The Utility Whisperer: Billy Barton Explores What Lies Underground

Billy Barton does his best work beneath the Earth’s surface.

Armed with a utility locator, a sewer camera and his own skill, he’s able to locate buried utility lines and other underground obstacles so Castle excavating crews can avoid them. 

It’s a distinctive expertise that makes Barton a valuable resource to ensure jobs progress safely, efficiently and successfully.

“I go to jobs before we start them and find anything that could be in our way before our crews get there,” he explains. “When our crews encounter something as they’re digging, I investigate it and let them know if it's something they should avoid or can cut out of their way.”

Barton enjoys the challenge of working on jobsites in the city, where underground infrastructure has been installed over many decades. “Older sites like downtown St. Louis are way more challenging than newer sites like Chesterfield,” he says. “In downtown, they’ve still got old wooden water lines that were buried a couple hundred years ago.”

He also uses an underground camera to record new sewer systems after they have been installed so clients can view the completed work.

On most workdays, he travels from project to project to check in on them, but he has to remain flexible to respond to unexpected issues that arise. “Today, my day was pretty well planned out, but I got a phone call about a sewer backed up at a school and they needed to know where the sewer line was, so I had to drop what I was doing and run to them,” he says.

Barton originally joined Castle in 2005 to expand the company’s expertise in directional boring, a skill he had developed while working at a trenching and excavation contractor.

Directional boring is a trenchless method for installing underground utilities that’s designed to minimize surface disruption. “Instead of digging up roadways and people's yards, you can drill a small hole and steer underground to where we need to go,” he explains. “Essentially, people can’t even tell that you were there.”

Tours of Duty

Barton grew up in Boss, Missouri, a rural hamlet about 200 miles southwest of St. Louis.

After graduating high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served from 1989 to 1993. “I've been to 20+ different countries and went to Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Kosovo,” he says. “I just happened to join the Navy when there was a lot of conflict in the world.”

After his service ended, Barton began working for specialty contractors and developing the skills that brought him to Castle nearly 20 years ago. “I like doing what I do, and Castle has been very good to me,” he says. “When my first wife passed away from breast cancer, they bent over backwards to help me and my daughters through that rough time.”

Barton and his current wife, Jennifer, live in Washington, Missouri. His daughter Ella, 20, is serving an apprenticeship to learn the craft of making jewelry and setting diamonds. And 19-year-old daughter Hailey is studying to be a dental hygienist at St. Louis Community College. He also has three stepchildren: Austin (28) is an operator for Marschel Wrecking, Alexis (25) is employed by a company that makes hunting gear and Aspen (17) is a high school student.

Hunting, fishing and camping are Barton’s recreational activities of choice. He’s also 
a member of the Elks Lodge in Washington, MO., where he enjoys participating in veterans service activities.