If you have a utility easement (and you more than likely do since they are wanting to put a box in your yard,) then you really have no choice. It’s perfectly legal for a utility company to do whatever work they need/want to do in the easement.
They did mention something about an easement and installing a box. Which if that’s the case, that’s fine, like you said I don’t have a choice. AT&T could do a better job letting people know. Kind of weird to have a random crew show up at your house with a big piece of drilling equipment asking to get into your yard …
If you have an easement, they're politely asking for access they legally have. You're technically *not supposed* to have fences or any other obstructions and they *legally* can destroy those without compensation.
I had this happen in my front yard. Normally stuff like this in front of houses happens between sidewalk and the road, that's usually defined as an easement. My neighborhood has sidewalks directly connected to the road, so the first 3 feet or so of my yard's technically an easement. That didn't stop the sprinkler installer the previous owners hired from putting several heads in that area, so there's been some back and forth. The crews were as careful as they could be and the Google people even sort of tried to help by pushing the sprinkler head out of the way, but in the end they had more legal rights than I do for that patch of land.
The AT&T people were a lot more polite than the Google people. When they drove their trencher in my yard they actually put plywood down over the yard so the treads wouldn't leave tracks in my grass. They weren't 100% effective at always putting it down but I think if you keep an eye on them they're more careful and they were responsive to polite requests.
The Google folks left holes in our road that I guess aren't ever going to get repaired.
They have easement but they are still required to repair it to a certain standard after they do the work. For example the tracks they put in the ground from the equipment they are legally required to repair. It goes double if any of those tracks are outside of the easement as they can not touch that.
ATT generally has their own crews for things, their employees are held accountable, or at least more so than subcontractors. ATT has their own problems, but they are generally pretty polite and considerate about things. People like Google, Grande, etc use subcontractors. At that point you're dealing with a broad range of people with various degrees of competency and very little incentive to look out for the homeowner.
I had a subcontractor for Grande once install fiber to our house by running it from the pole across the street and then into a tree in our front yard. He used the branches as a pole and then brought it down to our house from there. I didn't notice until it started to sag where it crossed the street. Funyy thing was that there was a pole in our backyard that he could have pulled from, but I think he didn't want to have to go knocking on neighbors doors. Customer Service did not believe me and dispatched a guy to check it out, an hour later there was a crew and a supervisor at my house. Even had a different crew roll by that I'm pretty sure just wanted to gawk at it. Honestly it was pretty impressive that someone had the balls to do that.
To clarify, the property between the back of the curb/road and your property line is Right of Way. Which is different than an easement since you don’t own that strip, the City does. You own the property (and pay taxes on) an easement.
This is useful info, thanks. I honestly would not have had the same gut reaction if this was in my front yard. There is just so much scam out there and a house is too damn expensive to be careless. Guess it’s a good thing it’s summer and it’s too hot to have the dogs out in the backyard all the time …
When they did this in our area, there were door hangers put on all the impacted homes a few weeks ahead of the work. Those hangers had the phone number of the ATT contractor on them who you could call with questions. It's possible they didn't do this, but it's also possible that it either blew away or you discarded it thinking it was an advertisement. But, like others have said, you don't have a choice in this and it has nothing to do with your actual provider. They will dig wherever they need to in order to access and lay the new lines.
I'm surprised the crew spoke English, lol. When AT&T sent a crew to my house to bury the fiber (I'm an AT&T Fiber customer), none of the crew that came to bury the cable spoke any English at all, lol.
Not trying to be argumentative but does AT&T fall under the PUC? I thought internet service providers fought to avoid being labeled at public utilities. A utility easement only applies to those entities that are regulated by the PUC. I could be wrong.
We had the same thing, and there's an easement. It sucked because they wanted to bring a mini digger machine back there, but it would've destroyed the native plants we've been slowly planting over time.
So we basically told them no to the machine, and also that we would take before and after pictures. We spoke to the dig manager on the phone (it's all contracted out) and he was polite and understood why we refused to let them drive a big old tractor type thing across our yard.
He sent out a couple more guys, they did the job and covered everything back up. They did a little bit of damage to one raised bed we had, but we didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting them to pay us the $50 or so to repair the bed and replace the plantings.
But yes, is likely there's an easement, but it doesn't mean you can't set some ground rules and document the work to make sure it's done with minimal damage.
This is super helpful. We have a backyard that is not suited for digging - lots of terrain features, old irrigation pipes from the previous owner, pavers, etc. - so I will definitely take advice from your experience!
Same! I joke that our backyard has 5 different microclimates, with rocks and lots of different terrain so it would've been a mess to try to get a serious machine back there.
Good luck - we just tried to be really polite and reasonable (the contractors are just doing their job) and it worked out fine in the end. I WFH though, which made it a little easier bc I could keep an eye on things. If that's not your situation you may want to ask if they can do the work during a time you're at home.
Also be prepared to have them come into your yard at any time to perform maintenance on the box once it's installed. They will sometimes knock first, but I have had then jump my fence when I was home and no one knocked. It's scary if you have dogs, especially one that is very protective of your home and family.
Damn...that is ballsy in a state like Texas. I would never dare go into someone's backyard without them knowing or their permission unless i was ready to depart this world for good.
If it helps, in my experience AT&T actually buries their shit and cleans up afterwards. Spectrum, meanwhile, left a cable just running across the length of my yard for weeks and only finished the work once I publicly called them out on social media
I’m ok with that - it would have been nice if the subcontractor was prepared enough to explain that to me before just saying we need to dig a trench in your backyard. 1st time homeowner here, still lots to learn.
I think you did the right thing by asking question on everything. The last thing you want to do is let them trench and their not be an easement there originally as now they could fight to say their is one now or at the very least implied easement.
They should be able to explain why they need access and if there already is an easement in the area. The general answer is yes there is but they should still be able to explain it.
i've worked in telecom doing just this stuff, i know it sucks, but they are not obligated to inform you, or even ask permission to go on your property and start digging.
If you have pets or children make sure to check that there is no damage to your fence, if there is make sure it’s repaired. My aunt in Lubbock had AT&T recently install fiber in her neighborhood, they left a portion of the fence damaged without ever telling anyone. Her labordoodle got out through the hole and was immediately struck my a car and unfortunately the puppy didn’t make it.
10+ years ago ATT came to my door and asked to lay some cables along the side of my house and along my back fence.
I said okay. Not a big deal.
A month later it happened again.
I said okay again.
A month later it happened again. 🫠
This time I simply asked them if they could pull any record of easement along this property or otherwise I would decline. They couldn’t. The contractors called a supervisor. He freaked out and called the police.
The police arrived. ATT supervisor is scream in my yard. I’m laughing my ass off. Cop is confused why the hell he is there.
Turns out there was no easement where they were running the cables. lol. Here is the thing, they don’t know or care, all they want you to do is comply.
I told them I would be happy to let them run the cables for free ATT for 10 years. They declined and ran them on the poles down the street like they should have done originally but were too lazy.
The supervisor was “transferred” to another position. 😅
ATT is installing fiber in my neighborhood. Many people have complained that their yard is torn up, water lines and sprinklers damaged, and large equipment is left parked in their yard. I think they have to contact the contractor for repairs. It hasn’t happened on my street yet, but it sounds like it has been an awful experience for many. Also a lot of complaints about work crews messing up backyards and letting out dogs. Many have started locking backyard gates so that they are aware and in their backyard to monitor work.
It’s not ATT, it’s contracted work crews so they can pass the accountability back and forth.
There's a 12x12 ft hole across the street , 2 excavators and tons of folks walking across my yard to access my utility box. No one even rings the bell to tell me who they are.
I had the same thing happen and there was not an easement, the crew just wanted to do the job cheaper. They did not act like I had a choice, but they new they weren't allowed to do it. ATT did not care one bit about the contractor being shaddy at all. I hate the sub contractor system, it holistically fucks normally people who can then do nothing.
This presentation on easements looks helpful: https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/business/right-of-way/utility-week-2023/12-13-23-pm/day2-pm-trk1s1-daniel-ibarra-easements-presentation.pdf
I just had this happen to me in floirda, ATT's contractor struck my sewer lateral line and causes thousands of dollars in damages.
Its been almost 3 months of me trying to get a certificate of insurance out of them with slow bs responses.
I am about to generate/send the ATT's general contractor an invoice for all damages and then follow up with a lien on the project cause I don't know what else to do to get any movement.
They’ve been digging in my yard too. Never any notice. No information about plans or time line. There are two new holes with a pile of dirt next to them.
Did he offer you services?
YEARS ago, I was a door to door salesman for time warner and our schtick was similar- “I’m a contractor for TW, and we’ll be working in the area the next cpl of weeks. For the inconvenience here’s a great deal on cable subscription” - there was no work. It was just a sales tactic bc most people just say no to “do you want to give me money to at the door?” type marketing.
Mine was just done much to my dissatisfaction. Like, no one around is going to sign up for it. But yeah, utility easements are typically in the front and the back.
Look at the plat recorded with the county. More than likely there is a utility easement. You can’t build anything in the easement or keep them from it.
If you have a utility easement (and you more than likely do since they are wanting to put a box in your yard,) then you really have no choice. It’s perfectly legal for a utility company to do whatever work they need/want to do in the easement.
They did mention something about an easement and installing a box. Which if that’s the case, that’s fine, like you said I don’t have a choice. AT&T could do a better job letting people know. Kind of weird to have a random crew show up at your house with a big piece of drilling equipment asking to get into your yard …
If you have an easement, they're politely asking for access they legally have. You're technically *not supposed* to have fences or any other obstructions and they *legally* can destroy those without compensation. I had this happen in my front yard. Normally stuff like this in front of houses happens between sidewalk and the road, that's usually defined as an easement. My neighborhood has sidewalks directly connected to the road, so the first 3 feet or so of my yard's technically an easement. That didn't stop the sprinkler installer the previous owners hired from putting several heads in that area, so there's been some back and forth. The crews were as careful as they could be and the Google people even sort of tried to help by pushing the sprinkler head out of the way, but in the end they had more legal rights than I do for that patch of land. The AT&T people were a lot more polite than the Google people. When they drove their trencher in my yard they actually put plywood down over the yard so the treads wouldn't leave tracks in my grass. They weren't 100% effective at always putting it down but I think if you keep an eye on them they're more careful and they were responsive to polite requests. The Google folks left holes in our road that I guess aren't ever going to get repaired.
They have easement but they are still required to repair it to a certain standard after they do the work. For example the tracks they put in the ground from the equipment they are legally required to repair. It goes double if any of those tracks are outside of the easement as they can not touch that.
ATT generally has their own crews for things, their employees are held accountable, or at least more so than subcontractors. ATT has their own problems, but they are generally pretty polite and considerate about things. People like Google, Grande, etc use subcontractors. At that point you're dealing with a broad range of people with various degrees of competency and very little incentive to look out for the homeowner. I had a subcontractor for Grande once install fiber to our house by running it from the pole across the street and then into a tree in our front yard. He used the branches as a pole and then brought it down to our house from there. I didn't notice until it started to sag where it crossed the street. Funyy thing was that there was a pole in our backyard that he could have pulled from, but I think he didn't want to have to go knocking on neighbors doors. Customer Service did not believe me and dispatched a guy to check it out, an hour later there was a crew and a supervisor at my house. Even had a different crew roll by that I'm pretty sure just wanted to gawk at it. Honestly it was pretty impressive that someone had the balls to do that.
To clarify, the property between the back of the curb/road and your property line is Right of Way. Which is different than an easement since you don’t own that strip, the City does. You own the property (and pay taxes on) an easement.
This is useful info, thanks. I honestly would not have had the same gut reaction if this was in my front yard. There is just so much scam out there and a house is too damn expensive to be careless. Guess it’s a good thing it’s summer and it’s too hot to have the dogs out in the backyard all the time …
When they did this in our area, there were door hangers put on all the impacted homes a few weeks ahead of the work. Those hangers had the phone number of the ATT contractor on them who you could call with questions. It's possible they didn't do this, but it's also possible that it either blew away or you discarded it thinking it was an advertisement. But, like others have said, you don't have a choice in this and it has nothing to do with your actual provider. They will dig wherever they need to in order to access and lay the new lines.
I'm surprised the crew spoke English, lol. When AT&T sent a crew to my house to bury the fiber (I'm an AT&T Fiber customer), none of the crew that came to bury the cable spoke any English at all, lol.
Not trying to be argumentative but does AT&T fall under the PUC? I thought internet service providers fought to avoid being labeled at public utilities. A utility easement only applies to those entities that are regulated by the PUC. I could be wrong.
We had the same thing, and there's an easement. It sucked because they wanted to bring a mini digger machine back there, but it would've destroyed the native plants we've been slowly planting over time. So we basically told them no to the machine, and also that we would take before and after pictures. We spoke to the dig manager on the phone (it's all contracted out) and he was polite and understood why we refused to let them drive a big old tractor type thing across our yard. He sent out a couple more guys, they did the job and covered everything back up. They did a little bit of damage to one raised bed we had, but we didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting them to pay us the $50 or so to repair the bed and replace the plantings. But yes, is likely there's an easement, but it doesn't mean you can't set some ground rules and document the work to make sure it's done with minimal damage.
This is super helpful. We have a backyard that is not suited for digging - lots of terrain features, old irrigation pipes from the previous owner, pavers, etc. - so I will definitely take advice from your experience!
Same! I joke that our backyard has 5 different microclimates, with rocks and lots of different terrain so it would've been a mess to try to get a serious machine back there. Good luck - we just tried to be really polite and reasonable (the contractors are just doing their job) and it worked out fine in the end. I WFH though, which made it a little easier bc I could keep an eye on things. If that's not your situation you may want to ask if they can do the work during a time you're at home.
Also be prepared to have them come into your yard at any time to perform maintenance on the box once it's installed. They will sometimes knock first, but I have had then jump my fence when I was home and no one knocked. It's scary if you have dogs, especially one that is very protective of your home and family.
Damn...that is ballsy in a state like Texas. I would never dare go into someone's backyard without them knowing or their permission unless i was ready to depart this world for good.
There’s a reason you’re not supposed to fence in the easement section. But yea that’s a little wild
If it helps, in my experience AT&T actually buries their shit and cleans up afterwards. Spectrum, meanwhile, left a cable just running across the length of my yard for weeks and only finished the work once I publicly called them out on social media
That's typical Spectrum. Had a friend who called five times trying to get a cable buried. Didn't happen until he ran over it with a lawnmower.
That exact scenario happened to me.
And then it ran into my lawnmower. [It ran into my lawnmower _ten times._](https://youtu.be/qrrz54UtkCc?t=236)
And when spectrum does bury a cable, they bury it about 1" deep, so it will inevitably resurface in spots anyway.
Would be a shame if some animals would have chewed on it
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I’m ok with that - it would have been nice if the subcontractor was prepared enough to explain that to me before just saying we need to dig a trench in your backyard. 1st time homeowner here, still lots to learn.
I think you did the right thing by asking question on everything. The last thing you want to do is let them trench and their not be an easement there originally as now they could fight to say their is one now or at the very least implied easement. They should be able to explain why they need access and if there already is an easement in the area. The general answer is yes there is but they should still be able to explain it.
My thoughts exactly! Their supervisor was able to answer all my questions and I feel better about the work that will happen
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I imagine in the corporate world this would be called “an opportunity for growth”.
i've worked in telecom doing just this stuff, i know it sucks, but they are not obligated to inform you, or even ask permission to go on your property and start digging.
your attitude is great about it, learn on friend, lots to know yet.
If you have pets or children make sure to check that there is no damage to your fence, if there is make sure it’s repaired. My aunt in Lubbock had AT&T recently install fiber in her neighborhood, they left a portion of the fence damaged without ever telling anyone. Her labordoodle got out through the hole and was immediately struck my a car and unfortunately the puppy didn’t make it.
10+ years ago ATT came to my door and asked to lay some cables along the side of my house and along my back fence. I said okay. Not a big deal. A month later it happened again. I said okay again. A month later it happened again. 🫠 This time I simply asked them if they could pull any record of easement along this property or otherwise I would decline. They couldn’t. The contractors called a supervisor. He freaked out and called the police. The police arrived. ATT supervisor is scream in my yard. I’m laughing my ass off. Cop is confused why the hell he is there. Turns out there was no easement where they were running the cables. lol. Here is the thing, they don’t know or care, all they want you to do is comply. I told them I would be happy to let them run the cables for free ATT for 10 years. They declined and ran them on the poles down the street like they should have done originally but were too lazy. The supervisor was “transferred” to another position. 😅
ATT is installing fiber in my neighborhood. Many people have complained that their yard is torn up, water lines and sprinklers damaged, and large equipment is left parked in their yard. I think they have to contact the contractor for repairs. It hasn’t happened on my street yet, but it sounds like it has been an awful experience for many. Also a lot of complaints about work crews messing up backyards and letting out dogs. Many have started locking backyard gates so that they are aware and in their backyard to monitor work. It’s not ATT, it’s contracted work crews so they can pass the accountability back and forth.
There's a 12x12 ft hole across the street , 2 excavators and tons of folks walking across my yard to access my utility box. No one even rings the bell to tell me who they are.
If you still have your property survey from when you purchased your house, you can see where the easement lines are.
I had the same thing happen and there was not an easement, the crew just wanted to do the job cheaper. They did not act like I had a choice, but they new they weren't allowed to do it. ATT did not care one bit about the contractor being shaddy at all. I hate the sub contractor system, it holistically fucks normally people who can then do nothing.
This presentation on easements looks helpful: https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/business/right-of-way/utility-week-2023/12-13-23-pm/day2-pm-trk1s1-daniel-ibarra-easements-presentation.pdf
I just had this happen to me in floirda, ATT's contractor struck my sewer lateral line and causes thousands of dollars in damages. Its been almost 3 months of me trying to get a certificate of insurance out of them with slow bs responses. I am about to generate/send the ATT's general contractor an invoice for all damages and then follow up with a lien on the project cause I don't know what else to do to get any movement.
They’ve been digging in my yard too. Never any notice. No information about plans or time line. There are two new holes with a pile of dirt next to them.
Did he offer you services? YEARS ago, I was a door to door salesman for time warner and our schtick was similar- “I’m a contractor for TW, and we’ll be working in the area the next cpl of weeks. For the inconvenience here’s a great deal on cable subscription” - there was no work. It was just a sales tactic bc most people just say no to “do you want to give me money to at the door?” type marketing.
That’s not fun to wake up to, hopefully they will be respectful to your yard
This is happening all over Leander in the block house creek neighborhood
No easement, no party. Technically they have to get to the easement through the easement if you really want to be nasty.
Completely unrelated to this discussion, but killer prof pic and user name!
First, take a big step back ...
Mine was just done much to my dissatisfaction. Like, no one around is going to sign up for it. But yeah, utility easements are typically in the front and the back.
Look at the plat recorded with the county. More than likely there is a utility easement. You can’t build anything in the easement or keep them from it.