Route, profile, and bore geometry information
Provide the project address, current drawing set, route limits, proposed alignment, surface features, approximate bore length, required cover or profile, and proposed entry and exit areas. Show tie-ins, structures, crossings, elevation constraints, easements, and right-of-way limits that affect the path.
Bore geometry must come from the project’s authorized design information. Identify product bend constraints, required separations, steering tolerance, and the survey or control information supplied. If route or profile design is incomplete, label it as an owner or engineering-team decision rather than asking a construction estimate to fill the gap.
Utility records, locate status, and field verification
Include available utility maps, survey data, record drawings, owner-furnished conflict information, private-facility records, and documented field-verification results. State the current public-locate status and distinguish marked member utilities from facilities that may require a separate private-location or owner workflow.
Georgia 811 is a damage-prevention notification and member-locate process; it is not a construction permit, subsurface investigation, or guarantee that every facility is identified. The project documents should assign notification, ticket maintenance, positive-response review, private-facility coordination, potholing, and conflict-resolution responsibilities to the appropriate parties.
Ground and geotechnical inputs
Supply available boring logs, geotechnical reports, groundwater observations, prior excavation records, and known information about rock, fill, cobbles, contamination, voids, or obstructions. State whether the information is for reference or part of the contract baseline and define how differing or changed conditions will be handled.
FHWA’s trenchless guidance identifies soils, rock, groundwater, and uncertain utilities as important method and risk inputs. The owner and its authorized technical professionals decide what investigations and engineered criteria are required; a contractor bid should identify the information relied upon.
Product and conduit package
- Carrier or conduit count, size, material, wall class or dimensional requirement, and intended use.
- Segment lengths, connection method, bend limits, pull-head or end-treatment requirements, and allowable pull forces when specified.
- Casing, spacers, tracer wire, pull rope, innerduct, caps, plugs, markers, and appurtenances shown in the documents.
- Material-furnishing, receiving, storage, inspection, testing, and damage-replacement responsibilities.
- Transition, handhole, vault, riser, stub-up, tie-in, and termination interfaces.
Do not assume a contractor supplies every material or access structure. Identify furnished-by and installed-by responsibilities item by item.
Entry/exit areas, staging, and access
Show available setup areas, receiving areas, equipment paths, gate restrictions, product-string assembly space, storage, water availability, spoil handling, and temporary-use boundaries. Note occupied facilities, nearby residences, business access, overhead restrictions, slopes, soft ground, and coordination with other trades.
Define who secures property access, easements, traffic accommodations, utility-owner attendance, outages, and work-area release. A route can be drillable on paper yet not construction-ready if setup or pullback space is unavailable.
Drilling-fluid constraints and contingency decisions
Identify applicable drilling-fluid requirements, water-source restrictions, containment areas, disposal or reuse expectations, environmental controls, and reporting procedures. Where an inadvertent return or other surface effect is a project concern, the authorized plan should state monitoring, stop-work, notification, containment, cleanup, and restart responsibilities.
FHWA notes that HDD specifications may address drilling fluids, subsurface exploration, minimum cover, surface-disturbance contingencies, abandoned pilot holes, quality control, testing, tracking, and documentation. Use the project-specific specification—not this summary—to define the required procedure.
Permits, work windows, restoration, and acceptance
List each known authority or property owner, permit status, allowed work hours, inspection hold points, traffic or access restrictions, environmental conditions, and schedule dependencies. Construction bidding does not transfer permit acquisition, design approval, locating, or agency coordination unless the contract expressly assigns that responsibility.
Define restoration limits for entry, exit, tie-in, and disturbed support areas. State the required records, material documentation, bore log or as-built information, proofing or testing, cleanup, inspection, and party authorized to accept the work.
Estimate-ready package checklist
- Issue the current drawings, route/profile information, specifications, addenda, and decision hierarchy.
- List product quantities and properties, furnished-by boundaries, interfaces, and acceptance requirements.
- Attach utility records, locate status, verification results, and available ground information.
- Mark entry/exit areas, access routes, staging limits, property constraints, and work windows.
- Identify permits, traffic, environmental, drilling-fluid, restoration, testing, and closeout responsibilities.
- Ask every bidder to return assumptions, exclusions, alternates, schedule dependencies, and changed-condition treatment in writing.
Use the HDD-versus-trenching method guide if the construction method is still under review. For estimate variables, see the directional-drilling cost-factor guide. Golden Road’s owning service page is the directional-drilling service pillar; the full library is in the resource hub.
Scope boundary
This checklist does not assign Golden Road responsibility for route or profile design, engineering, geotechnical investigation, utility locating, private-facility identification, permit acquisition, traffic plans, or owner acceptance. Those duties remain with the parties named by applicable law, owner requirements, and the executed contract. Only a project-specific written agreement defines Golden Road’s construction scope.
Sources and reviewed date
- Federal Highway Administration: HDD methods, limitations, and specification concepts
- Georgia 811: official damage-prevention and locate-response process
Reviewed August 10, 2026
This guide is general planning information and is not engineering, geotechnical, locating, permitting, safety, or legal advice. Current law, agency requirements, issued project documents, and the executed contract control.