequences of hitting a water line would likely affect more than just your neighbor if workers don’t exercise due care. But waiting for the jackhammer to come back to life is too late. The national number for Call Before Your Dig is 811. Underlined here before.

By calling or visiting Call811.com will connect you to your state’s 811 center website, but will want to do this a few business days before digging begins to allow time to go out and mark buried utilities. They better call, because callers also need to know the type of project being undertaken and the exact area of ​​the property where workers plan to dig.

Reminding neighbors and their employees of the importance of doing this ahead of time, even for small projects, may deflect your husband’s “nosy” accusations (unfounded, in my opinion). Besides, it’s the law.

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Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at [email protected] or PO Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Keep following him Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.