Third-party damage recovery that proves liability from the excavation ticket and bills every cable strike
Recover the cost of every cable strike, with liability proven from the ticket.
See one case, screen by screen ↓When an excavator cuts an 11 kV cable or a driver takes out a pole, the crew makes it safe and repairs it the same day. The cost lands on the work order — overtime and call-out on the timesheets, cable and joints on the stores issues, plant, traffic management, road reinstatement, lost water — and there it often stays. Building one claim means pulling all of that, plus the photos, the excavation ticket, the locate marks and the drawings, from five systems. So many small claims are never billed, and large ones wait weeks.
Then the contractor's insurer asks the first question it always asks: prove we were at fault. Show the ticket, the marks, the photos and the drawing. If the claims analyst cannot show the dig was outside the ticket, or that the asset was on the utility's own record, the claim stalls at disputed. Upgrades billed as repairs, or a shared pole billed in full, cost the whole invoice its credibility. And the contractor that struck three times this year gets the same routine locate on its next ticket, because claims and damage prevention do not share a list.
Estimated split for a typical excavation strike, in calendar days, by hand (about 7 weeks) and with the solution.
Six agents stack the evidence and cost and prove liability from the excavation ticket; the claims analyst signs.
Lumina Utilities runs electricity and water across Al Safra. On Wednesday 7 October 2026 at 10:42, a 20-tonne tracked excavator laying a stormwater connection on Street 14 cuts 11 kV Feeder F07 and the 200 mm ductile iron water main beside it. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
2,140 customers are off supply and 1,260 m³ of water is lost before the main is isolated. Once the area is safe, Yousef sends the damage report from his phone: excavation strike, 11 kV cable and water main, Sandline Civil Works on site, six photos. His note says the contractor dug past the end of their marks to reach the drain at Street 9. The checklist shows the site board and machine plate photographed, the statement taken and the make-safe time recorded.
Damage intake reader: “Nothing missing for a ticket claim.”
The intake reader opens DR-2026-0417 and takes the asset, the time (the trip time from the outage record), the place (photo geotags), the contractor from the site board, plate EX-20-4471 and Karim Haddad's statement. It records who was on site — it never names a party at fault. The liability checker finds ticket EXC-26-118402 for Sandline Civil Works, valid 1–14 October, and fixes the strike point from the photo geotags and the 412 m fault distance: they agree within 3 m.
“Strike is 40 m outside the approved area — basis: outside ticket area”
Seven tests, each with its record. The ticket approved 120 m × 3 m on the north verge of Street 14, plots 14-031 to 14-036, and was valid on the day. The strike is 40 m east of the area's east edge, at the Street 9 junction, where the trench was extended without a new ticket. As-built AB-SAF-2014-0219, issued with the ticket, shows F07 at that point at 0.9 m; it was struck at 0.85 m.
Proposed basis: “Excavation outside the approved ticket area” — the analyst confirms it, not the agent.
Once the last joint is made, the cost builder reads the work orders: 3 timesheets and the switching log, 2 stores issues, the plant log, the Najm Traffic and Rimaal Paving invoices and the network flow record — 10 lines, AED 141,770. It adds overheads on labour at 70 % and stores handling at 15 % from the 2026 rate schedule, AED 40,614. The invoice total is AED 182,384, split into labour, materials, plant, road, lost water and overheads.
Not billed: “Link box LB-4 upgrade, AED 4,180 — betterment, not like-for-like (rate schedule 4.5)”
INV-TPD-26-0417 is drafted in the Lumina template, addressed to Sandline Civil Works LLC with a copy to its insurer. The opening paragraph states the basis: the excavator struck the cable and the main 40 metres outside the area approved by the ticket, and the cable is shown at that point on the drawing issued with it. Beside each of the 12 lines, a margin note names its source, and 14 items of evidence are attached.
“Drafted by the invoice and demand drafter · every line tied to its source”
The letter to Saffron Gate Insurance, policy SGI-TPL-24-08812, sets out the strike, the 2,140 customers off supply and the water lost, and why liability rests with its insured. It asks for payment of AED 182,384, or the insurer's written position, within 30 days. Seven items are cited in the margin: the ticket, the crew photos, the supervisor's statement, the drawing, the outage record, the flow record and the contractor's insurance on file.
The drafter never sends, and never threatens legal action.
Hessa confirms the liability basis at 09:41, and it is stamped on the invoice and the demand. She signs at 09:44. Because the claim is over AED 100,000, Rajiv Menon, legal counsel, co-signs at 09:47. The invoice goes to Sandline and the demand to Saffron Gate Insurance on day 6 of the claim, the evidence is frozen, and the first reminder is set for 12 November.
“Sent 13 Oct, day 6. Invoice to Sandline, demand to Saffron Gate Insurance … First reminder on 12 Nov.”
This is Sandline's third strike in 12 months — DR-2025-1162, DR-2026-0318 and now DR-2026-0417, AED 341,334, of which AED 62,800 has been recovered. Sandline has a live ticket, EXC-26-119077 on Street 22, starting Sunday 18 October. A flag puts a standby crew and a pre-dig meeting on the contractor's next ticket; Faisal decides. Crestway Piling, with two strikes, is already booked for a 07:00 pre-dig meeting.
Rule: “2+ strikes in 12 months → standby on next ticket”
At 23:18 on Friday 9 October, a car hits steel pole P-RWD-118 on Al Rawdah Road. Police report TP-26-55120 finds the driver at fault. The pole is shared under JUA-2019-07: Lumina 60 %, Nexalink Telecom 40 %. Of the AED 25,600 pole cost, Lumina claims AED 15,360; Nexalink is told on 12 October, inside 10 working days, to bill its AED 10,240 itself. With Lumina's own conductor, plant, make-safe and overheads, the demand to the driver's insurer is AED 37,857 — under AED 100,000, so Hessa signs alone.
The joint-use splitter never bills another owner's share.
214 open recoveries are worth AED 5.70M, and 48 of them, AED 1.78M, are over 90 days. Today's chase sends 9 first reminders at 30 days and 6 second reminders at 60 days, copied to the insurer, proposes 2 payment plans, drafts 3 legal referrals — DR-2026-0318, Sandline, day 103, and two more — and flags one repeat damager. Nothing goes to court without legal counsel.
“3 legal referrals drafted … for Rajiv Menon” — a named person decides every referral and every write-off.
The same strike, seen by the five people who own a piece of it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents stack the evidence and cost and prove liability from the excavation ticket; the claims analyst signs.
Reads the crew's damage report, photos with their time and geotags, the site board, the plate and any police or incident report, and opens the claim. It asks the crew for anything a claim of that type still needs.
Finds every ticket for the contractor on site within 250 m and 30 days, measures the strike point from photo geotags and fault distance, and tests it against the ticket: area, dates, method and marks. It checks that Lumina's as-built shows the asset where it was struck.
Pulls every cost booked to the damage work orders — timesheets, stores issues, plant logs, subcontractor invoices and lost water — and prices labour at grade rates, with overheads and stores handling from the rate schedule.
Applies the joint-use agreement's split to shared poles and ducts, bills only Lumina's share and Lumina's own equipment, and drafts the notice to the other owner within the agreed time.
Writes the invoice in the Lumina template with every line and its basis, and the demand to the insurer with the liability facts cited, with the evidence attached. Both stay drafts until signed.
Every morning sends reminders at 30 and 60 days, proposes payment plans within policy, drafts a legal referral at 90 days, warns 6 months before the 3-year limit and flags contractors with 2 or more strikes in 12 months to damage prevention.
Confirms liability and signs; legal co-signs over AED 100,000. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any claim, its liability or its money — or say what to change. Every answer points to its records.
Why is Sandline liable for DR-2026-0417?
Because it dug 40 m outside its own ticket. Ticket EXC-26-118402 approved the north verge of Street 14, plots 14-031 to 14-036. The photo geotags and the 412 m fault distance put the strike at the Street 9 junction, and Sandline's supervisor says the trench was extended there to tie in to the drain. The cable was on drawing AB-SAF-2014-0219, issued with the ticket.
Which claims are over 90 days unpaid?
48 claims, AED 1.78M, are over 90 days; 22 of them are already with legal. The largest not yet referred is DR-2026-0318, Sandline Civil Works, AED 96,150, day 103 — the demand to Saffron Gate Insurance has had no answer since 14 Aug.
How was the Nexalink share of the Al Rawdah pole worked out?
Pole P-RWD-118 is shared under JUA-2019-07: replacing a shared pole is borne 60 % by Lumina and 40 % by Nexalink, and each owner bills the party at fault for its own share. Of the AED 25,600 pole cost, Lumina bills AED 15,360; Nexalink was told on 12 Oct to bill its AED 10,240 itself. The police report finds the driver at fault.
Flag every contractor with two strikes this year for a standby
Done for the two that qualify. Sandline Civil Works has 3 strikes in 12 months and a live ticket starting Sun 18 Oct; Crestway Piling has 2 and was flagged in September. Faisal Rahman in damage prevention now sees both on their next tickets and decides the standby.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Rates, approvals, clocks and liability rules are settings, chosen by the claims team. Every change is versioned and on the record.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Overheads on labour | 70% | 60% · 70% · 80% — supervision, vehicles at depot, training and administration |
| Stores handling on materials | 15% | 10% · 15% · 20% |
| Lost water, at production cost | AED 8.50 / m³ | AED 8.50 / m³ · AED 9.20 / m³ |
| Claims recovery analyst signs up to | AED 100,000 | AED 50,000 · AED 100,000 · AED 250,000 — legal co-signs above the limit |
| Write-offs | Mariam Khoury | Mariam Khoury · Rajiv Menon — no claim is written off by an agent |
| Follow-up clock after the invoice due date | 30 · 60 · 90 days | First reminder 14 or 30 days · second, copied to the insurer, 45 or 60 days · legal referral draft 90 or 120 days |
| Limitation warning | 6 months before | 6 months · 12 months before the 3 years run out |
| Liability rules | All on | Outside the ticket area (5 m tolerance) · no ticket within 250 m in 30 days · expired or not yet valid · mechanical digging in the hand-dig zone · marks not respected · asset on Lumina's record before claiming |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “estimated” = our arithmetic on the demo utility's inputs: 1,180 damages a year at AED 21,400 average cost, 28 % recovered today against a 66 % target, and the split of days from damage to invoice · “typical” = published figures: CGA DIRT 2024 (196,977 damages; failure to notify 24.5 %); about 130 poles hit by vehicles a year on Oahu (Hawaiian Electric via the Star-Advertiser). Legal context: UAE Civil Transactions Law Art. 298 (3-year limit for claims). Lumina Utilities, the people, contractors, insurers, streets and records named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Third-party damage recovery is billing and pursuing the people and companies who damage a utility's assets — an excavator that cuts a cable, a driver who hits a pole — for the cost of the repair. Third-Party Damage Recovery builds each claim from the crew's report, proves liability from the excavation ticket or police report, prices every cost from the work order and drafts the invoice and the insurer demand. The claims analyst confirms and signs.
Six agents work on each claim. The intake reader opens it from the crew's report and photos; the liability checker tests the strike against the ticket and the as-built drawings; the cost builder prices every line from the work orders on your rate schedule; the joint-use splitter applies shared-pole agreements; the drafter writes the invoice and demand; and the recovery chaser follows up on a 30, 60 and 90-day clock.
It finds every ticket for the contractor on site within 250 m and 30 days, fixes the strike point from photo geotags and the fault distance, and tests it against the ticket's approved area, dates, method and marks. It also checks that the asset was on your as-built record at that point, which closes the “it was not on the drawings” defence. The analyst confirms the basis.
No. Every line must carry a source document — a timesheet, stores issue, plant log, subcontractor invoice or flow record — and upgrades fitted during the repair are shown as betterment and left out. In the sample claim, a link box upgrade of AED 4,180 is shown struck out with its reason, and customer minutes are reported to the regulator, not billed.
Yes. The joint-use splitter applies the agreement's split, claims only your share and your own equipment, and drafts the notice to the other owner within the agreed time. In the sample, Lumina claims 60 % of a AED 25,600 pole and Nexalink Telecom is told to bill its 40 % itself.
It flags every contractor with two or more strikes in 12 months to damage prevention, against its live excavation tickets, so a standby crew and a pre-dig meeting can be booked before the next dig. The damage prevention coordinator decides the standby.
Yes. The agents read, build and draft; they never send an invoice, refer a claim to court or write one off. The analyst confirms liability and signs up to AED 100,000, legal counsel co-signs above that and every legal referral, and write-offs need the head of revenue assurance and claims.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your damage rate schedule, approval limits, joint-use agreements, invoice and letter templates and a sample of past claims — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own damage claims first.
Clean asset history from every closed job, with the parts in the photos booked.
1-min demoAs-Built Redline ProcessingFrom paper redline to GIS edit in days, not months, every edit traced to the pen.
1-min demoWork Package PreparationCrews arrive with everything they need.
1-min demoWe'll run Third-Party Damage Recovery on a sample of your own cable strikes and pole hits.