Q: How often do I need to inspect?
A: Typically, every 5 years (but check the contract!).

Some pole attachment/joint use contracts speak specifically to an inspection interval, others do not. Sometimes these contracts call for inspecting every three years, but the most common contract language we see refer to inspections every five years and that is the industry standard interval. If you inspect just for attachments much more frequently, you could probably be using your resources more efficiently. If you wait 6-10 years to conduct an inspection, you will very likely find that your billing has diverged significantly from what exists in the field. This divergence will likely result in a significant exchange of money between the pole owner and its attachers. Whether this is exchange is an outflow (bad) or an inflow (good!) of cash, large, one-time financial events are usually painful. They create uncertainty in your business and unhappiness in your accounting department.

Waiting to conduct an inspection also creates several other “downstream” issues that arise from the impression that the pole owner is not paying attention – code violations related to clearance issues tend to stack up; permit applications tend to drop off; make-ready revenue does not get collected.

Inspecting every five years helps to create an operating rhythm for the joint use/pole attachment function of the pole owner’s business and helps to avoid large, unpredictable sums of money exchanging hands. It helps to keep things running smoothly.

Q: Why visit every pole?
A: You must prove the negative.

In our recent inspections, the change in number of attachments has been in the range of -10% to +30%. This is a 40% range! There are a number of reasons why this is the case, including: time elapsed between audits, customer growth by attacher, company acquisitions or divestitures by attachers, changing local economic conditions, changing types of service (phone to cable to fiber), local construction practices/relationships, and quality (or lack thereof) of the last inspection.

The bottom line is that, no matter how well you think you know your system, you do not know what is out in the field until you go check!

Q: How much should it cost?
A: Typical pricing is $2.00-$3.00/pole, but of course, it depends…

Inspection costs can vary widely depending on:

Size/density of the system and service territory being inspected
Total number of poles visited
Information collected/Scope of Work

Pricing is typically quoted on a ‘per pole’ unit basis (not hourly, not per attachment).

Q: How much should I plan to pay?
A: Expect 1/3 of total cost.

Again, this depends on many factors, including the numbers of attachers on the system, the density of your system, and other pole owners involved, but the primary pole owner driving the inspection process should budget to pay 1/3 of the total cost. Of course, it would not be necessary for the pole owner to conduct this inspection if there were no attachers using its poles, so it is reasonable to expect that the attachers (who create the need for this inspection) should pay the bulk of the cost, and in fact, the pole owner often pays less than 1/3 of the cost, but this is a safe budgeting figure.

Q: What is the payback?
A: Less than 5 years.

Of the dozens of inspections we have conducted or supported, across all different types of utilities, across dozens of different states and regulatory regimes, the project payback for the pole owner has been less than five years every single time.

In addition to being a good business practice, conducting an inspection every five years provides value to the pole owner.

Q: If we are permitting (or soon will be), do we still need to do an inspection?
A: Does your permitting process capture service drops or unauthorized attachments? (Probably not, so yes, you still need to do an inspection).

For more in-depth info on this topic, download our free e-book “7 Steps to a Successful Pole Attachment Audit.” To discuss specific questions, contact us at info@mcleanengineering.com.

6 Frequently Asked Questions about Pole Attachment Audits - Answered