Make-ready engineering
Engineering work to prepare existing utility poles for a new fibre attachment — clearances, transfers, replacements, guying.
Make-ready engineering is the work between identifying a pole that can’t take a new attachment and actually attaching to it. Clearance issues between high-voltage, low-voltage, communication lines, and the ground need resolving — usually by transferring existing attachments, raising or replacing poles, or adjusting guying.
We deliver make-ready engineering for US fibre projects, working from the pole loading analysis output and producing scope-of-work per pole. The submission package goes to the pole owner under the FCC’s pole attachment review framework, and we manage revisions through the approval cycle.
Why make-ready exists
Three kinds of problem trigger make-ready work:
1. Structural failure. The pole, with the new attachment loaded, exceeds its allowable structural capacity per NESC. The fix is either to replace the pole with a heavier-class pole, or to redistribute load (transfer attachments, add guying).
2. Clearance violation. Existing attachments have crept out of clearance over years. The proposed new attachment can’t go on without restoring vertical or horizontal clearances. NESC Rule 235 governs the specifics — most commonly the 40-inch communication-to-supply separation.
3. Equipment in the way. Existing equipment (transformers, switches, drip loops, secondaries) physically conflicts with the desired attachment height. Transfer or relocation is required.
Make-ready engineering identifies the specific cause per pole and designs the remediation.
What’s in a make-ready package
Per pole, the make-ready package covers:
- Cause of failure — structural overload, clearance violation, conflict, or combination
- Proposed remediation — transfer attachment X, raise pole, replace with class N pole, add anchor and guy, etc.
- Drawings — usually a sketch of the existing condition and the proposed condition, dimensioned
- Clearance calculations — confirming the remediated condition meets NESC clearances
- Cost estimate — per pole and rolled up to project total
- Scheduling considerations — make-ready that requires coordination with existing attachers (e.g. transferring a CATV cable owned by a third party) needs a coordination plan
Where joint-use ownership is involved (multiple attachers on one pole), the make-ready coordination plan identifies which attacher does what and in what sequence.
The FCC 148-day framework
The FCC’s pole attachment rules establish a regulatory timeline for make-ready work. For projects under 300 poles per state, the timeline runs to 148 days from the date the pole owner receives a complete attachment application:
- Days 1-45: Survey period — pole owner conducts engineering review of the proposed attachment
- Days 46-60: Estimate period — pole owner provides make-ready cost estimate
- Days 61-75: Acceptance period — attacher accepts the estimate and pays
- Days 76-105: Notice period — pole owner notifies existing attachers of required transfers
- Days 106-148: Construction period — make-ready work performed
Larger projects (above 300 poles) extend on a per-batch basis. Our make-ready engineering output is structured to feed this timeline — we know what the pole owner needs at each stage and produce it in formats that don’t slow review.
Inputs we need
Make-ready engineering builds on pole loading analysis output. We need:
- Pole loading analysis with per-pole pass/fail and specific failure mode (structural, clearance, conflict)
- Field data as captured for the loading analysis — heights, attachments, equipment, photos
- Pole owner specifications — drawing standards, submission format, any non-NESC requirements
- Joint-use information — who else attaches to each pole, contacts where coordination is needed
- Project schedule constraints — windows for outage coordination, seasonal restrictions
Where loading analysis was done by a different provider, we can pick up from their output — provided the data quality holds up. Where it doesn’t, we’ll re-walk poles before producing make-ready scope, and we’ll flag that re-walk requirement at scoping rather than partway through.
Output formats and pole-owner submission
Output covers:
- Make-ready report — per-pole scope, cause of failure, proposed remediation
- Drawings — existing-condition and proposed-condition sketches, dimensioned, NESC-compliant
- Cost estimate — per pole, with project rollup
- Submission package in the format the pole owner requires — most major US pole owners have specific platforms (Pole Foreman, Alden, custom) or PDF/email-based processes
We produce in DWG (AutoCAD) where the pole owner submission requires it, PDF where that’s enough, and the structured tabular formats their permitting platforms expect.
Coordination in joint-use scenarios
Most US poles have multiple attachers — electric utility, ILEC telephone, CATV, occasionally additional ISPs. Make-ready that requires a third party to transfer their attachment is a coordination problem as much as an engineering problem. The FCC framework gives the pole owner authority to notify existing attachers, but the practical coordination — who does what work in what order — needs designing.
Where multi-attacher coordination is required, our make-ready package includes the coordination plan: sequence of work, who’s responsible for which transfers, scheduling constraints, contingencies for non-response.
Common pitfalls in make-ready engineering
Underestimating make-ready cost. First-pass cost estimates often miss the joint-use coordination cost (delays, re-pricing when an existing attacher quotes high to transfer their cable). We build estimates with a contingency band, not a point estimate, so the project budget isn’t blindsided.
Designing make-ready that fails on resubmission. Pole owner reviewers will reject make-ready that solves one constraint while creating another. We run our own review against NESC and the owner’s specification before submission rather than discovering issues in the owner’s review cycle.
Stale data between loading and make-ready. If field data was captured months before make-ready scoping, attachments may have changed (new CATV install, equipment swap). Worth checking before make-ready submission rather than producing scope that no longer matches reality.
Typical timelines
Make-ready scoping is fast once loading analysis is complete:
- Up to 100 failed poles — 2-3 weeks for make-ready scope and submission package
- 100-500 failed poles — 4-6 weeks
- 500+ failed poles — programme work, run in rolling batches
These are scoping timelines. The 148-day FCC clock for actual approval and construction sits on top.
How we deliver
Make-ready engineering runs on our integrated UK-and-offshore model. Production engineering happens within our offshore team, onshore review handles NESC interpretation and pole-owner format compliance before submission. Every package goes through a senior reviewer who’s run make-ready submissions directly with US pole owners — the approval cycle is unforgiving of misinterpretation, and that experience pays back in resubmission rates.
Talk to us about make-ready engineering
Tell us how many failed poles, what owner is reviewing, and where the project is on its FCC clock. We’ll come back with scope, price, and a timeline that fits within the framework. For projects under 200 poles, we usually respond within two business days; larger programmes warrant a scoping call.
Typical deliverables
- Make-ready scope per pole (transfer, raise, replace, guy)
- Clearance calculations per NESC
- Cost estimate per pole and per project
- Pole owner submission package
- Coordination with existing attachers (joint-use scenarios)
- Revisions through the FCC 148-day review cycle
Who buys this
ISPs, altnets, electric co-ops, and contractors that have completed pole loading analysis and need the make-ready scope and approvals before construction.
Talk to us about delivery options
Tell us what you need delivered, what your timeline is, and what format the downstream team needs the output in. We'll come back with scope, price range, and proposed approach.