What UtiliQuest does

UtiliQuest, LLC is a US-based damage prevention and infrastructure services provider headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of publicly traded Dycom Industries, Inc. Founded in 1985, the company executes millions of underground utility locates per year on behalf of gas, electric, and telecommunications utilities across 18 states plus the District of Columbia. Field technicians identify and mark buried infrastructure prior to excavation, supplemented by leak detection surveys for gas distribution operators and specialized services such as Watch & Protect supervision, quality audits, facility documentation, and storm-relief standby work. Revenue is generated through B2B service contracts with utility operators (and, increasingly, project owners), typically structured as recurring enterprise engagements tied to locate volume or coverage territory; pricing is not publicly disclosed.

The company's operating model is anchored by an integrated technology stack centered on Q Manager, an automated work-order dispatch and ticket management system that interfaces with 10+ One-Call center platforms and supports more than 150 ticket formats while maintaining over 100 million tickets in SOX-compliant cloud data centers. Around Q Manager, UtiliQuest layers eSketch (an electronic locate manifest built on ortho-photography), PAR (rule-based risk scoring across excavator, locator, and facility dimensions), and EPR (enhanced positive response documentation distributed via the 811 system). Operational quality is governed by the RIGHTWAY Quality Management System and the Headway safety program. There is no documented AI or machine-learning capability; risk scoring and field workflows are rule-based. The company is privately held as a subsidiary of Dycom Industries and does not publicly disclose revenue.

Name

UtiliQuest

Legal name

UtiliQuest, LLC

Website

https://utiliquest.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

UtiliQuest, a subsidiary of Dycom Industries, provides underground utility locating, leak detection, and damage prevention services to gas, electric, and telecommunications utilities across 18 states plus DC, using an integrated Q Manager technology platform to dispatch millions of locates annually.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Utility Locating Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Mining (213), Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360)

SIC

Oil & Gas Field Services, Nec (1389)

akta.pro primary industry

Damage Prevention & One-Call/811 Programs (Third-Party Excavation Risk) (EUAJADAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Trenching & Utility Excavation (IMAFAKAD)

Keywords

• Underground utility locating
• Damage prevention services
• Facility locating
• Leak detection services
• Utility infrastructure protection

Headquarters

HQ city

Alpharetta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Facility Damage Prevention Services: Core utility locating services performed before excavations to prevent damage to underground infrastructure. Revenue generated through service contracts with utility operators (gas, electric, telecommunications companies). Services billed per locate request or through contractual agreements.
2. Leak Detection Services: Gas distribution facility surveys and inspections to maximize client system integrity. Reduces risk to utility infrastructure while enhancing public safety. Revenue generated through service contracts with gas utility operators.
3. Specialized Services: Additional services including quality audit programs, facility documentation, standby services, storm relief, and Watch & Protect supervision for active excavation work. Provides value-added services to existing clients.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

UtiliQuest provides underground utility locating and damage prevention services for gas, electric, and telecommunications utility operators across the United States. Field technicians identify and mark buried infrastructure before excavation to prevent damage, supported by a proprietary technology platform (Q Manager, eSketch, PAR, EPR). The company also performs gas leak detection surveys and offers specialized services including quality audits, facility documentation, standby support, and Watch & Protect supervision.

Product overview

UtiliQuest offers a unified damage prevention and utility locating platform organized around three core service pillars—Facility Damage Prevention (underground utility locating), Leak Detection Services, and Specialized Services—supported by an integrated technology suite. The platform's central technology is Q Manager, an automated ticket management system that dispatches work orders and interfaces with One-Call Center systems nationwide. This is augmented by eSketch for electronic manifest documentation, PAR for risk assessment, EPR for enhanced positive response, and Facility Record Documentation Services. Supporting programs include the RIGHTWAY Quality Management System and Headway Safety Program. The company serves gas, electric, and telecommunications industries across 18 states plus DC.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RIGHTWAY™: A Quality Management System (QMS) framework used by UtiliQuest to ensure excellence in operations, emphasizing responsibility, innovation, goal-orientation, high standards, thoroughness, effective management, accuracy, and yielding excellence.
• Headway™
• Q Manager
• eSketch
• PAR – Plant at Risk

Products and services

• Underground Utility Locating Services (Facility Damage Prevention) Core locate services that identify and mark underground utility infrastructure (gas, electric, telecommunications) before excavation. UtiliQuest executes millions of successful locates per year using NULCA-accredited training, skilled staff, and proprietary technology to meet customer specifications and applicable state laws.
• Leak Detection Services Gas distribution facility surveys and inspections performed by UtiliQuest crews to maximize client system integrity, reduce risk to utility infrastructure, and enhance public safety.
• Specialized Services Supplementary services including quality audit programs, facility documentation, standby services, storm relief, and Watch & Protect supervision for active excavation work.
• Q Manager Platform Automated work order dispatch and ticket management system that supports over 150+ ticket formats, provides real-time positive response to One Call Centers, integrates damage tracking, and maintains over 100 million tickets online via cloud data centers.
• eSketch Electronic Locate Manifest Electronic sketching tool allowing locate technicians to record activities at proposed excavation sites using ortho-photography images to produce virtual manifests with APWA color-coded lines for each facility located.
• PAR (Plant at Risk) Risk assessment software that evaluates facility risk by work type, excavator damage history, utility operator facility record data, utility locator damage history, and tenure, performed before and after underground locate activities.
• EPR (Enhanced Positive Response) Documentation system providing excavators with data created during the locate process, accessible through the 811 system or directly to the excavator before excavation occurs.
• Facility Record Documentation Services Specialized services to help clients collect and update facility records in digital formats, supporting damage prevention programs, reducing damages, and protecting the public.
• Gas Meter Inspection Inspection service supporting DIMP Compliance, facility records verification, validation that service lines are electronically locatable, with real-time notification of deficiencies and identification of abnormal operating conditions.
• Headway Safety Program Multi-step safety program with intensive training that empowers workers to recognize and enforce natural safety techniques, supporting an instinctually safe culture.
• RIGHTWAY Quality Management System Quality Management System (QMS) providing a structured approach and comprehensive training framework ensuring excellence in operations, with principles including responsibility, innovation, goal-orientation, high standards, thoroughness, effective management, accuracy, and excellence.

Quantifiable outcome

• Millions of successful locates per year reducing underground plant damages
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration13 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Common Ground Alliance (CGA)coreOthersTrade association member providing industry standards development for damage prevention. UtiliQuest is a proud member and displays CGA membership logo on website footer. CGA promotes best practices for safe digging and utility damage prevention.
• National Utility Locating Contractors Association (NULCA)coreOthersIndustry trade association for utility locating contractors. UtiliQuest is a proud member and displays NULCA membership logo. NULCA provides accreditation for training programs which UtiliQuest utilizes.
• Miss Utility of Virginia / 811coreOthersRegional One-Call center for Virginia. UtiliQuest partners with 811 systems nationwide to receive and fulfill locate requests. The company promotes the Miss Utility C.A.R.E. message (Call before you dig, Allow time, Respect marks, Excavate carefully).

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• USIC (United States Infrastructure Corporation): Largest direct competitor in the US utility locating / damage-prevention market, serving telecom, gas, and electric operators across a national footprint. Closest one-to-one comparable to UtiliQuest on service mix, customer base, and 811 integration model.
• GPRS (Ground Penetrating Radar Systems): Private utility locating and concrete scanning firm using ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic methods; competes for the same private-sector locate customers and offers similar private-utility-marking services. Highly comparable business model with strong regional density.

Broad incumbents

• MasTec: Public infrastructure-services conglomerate with utility T&D, gas, and telecom construction exposure. Overlaps with UtiliQuest's customer base at the contractor layer but operates as a broad specialty contractor rather than a damage-prevention pure-play.
• Quanta Services: Largest publicly traded utility infrastructure services provider in North America; serves electric, gas, telecom, and renewable utility operators. Broad incumbent with comparable end-customers but with a portfolio far wider than locate/damage prevention.
• Dycom Industries: UtiliQuest's publicly traded parent company and largest telecom-contracting consolidator. Sister subsidiaries (e.g., Black Diamond, Locating Inc.) overlap directly with UtiliQuest's service line, making Dycom both parent and most strategically aligned competitor.
• MYR Group: Public specialty contractor focused on electrical construction and T&D, with overlap into gas and telecom work. Comparable end-customers (electric and gas utilities) but distinct delivery model focused on construction rather than locate-only.

Emerging players

• Badger Daylighting: Public hydrovac excavation services provider commonly used to safely expose underground utilities after locating. Functionally adjacent — Badger's work is downstream of UtiliQuest's locate output — and increasingly relevant as vacuum-excavation becomes a preferred verification method.

Regional players

• Blood Hound Underground Utility Locating: Private regional utility locating firm operating across portions of the US Midwest/Southeast. Provides private locate, ground-penetrating radar, and SUE services comparable to UtiliQuest's core offering but at sub-scale regional density.

Others

• Radiodetection (part of SPX Technologies): Leading manufacturer of cable and pipe locators used by UtiliQuest field technicians. Adjacent enabler supplying the underlying locating instruments, rather than a direct competitor — but the equipment ecosystem is core to UtiliQuest's delivery.
• Common Ground Alliance (CGA): Industry trade association that sets damage-prevention best practices and DIRT reporting. UtiliQuest is a CGA member; CGA shapes the regulatory and reputational environment in which UtiliQuest operates, making it a key ecosystem participant rather than a competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/utiliquestjobs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/utiliquest

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about UtiliQuest