South Dakota: 48 hours before you dig.
South Dakota 811 · SDCL 49-7A-5, as amended by SL 2026, ch 183, §1
Read off the statute on . If it has moved since, tell us and we will re-read it.
A waiting period is not always permission. Some states also require that every operator has answered before you break ground, and some require you to mark your own dig path first. Where we have read that requirement, it is in the notes on this page. Where this page is silent, we have not checked it yet — silence here is not the same as absence. We are working through the rest and dating each one as it lands.
Notice before you break ground
48 hours
Forty-eight hours, and the clock does not start when you call — it starts at 12:01 a.m. the day after you submit, skipping Saturdays, Sundays and state holidays.
Worth knowing in South Dakota
No ticket life is shown. The twenty-one days quoted around South Dakota is not in the statute or in the board's rules, so it is not printed here. No tolerance width either — the chapter sets none. What it does set is strict liability: if the locate came back on time and the marks were adequate, an excavator who hits the line is liable for all damage proximately caused, full stop. If the marks were late or wrong, that flips, and you are liable only on proof of negligence.
Common questions about digging in South Dakota
- How much notice do you have to give before digging in South Dakota?
- 48 hours before you break ground, through South Dakota 811. Forty-eight hours, and the clock does not start when you call — it starts at 12:01 a.m. the day after you submit, skipping Saturdays, Sundays and state holidays.
Check it yourself
Every figure here was read off SDCL 49-7A-5, as amended by SL 2026, ch 183, §1, not off a summary — summaries of these get the unit wrong, and the unit is usually a weekend. Read the source.
Running a crew in South Dakota?
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