{"id":27484,"date":"2018-04-09T09:26:12","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T13:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wadesarver.com\/Podcast\/?p=27484"},"modified":"2018-04-09T09:26:12","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T13:26:12","slug":"wireless-site-labor-issues-and-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wadesarver.com\/Podcast\/2018\/04\/wireless-site-labor-issues-and-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Wireless Site Labor Issues and Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"COP<\/a><\/h1>\n

As we approach 2019, I see some serious issues for the deployment labor force. There will be a shortage of tower workers and integration engineers. It will run through 2021. This bottleneck will put a deep strain on the workforce that has been maintaining for the past several years. This is a workforce that is limited. Site work is a limited skill set as well as a limited workforce. It also has been beaten down by the carriers to remove many of the highly qualified seasoned craftsmen that were once synonymous with this industry. Now it has a younger and inexperienced workforce. All of this and a mentality that they will be used while needed then immediately disposed of once the industry work tapers off. They could get laid off, fired, or abandoned. It all happens in the wireless site business. This is typical of the wireless carrier business. It is feast or famine, meaning that all the work hits at once, then most of it disappears. That is the issue here, the slow business has put a downturn on the field workers causing the industry to downsize. While this is like construction, the carriers determine the workload, not the end-user. Unlike construction, it is not as steady nor does it turn out that all workers can migrate to another part of the business. Each part of the business has specific skill sets.<\/p>\n

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Sign up for HostGator Today!\u00a0<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Trust me; I have been there. I talked to many of these people, and I see what goes on. While AT&T\u2019s turf system initially was great for the investors, it really changed the face of the tower climbing workforce for the worse. To be honest, that is why I got out.\u00a0 It was hard to climb towers for less money every year. Low bidder generally wins. That and the cost to do business was going up. Let\u2019s explore.<\/p>\n

\"Tower<\/a><\/h1>\n

When the turf system came along, it gave hope to local climbers. Any national climbing company has a hard time ramping up and moving crews across the country while maintaining a stable workforce. Smaller crews are generally in the market or within 4 hours of a market. Remember when AT&T\u2019s projection of tower work a few years ago was driving companies to ramp up only to have it all disappear? I do. When that didn\u2019t pan new climbers got laid off, and the larger companies had to discontinue training and scale back. It was a disaster.<\/p>\n

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I want to give my condolences to the family of\u00a0Melvin Ronnie Nelson, Jr., who died April 2nd, 2018, working on a tower for Verizon<\/span>. He was 34 years old from Foley, Alabama. The tower was being erected in Utica, Mississippi. My prayers go out to him and his family. To learn more go to Wireless Estimator\u00a0<\/a>. To make a difference, make a contribution to the Hubble Foundation<\/a>. We all feel terrible when a fellow wireless workers dies, especially on the job.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now, we see the need for climbers again. The problem is the climbing end of it doesn\u2019t seem so lucrative as it once did. Will the crews be able to get more money based on supply and demand? Will they be able to get a good year in with plenty of work? I hope so. The way it looks, 2019 and 2020 should be big years for field work. On the tower and on the ground. While the RF engineering work is done more and more by programs, we still need workers to go out and do the site work. It\u2019s still a necessity.<\/p>\n

Will there be enough workers? Of course not. There is no way they can do all the work that is coming, based on projections. All the major carriers in the US are looking to do changes at tower sites and roll out small cells. They all need to deploy more LTE, massive MIMO, and 5G. It\u2019s fixed and mobile wireless. It\u2019s a lot of work.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget the fiber workers; they will need to make changes to keep up the expansion. The workforce extends beyond the field, it will be a drain on upgrading the backhaul as well as all utilities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be busy, but the tower industry is not ready. I am glad that they will get plenty of work, but they need to be safe. It is a dangerous job. The issue with the carrier work is that the safety requirements are high, the schedule is tight, the closeout is slow, and it takes a long time \"Get<\/a><\/strong>to get paid in some cases. All reason NOT to work for many carriers or their turf vendors. It\u2019s tough to float money, whether it\u2019s to pay for your workers or to pay your contractors. The carriers will need to understand this. They need to do their part if they want quality work.<\/p>\n

We need safety and proper training, that is number one! Let\u2019s not cut back there. Although, it takes time to train people properly and to match the experience on a crew with the inexperienced. Planning, patience, and training. Be careful when doing this. Most experienced crews want to keep their crew. Most companies don\u2019t want to pay 5 guys when 4 can do the job, even if the fifth guy is to be learning the job. They want all of them to be working and productive.<\/p>\n

So, what can the industry do? Good question. They should get busy planning and roll out now, but we all know that the product may not be ready or that more planning is needed. Probably not going to happen that soon.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Try to reserve crews? I don\u2019t think any crew would sit and wait or stay if there is more money to be made with another contractor. Why wait and hope to get paid? Why leave money on the table? Go do the work and get paid.<\/p>\n

As always, payments will be an issue. That has been the biggest issue in the industry, yet it seems to be the dirty secret no one wants to talk about. Why? Because if you don\u2019t\u2019 get paid, it becomes an issue of pointing fingers. Let\u2019s face it; if you don\u2019t pay, then the contractor will say you didn\u2019t do your job.<\/p>\n

What to look out for? Here are some tricks that screwed climbing crews in the past.<\/p>\n