Hello,

My wife and I are planning to build a house starting this Spring. We have land, and will be building a good ways from the main road (about .5 miles). We are interested in running all utilities underground, like you would see in some housing developments, but I don't know where to start regarding cost, who could do this work, legalities, etc.

For example, I've heard that it's against the law to run water and electric in the same ditch, but you can do it if you have it compartmentalized... Does anybody out there have experience with running utilities in this way, and if so, could you let me know where to start?

Thank you,
Josh

Start with the utility companies.

They may pay up to a certain distance. Find out what their rules are. They are, in esscence, the AHJ. Authority having jurisdiction.
I saw a couple of things online when I was search for electrical stuff and found some costs for some states. I do not have the reference.

In esscence the electrical company would pay for a certain distance and after that, there was a charge per foot. There were rules as to who runs the wire and who supplies the wire and who terminates the wire and who runs the conduit.

I think it was the home owner can dig and run the conduit and fish the utility supplied wire. Termination, both electrical and conduit was the utility's responsibility.

For a 0.5 mile run you will not likely be running a standard utility underground, but rather a high voltage. Maybe from 600 to 3000 volts or so and have a transformer installed at the residence or outside on the ground like utilities are now.

Post back what you find.