Nevada Civil, Utility and Paving Contractors: One-Call Duties, NDOT Bonds and Public Works

NRS 455.110 bars excavation or demolition in an area known or reasonably expected to contain subsurface installations unless the excavator notifies the one-call association at least 2 working days and not more than 28 calendar days before work is scheduled to begin. A working day under NRS 455.105 runs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays that are not holidays. The notice must state the area, start date, expected duration, type of work and whether explosives will be used, and the excavator must mark the proposed area in white or another agreed method.

The 28-day ceiling matters on long pipeline, conduit and paving jobs, because a contractor cannot ticket an entire alignment at mobilization. Operators must locate within 2 working days under NRS 455.130 or a time agreed with the excavator. Before using mechanical equipment, NRS 455.137 requires the excavator to find the exact location of marked facilities with non-mechanical equipment or an agreed method, with an exception for removing pavement that contains no installations.

For contractors, the definition is broad. Under NRS 455.092, any movement of earth by a contractor counts as excavation, including hand digging at any depth, along with boring, trenching, grading and backfilling. Emergency work is excused from advance notice only where loss of life, health or property is substantially likely first, and the operator must be told as soon as practicable.

After contact, NRS 455.140 requires the excavator to notify the operator and allow reasonable time for repairs, and if gas, water, a toxic or corrosive substance or electricity escapes, to notify the operator and minimize the hazard until its crew arrives. NRS 455.150 then says a person who substantially complies with the chapter is not liable for the cost of repairing damage to the installation.

That release reaches the repair bill, not every claim. NRS 455.180 preserves other civil remedies for personal injury and property damage, so a business interruption, flood or injury claim following a strike still turns on the facts, the contracts and the contractor's liability program. Ticket records, white-marking photos and potholing logs are often what decide whether the contractor can show substantial compliance.

Penalties run through the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. Under NRS 455.170, negligent violations can bring up to $1,000 a day and $50,000 for a related series in a year, and willful or repeated violations up to $2,500 a day and $250,000. The maximum may triple for contact with, or work within 24 horizontal inches of, a high-consequence installation, which NRS 455.093 defines to include high-pressure gas lines, petroleum lines, force mains, lines of 115 kilovolts or more, water lines of 18 inches or more and optical carrier communications lines.

NDOT work runs under NRS chapter 408, not the local public works bond chapter. Before receiving plans, a bidder files a sworn questionnaire and financial statement under NRS 408.333, and the director must refuse plans to a contractor that materially breached a public work contract over $25 million in the preceding year. Bids carry a surety undertaking, cash or a certified check of at least 5 percent under NRS 408.337, forfeited if the contract and bonds are not delivered within 20 days of award.

NRS 408.357 requires bonds in the full contract amount from corporate sureties the department approves. The performance bond stays in force for 1 year after completion, so the surety carries the job into the first year of service, and the labor and material bond covers taxes, industrial insurance premiums and unemployment contributions in addition to labor and supply claims, with 8 percent interest on unpaid amounts. A bidder cannot act as surety on any bond, and NDOT may demand added bonds if a surety becomes insufficient.

Claims follow a short clock under NRS 408.363: a claimant files with NDOT within 30 days after final acceptance and must sue the surety within 6 months. A contractor with a closeout plan that clears lower-tier balances before final acceptance gives its surety less to worry about.

Utility crossings and service work in a state highway need NDOT's written permit under NRS 408.423, which covers pipelines, sewers, poles, wires, approaches and driveways. The work must meet the director's conditions, and the cost of restoring the highway to its prior condition falls on the permittee or the contractor doing the work.

That restoration duty is why a permit carries its own risk transfer. NRS 408.357 also lets NDOT require proof of public liability and property damage insurance on its contracts, owners and utilities may ask to be named as additional insureds, and permit security and its release depend on the department's and each local agency's terms, which change from one jurisdiction to the next.

Cities, counties, water and sewer agencies and other public bodies follow NRS chapter 339. On contracts over $100,000 the agency fixes performance and payment bonds at no less than 50 percent each, the surety must be authorized in Nevada and an agency may not require a particular surety, agent or broker. Payment bond claimants without a contract with the prime must give written notice within 30 days of first furnishing and within 90 days of last furnishing, and must sue within 1 year.

Public works over $100,000 also carry prevailing wage obligations under NRS chapter 338. On contracts over $250,000, NRS 338.1389 lets a general or specialty contractor holding a Contractors Board certificate of eligibility win with a bid up to 5 percent above a bidder without one. Retainage under NRS 338.515 is 5 percent until the work is half done, and an owner may release a subcontractor's share of retainage early when that portion is complete and lien releases from it and its lower tiers are delivered.

Stormwater is part of most of these jobs. NDEP's construction general permit reaches disturbance of an acre or more, or less as part of a larger common plan, and a contractor that holds or shares permit duties should know who files the notice of intent and the notice of termination.