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GPR Locating in St. Petersburg

We Find All Sorts of Things Underground: Metal or Plastic

St. Petersburg pairs some of the oldest neighborhoods on the Gulf coast with a high water table and a sewer system known for trouble with aging lines. GPR Bros does GPR locating across St. Pete, finding the metal and plastic lines that 811 won't mark, and scanning slabs before anyone cuts. Our camera work shows you what's inside an old sewer lateral, and we also pinpoint leaks, trace electrical faults, and sweep for buried oil tanks.

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GPR Locating Across Pinellas County

How GPR Locating Works

Every GPR Bros locate follows the same three steps: you tell us about the job, we scan the site and mark every line we find right on the ground, and you get the paperwork.

Technician feeding a sewer inspection camera into a drain

Step 01

Contact

Tell us the site and what you’re planning: digging, boring, coring, building. We figure out which methods the job needs and send the right tech with the right gear, same day when it’s urgent.

Pipe inspection camera monitor showing the inside of a pipe, with the push cable reel behind it

Step 02

Locate

Our tech sweeps the site with ground penetrating radar plus electromagnetic tracing, finds every line and target we can detect, metal or plastic, and marks it right on the ground in APWA colors with paint and flags.

Technician reviewing a GPR Bros underground utility mapping report on site

Step 03

Deliver

You get paint and flags on site, a PDF report with depth estimates within 24 hours, and GPS-referenced KMZ maps or CAD overlays if your team needs them. A record you can actually build from.

GPR Bros utility locating service van

Before You Dig, Call

Why Contractors Call GPR Bros

24-Hour Response

Availability

We work all of Florida, and Pinellas jobs get scheduled around our crew's route. Call early and we'll give you a real date and arrival window, with nights and weekends available. Call 954-873-6000.

Private utility line locating icon

We Find What 811 and Metal Detectors Miss

Florida law says you call 811 at least two full business days before you dig, and the ticket is good for 30 days. The utilities then come out and mark their lines. The catch is what they don’t mark. In Sunshine 811’s own words, “member utilities only mark the facilities they own.” Everything past the meter is yours: the water line to the building, the sewer lateral, irrigation, landscape and parking-lot lighting, power to a shed, sign or gate, gas to a pool heater or grill, fire lines, and lines running between buildings.

Those misses add up. Florida logged 37,275 underground utility damages in 2025, at an estimated $4.2 billion in total cost. The average gas or electric line hit runs about $147,000 to $151,000 once everything is counted, and the repair itself is only about 6% of what a hit really costs nationwide. The rest is downtime, delays and everything that follows.

No single tool finds everything. Radar sees plastic, concrete and metal, but wet clay, muck and salt water cut down how deep it reaches, and it can’t see past a metal line sitting on top of another one. An electromagnetic locator follows metal pipe and wire very precisely, but it can’t find plastic or fiber unless a tracer wire was buried with it. We bring both, and use whichever one the ground and the line call for.

Locate documentation delivered icon

Your Documentation, Delivered Before You Dig

Every locate comes with APWA color-coded paint and flags on site, a PDF report within 24 hours with depth estimates, and GPS-referenced KMZ maps or CAD overlays for your team on request. Marked on the ground and documented for your records.

Technician holding a GPR Bros utility locate map of a job site
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Seven Services, One Call

Utility locating, concrete scanning, leak detection, fault locating, oil tank sweeps, pipe cameras and void detection. One crew covers all of it, so you make one call instead of four. Call 954-873-6000.

How We Find What's Underground

Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

Our core tool. GPR fires radar pulses into the ground and reads what bounces back, so it picks up plastic, PVC, concrete, and voids that metal-only locators walk right over. No metal required.

Electromagnetic Tracing

Electromagnetic Tracing (EM)

For metal lines, we put a signal on the utility and follow its path and depth: active mode when we can connect to a line directly, passive mode to pick up live power and telecom.

Acoustic Leak Detection

Acoustic Leak Detection

For pressurized water lines we listen. Ground microphones and correlators amplify the sound of escaping water to pinpoint the leak before anyone digs.

CCTV Pipe Cameras

CCTV Pipe Inspection

When we need to see inside a line, we push a camera through it, confirming pipe material and condition and showing exactly where a sewer or storm line runs and where it's failing.

Need Someone Within 24 Hours?

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954-873-6000

Emergency Response

What We Locate With GPR

GPR Bros runs seven services off one core skill: finding what’s underground and telling you exactly where it is. Ground penetrating radar is the through-line, backed by electromagnetic tracing, acoustic sensing, and CCTV where the job calls for it.

Private utility line locating icon

Utility Locating

Water, sewer, gas, electric, telecom, and the private lines past the meter that 811 never marks. Radar finds plastic and metal alike.

Concrete scanning icon

Concrete Scanning

Rebar, post-tension cables, and conduit inside slabs and walls. We mark safe cut zones before your saw or core bit touches the concrete.

Electromagnetic signal tracing icon

Leak Detection

We trace pressurized water lines, then walk them with ground microphones to pinpoint the breach, so you dig one hole, not ten.

Sonde and duct rod tracing icon

Fault Locating

Underground electrical fault? We trace the cable and isolate the failure point so the repair crew digs only where they need to.

Buried metal detection icon

Oil Tank Detection

We sweep with radar and magnetometry to find buried oil tanks, cisterns, and piping before a sale, closing, or dig.

Video pipe inspection camera icon

Video Pipe Inspection

We push CCTV cameras through sewer laterals and storm drains to find cracks, roots, bellies, and blockages from the inside.

Ground penetrating radar cart icon

Void & Sinkhole Detection

GPR finds voids, sinkholes, and buried structures that don't show on any drawing, before they become a problem.

GPR Bros utility locating service van

What Our Partners are Saying

Contractors across Florida and Georgia trust GPR Bros when project safety and schedules depend on accurate locates.

GPR Bros rated 5.0 on Google Reviews
5.0★★★★★8 reviewsWrite a review
★★★★★August 2026

Amazing service, was a pleasure working with you

Lleiby rubinGoogle
★★★★★August 2026

If your looking for a reliable company with great customer service and quality work! GPR Bros are the way to go!! Highly recommended!

Mmoshe rotbergGoogle
★★★★★August 2026

​GPR Bros delivered top-tier service! 811 only marks public utilities, so we hired GPR Bros for private locating before excavating. Their tech arrived on time, used advanced GPR equipment, and precisely mapped out all underground utilities on-site. Fast, accurate, and professional—they saved us from costly line damage. Highly recommend!

NNess MavorahGoogle
★★★★★August 2026

GPR BROS is the only place I will ever get GPR Scanning from going forward. they took care of us and beyond. And all the scans were very accurate a special thanks to Aaron

OOren MermelsteinGoogle
★★★★★March 2026

We used the Ground Penetrating Radar services to locate our underground utilities in our HOA community. It was done in a timely manner from scheduling to service it could not have gone better.

RRachel GoldGoogle
★★★★★March 2026

We used Radar Bros, they located our site lighting conduits for us it was a tremendous help. Smooth operation. Thank youWill us again

AAndrew MandelGoogle

Types of Lines and Targets We Locate

GPR Bros marks all located utilities with paint and flags following the APWA Uniform Color Code. Your excavation crew sees exactly what type of infrastructure runs beneath their equipment before breaking ground.

  • Electric
  • Street Lighting & Traffic Signals
  • Natural Gas
  • Petroleum & Fuel Oil
  • Steam Lines
  • Communications & Phone
  • Fiber Optic
  • Cable TV & Alarm
  • Potable Water
  • Reclaimed Water & Irrigation
  • Sanitary Sewer
  • Storm Drain
  • Unknown / Unmarked
  • Abandoned Lines
  • Temporary Markings

How to Get Ready for Your Locate

A little prep makes the locate faster and the marks more useful. Here’s what helps:

  1. Put in your 811 ticket first. The utilities mark what they own, and we find what they leave off.
  2. Mark the dig area in white paint or flags, so everyone is looking at the same spot.
  3. Tell us what you’re doing and how deep: a fence, a pool, a bore, a trench, a core.
  4. Send whatever plans you have: site plans, as-builts, irrigation maps. Old drawings help even when they’re wrong.
  5. Give us access to meters, cleanouts, valve boxes, the irrigation controller and the electric panel. That’s where we hook onto metal lines to trace them.
  6. Keep the marks visible. If they get scraped off, or the ticket runs past 30 days, get them re-marked before you dig.
  7. Within 24 inches of any mark, Florida law calls for extra care, like hand digging or vacuum excavation, not the bucket.
On-Site Paint and Flag Marking

Every job gets marked with APWA color-coded paint and flags to prevent damage and increase work safety. We use water-based paint that makes semi-permanent marks visible throughout your project. Dirt and grass areas get flagged. We adapt our methods to ensure no existing structure gets damaged during mark-out.

Written Job Report

Our reports document everything: technician name, time on site, utility types located, depth estimates, methods used, obstructions encountered, and any other findings from the investigation. You get a complete written record of what we found and how we found it.

Photographic Documentation

Photos document our work and provide permanent reference points for years to come. We photograph utility marks alongside permanent landscape features so locations can be verified long after paint fades. Every report includes a Dropbox link with all project images.

Satellite Overlay Maps

Upon request, GPR Bros provides satellite imagery overlaid with visual illustration of all utilities located, depths, and other job-relevant information. Maps show exactly where gas lines, water mains, electric, sewer, and telecom run across your site.

GPS Survey Files for CAD Integration

All GPR Bros technicians carry geo-satellite receivers. Upon request, we perform a basic GPS survey and deliver KMZ and KML files you can import directly into your project software or CAD systems.

Recent GPR Work Across Florida

A few recent GPR Bros jobs, with photos taken on site.

White paint line through leaves near a black fence in Ocala, FL

Utility Locate · Jul 2026 · Ocala

Line Painted Through the Leaves

A white paint line runs through fallen leaves under an oak, up to a black metal fence.

  • White paint line
  • Under the oak canopy
  • Up to the fence
Blue flags in a curved lawn inside temporary fencing in Naples, FL

Utility Locate · Sep 2026 · Naples

Flagged Lawn Inside the Fence

Inside the temporary fence on a pool builder's job in Naples, blue flags follow a water line across the curved lawn, right through the area the pool crew needed to dig.

  • Blue flags for water
  • Inside the work fence
  • Line ran through the dig area
Green paint line with a depth mark on a concrete lot in Florida

Utility Locate · Mar 2026 · Florida

Green Line Across the Concrete

A long green line painted across a concrete lot, with the depth written right on the slab.

  • Green paint line
  • Depth written on the slab
  • Concrete lot

Local Knowledge · St. Petersburg

About St. Petersburg

St. Pete has some of the oldest neighborhoods on the Gulf coast, with bungalows on tight lots next to new condos and rebuilds. Old lots mean old lines: services replaced but never removed, and paperwork that doesn't match what's in the ground.

Ground Conditions in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg has two kinds of ground. The higher sandy ridges are deep, dry sand that federal soil surveys rate very high for radar. The low ground around them, and a lot of the land near the bay, has the water table about a foot down, and some of the waterfront is filled land with water around 2 feet down. A U.S. Geological Survey study that ran GPR across Pinellas found it could see from a few feet to more than 50, depending on how much clay was in the way.

Old lines are the other half of the story. In 2015 and 2016 the city released up to 200 million gallons of sewage into Tampa Bay, which it blamed on aging, damaged lines letting rainwater in, and the settlement required inspections of its sewer mains. Private sewer laterals on the older lots are often just as old. We find them with radar and look inside with a camera, so you know what you've got before you dig.

What’s Under the Streets in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg runs 1,543 miles of water main, 888 miles of gravity sewer and 287 miles of reclaimed water main. The city started its reclaimed system in 1977, one of the first in the country, so purple pipe runs under a lot of St. Pete. About half the pipe downtown is more than 75 years old, and the city puts its pipe bill at $3.4 billion through 2050. Duke Energy runs the power and is adding about 370 miles of buried conduit by 2027, and Peoples Gas runs the gas.

In 2015 and 2016 the city's sewer system released up to 200 million gallons, and the 2018 settlement that followed brought in a city rule for repairing leaky private sewer laterals: the pipe from the house to the city main. There are 97,941 of those laterals in St. Pete. They belong to the property owner, so 811 doesn't mark them, and on an older lot nobody may know exactly where yours runs. We find them with radar, or by pushing a camera and a small transmitter up the pipe and tracing it from above.

We cover Downtown and the waterfront, the Edge District, Grand Central, Old Northeast, Kenwood, and the Gateway area, plus nearby Gulfport, Pinellas Park, Largo, and Seminole.

Get A FREE Estimate Today

GPR Bros locates underground utilities, pipes, and cables before you dig. We serve contractors, homeowners, and property managers across Florida and Georgia with same-day availability when you need it. Call now for a free quote.

GPR Locating Across Pinellas County

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions from St. Petersburg contractors, engineers, and property owners about GPR locating.

Can you check my sewer lateral before a remodel?

Yes. We run a camera through the lateral to look for cracks, roots, and sags, and locate it from the surface so you know where it runs. On an older St. Pete lot that's worth knowing before you pour a slab or an addition over it.

It works with less depth. Where the water table is about a foot down, the signal fades faster than it does on the dry sand ridges. We add electromagnetic tracing for metal and wired lines and tell you what the site allowed.

Yes. Radar doesn't need a plan. It finds buried pipe and conduit, metal or plastic, in use or abandoned. We mark it on the ground and note anything we can't identify.

GPR Bros utility locating service van