Underground Utility Contractor in Chicago, IL

Chicago is the largest city in Cook County, with an estimated 2,721,308 residents (2024 Census estimate) on about 228 square miles of land. Underground work in a city of that size rarely happens on an empty site: streets carry traffic, sidewalks carry people, and the ground below already holds water, sewer, gas, electric and telecom lines.

Working below a dense city

Most Chicago jobs are defined by what surrounds them. A sewer lateral repair in front of a two-flat, a new water service to a mixed-use building, a storm connection for a parking lot or conduit for a commercial power feed all start with the same question: what else is buried within a few feet of the planned dig?

That is where hydro excavation earns its place. Water loosens the soil and a vacuum removes it, so existing lines can be exposed and identified before a bucket goes anywhere near them. Where a line has to cross beneath a street, an alley or a rail spur, directional drilling can place pipe or conduit underneath without opening the whole route.

We work for building owners and managers, developers, general contractors who need an underground subcontractor, and industrial sites with pits and process lines that need a vacuum truck.

Permits, locates and the owner of the line

Work in a Chicago street or alley involves the owner of the right-of-way as well as the owner of the utility, and both set conditions for opening and restoring the surface. Before any excavation in Illinois, a locate request goes to JULIE, the state's one-call center, so that buried facilities are marked. We will ask who owns the line in question and whether a permit application has already been made.

Chicago and the near suburbs

Among the communities near Chicago are Oak Park, Berwyn and Cicero. Tell us the address or the nearest intersection, describe the utility and the problem, and attach any drawings you have; we will review the details and explain how we would approach the job.