The line nobody thinks to call in
Tennessee 811 is a genuinely useful service - call at least three working days before any digging and public utilities get marked for free, gas lines, water mains, electric service. What it doesn't cover is anything installed privately on your own property, and for most Hermitage homes built with or later fitted with an in-ground sprinkler system, that means the irrigation lateral running under your lawn is entirely on you to know about and disclose. Nobody's coming to spray-paint it orange before we show up. If you don't mention it, we're grinding without knowing it's there.
Why this comes up so much more here than elsewhere
Subdivisions like Towering Oaks and Hermitage Hills were largely built with irrigation as a standard feature, either from the original developer landscaping or added within the first decade by homeowners maintaining an HOA-standard lawn. Decades later, a lot of current owners weren't the ones who installed the system and genuinely don't know exactly where every lateral line or head sits, especially near mature trees where roots and irrigation pipe have often grown into close proximity over the years. A stump near a property line or a bed of shrubs is a common spot for a line to run closer than expected.
What we ask, and why it matters
Before we bring a grinder near your stump, we ask directly whether you have an irrigation system and, if so, roughly where the nearest zone or head sits relative to the stump. Even an approximate answer - 'there's a head about ten feet toward the fence' - lets us adjust the grinding radius or dig a small hand-check before running the wheel through that section. It's a two-minute conversation that avoids a repair call and an awkward conversation about who's responsible for fixing a cut line.
If a line does get hit
Even with careful marking, an irrigation line that wasn't disclosed or sits in an unexpected spot can occasionally get nicked. If that happens because a line was flagged and we still hit it, that's on us to make right. If it happens because a line existed but wasn't mentioned - which does happen when a homeowner genuinely didn't know - we'll talk through the repair honestly rather than dodge the conversation. Either way, getting ahead of it with a clear conversation before we start is the best insurance either of us has.
The short version
Tennessee 811 marks public utilities, not the sprinkler system under your lawn. Nearly every Hermitage subdivision lot has irrigation installed somewhere, so telling us roughly where your lines and heads run before we grind is the single most useful thing you can do.