The day my excavator hit an old oil tank nobody flagged

I was digging a foundation out in Leduc back in March, clear blue sky, everything going smooth. Around noon the bucket catches something metal with a hollow thunk that echoed across the whole lot. Turned out to be a 500 gallon heating oil tank from the 1960s that the seller's paperwork never mentioned. Took three full days and $4,200 to get a remediation crew out there and have the soil tested and cleared. Has anyone else run into buried surprises that weren't marked on any utility plan?

2 comments

2 Comments

gonzalez.rowan10h ago

My uncle hit a buried septic tank out in Strathmore a few years back. Said the smell was so bad the crew went home early and he had to pay double time to get them back the next day.

james9952h ago

Did you ever find out if your buddy's insurance covered any of that cleanup? One of my guys hit a buried fuel tank outside of Calgary last summer and it basically ate up his whole profit for the year.