Pole inspections and field surveys
Somebody has to go and look. We measure what is on the pole, what it clears, and what condition it is in, with our own traffic control on the road and every photograph tied to the pole it came from.
We inspect and survey pole lines for internet providers, telecom attachers and pole owners across New Jersey and the Northeast: attachment heights and clearances measured at the pole and at midspan, an inventory of what is actually attached, visible condition, make-ready notes, and photographs tied to location, date and time. Roughly 100 poles a day on a visual run, with our own traffic control rather than a second company on the road. Clearances are read against the National Electrical Safety Code, which New Jersey binds through N.J.A.C. 16:25-10.4, with 15.5 feet to ground the figure most road crossings turn on. Priced per project. We do not produce stamped loading analysis, and we say so.
What is ours and what is not
| Scope | Ours | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Attachment heights and clearances | Yes | Measured at the pole and at midspan, which is where clearance is actually lost. Recorded against the governing figure rather than as a raw number with no reference, so the report says whether it passes rather than leaving somebody to look it up. |
| What is actually on the pole | Yes | Who is attached, at what height, in what order, and what is unaccounted for. Records and reality diverge on older pole lines, and the gap is usually the reason somebody is asking for a survey. |
| Condition and obvious defects | Yes | Visible damage, lean, rot at the groundline, broken or missing hardware, failed guying, and anything that makes the pole unsafe to climb or load further. This is an observational inspection, not a strength test. |
| Make-ready notes | Yes | What would have to move, and roughly in what order, for a new attachment to fit. This is the field half of make-ready: what is there and what is in the way, handed to whoever produces the design. |
| Photographs tied to location | Yes | Every pole photographed and tied to its position, date and time, so the record is auditable months later. We run this through TrackOver, our own field software, which is why the photos arrive organized rather than as a folder of images somebody has to sort. |
| Traffic control | Yes | We provide our own. On road work that means one company on site and one mobilization, instead of scheduling an inspection crew and a protection crew onto the same stretch of road on the same morning. |
| Pole loading analysis | No | Not ours, and we will not pretend otherwise. Structural loading calculations are engineering work that gets stamped. We collect the field data those calculations are built on, and we hand it over clean. If somebody offers you the field survey and the stamped analysis as one undifferentiated service, ask who is stamping it. |
| Boring and destructive testing | No | Groundline boring and other destructive condition testing is a specialty discipline with its own equipment and reporting. Our inspection is visual and dimensional. If a pole needs that level of assessment, our report is what tells you which poles to send someone to. |
The number the job turns on
New Jersey does not invent its own clearance figures for overhead lines. It adopts the national ones and makes them a floor. N.J.A.C. 16:25-10.4, inside the state's Utility Accommodation rules for overhead power and communication lines, says minimum clearances may in no case be less than the standards prescribed by the National Electrical Safety Code.
The figure most of this work turns on is 15.5 feet to ground over roads, streets and other areas subject to truck traffic, against 9.5 feet where an area is accessible only to pedestrians. Two things about that are worth saying plainly. The measurement that matters is usually not at the pole, it is at midspan, where the cable sags lowest and where a run that looks fine from the pole quietly fails. And the code is a floor: the pole owner's own construction standard is often stricter, so a survey read only against NESC can pass a pole that the owner will still reject.
Traffic control, and why it is the whole schedule
Pole inspection is slow, stop and go work in the right of way. That is the exact pattern that needs protection set up, and the exact pattern that is painful to subcontract, because a protection crew billed by the day spends most of it watching somebody measure.
We provide our own, which means one company on the road and one mobilization. Practically it also means the protection moves at the pace of the inspection instead of two schedules trying to meet on the same morning. On an open shoulder this barely matters. In a travel lane, on a curve, or anywhere sight distance is short, it is most of the day, and it is the single biggest reason two routes with the same pole count are not the same job.
How this gets priced, and why there is no rate card here
Per project, quoted after we understand the route. We are deliberately not publishing a per-pole rate, because the honest version of that number carries so many conditions that it stops being useful and starts being a way to get a foot in the door and revise later.
What actually moves it: the pole count, how tightly spaced they are, how much of the run needs traffic control, whether access is roadside or through rear-lot easements, and how deep a record you need at each pole. Four hundred poles along an open county road and four hundred poles through back easements behind houses are not the same work. Send us the route and what the deliverable has to contain, and the number that comes back is one we can stand behind.
Why the record comes back organized
The failure mode on this kind of survey is not the measuring, it is the record. A folder of three thousand photographs that nobody can tie back to a specific pole is worth very little two months later when an engineer has a question about pole 214.
We capture in the field through TrackOver, our own field software, so each photograph carries its location, date and time from the moment it is taken and stays attached to the pole it belongs to. That is the same reason it runs our site inspections. If your engineer or your pole owner needs the data in a particular format, tell us before the crew rolls rather than after.
And it is worth saying why somebody has to physically walk the line at all, when imagery is free. A Street View car photographs the road, on an unknown date, from the road only. It cannot measure a midspan clearance, cannot see what is attached behind the pole, and cannot reach a rear-lot line at all. The full version of that argument is on what Street View and AI cannot tell you about a site, and the questions worth asking any civil crew on this kind of work are on what tower owners should ask before hiring a civil crew.
Who we are on a pole line
An excavation and utility contractor, not an inspection bureau, and for this work that is the point. We have placed more than 470,000 feet of conduit and completed close to 5,000 fiber drops, and we build aerial plant as well as underground. The crew reading your pole line is the crew that also hangs and buries the plant, so the notes come back written by people who know what the next contractor has to do with them. The construction side is on fiber and telecom construction, and the per-foot numbers for the build work are on telecom construction costs.
Common questions
What clearance do communication cables actually need in New Jersey?
New Jersey does not write its own numbers here, it binds the national ones. Under N.J.A.C. 16:25-10.4, part of the state's Utility Accommodation rules for overhead power and communication lines, minimum clearances may in no case be less than the standards prescribed by the National Electrical Safety Code. The figure most jobs turn on is 15.5 feet to ground over roads, streets and other areas subject to truck traffic, with 9.5 feet where an area is accessible only to pedestrians. The NESC table carries conditions and footnotes that change the answer, and the pole owner's own construction standard is frequently stricter than the code floor, so the honest short answer is 15.5 feet over a road and read the governing standard for anything unusual.
How many poles can you cover in a day?
Roughly 100 on a visual run, and that number moves with the same things that move any field work. Poles in an open shoulder with somewhere to park go quickly. Poles in a travel lane, on a curve, or anywhere the crew needs protection set up and taken down go slower, because the traffic control is the schedule rather than the inspection. Rear-lot easements and pole lines behind fences are the slowest of all, and they are usually the ones the records are wrong about.
What does an inspection cost?
It is quoted per project, and we are not going to publish a per-pole rate we would then have to caveat into meaninglessness. What sets the number is the count, how tight the poles are together, how much of the run needs traffic control, whether access is roadside or rear lot, and what depth of record you need at each pole. A route of 400 poles along an open county road and a route of 400 poles through back easements are not the same job at the same price. Tell us the route and the record you need and you will get a real number rather than a rate that moves once we see it.
Do you provide traffic control or do we have to arrange it?
We provide our own, and it is worth understanding why that matters on this particular kind of work. Pole inspection is slow-moving, stop-and-go work in the right of way, which is exactly the pattern that needs protection and exactly the pattern that is awkward to subcontract, because a protection crew billed by the day sits idle while an inspector measures. Keeping it in house means one company on the road, one mobilization, and a crew that moves at the pace of the inspection rather than the pace of two schedules trying to meet.
Can you do pole loading analysis?
No, and be careful with anyone who says yes casually. Structural loading analysis is engineering: it is calculated, it is stamped, and it carries professional liability. What we do is the field half it depends on, the measurements, the attachment inventory, the condition observations and the photographs, collected consistently and handed over in a form an engineer can work from. Plenty of firms pair the two, and that is a fine arrangement. It is just two different scopes and you should know which one you are buying.
What do we actually get at the end?
A record per pole: location, date and time, the attachments found and their heights, clearance measured where it matters including midspan, condition observations, and photographs tied to that pole rather than to a folder. We run the field capture through TrackOver, our own software, which is the reason the photos come back organized with their location and timestamp attached instead of needing somebody to reconcile them afterward. If you have a format your engineer or your pole owner wants it in, say so before we start rather than after.
Why not just use Street View for this?
Because it is a photograph of the street, taken at an unknown date, from the road only. It cannot measure a midspan clearance, it cannot tell you what is attached behind the pole, it cannot see a rear-lot line at all, and in a lot of this territory the car has not driven through in years. It is genuinely useful for planning which routes to walk. It is not a survey, and a make-ready built on it gets corrected in the field at the worst possible moment. That argument in full is on why boots beat imagery for site assessment.
Where do you work?
New Jersey primarily, and we hold active contracts across seven states, so a route that crosses a line is not a problem. We are an excavation and utility construction contractor first, with close to 5,000 fiber drops and more than 470,000 feet of conduit placed, which is the relevant part: the crew reading your pole line is the crew that also builds plant, so the notes come back written by people who know what the next contractor has to do with them.
Code and source references
- N.J.A.C. 16:25-10.4, Clearance requirements, within Chapter 25 (Utility Accommodation), Subchapter 10 (Overhead Power and Communication Lines): minimum clearances shall in no case be less than the standards prescribed by the National Electrical Safety Code.
- National Electrical Safety Code Table 232-1 for clearance to ground: 15.5 feet over roads, streets and areas subject to truck traffic, 9.5 feet over areas accessible to pedestrians only. The table carries conditions and footnotes; read the governing edition for anything unusual, and check the pole owner's construction standard, which is frequently stricter.
- Throughput of roughly 100 poles a day on a visual run is ours, stated 2026-09-02, and varies with access and traffic control.
- This page describes visual and dimensional field inspection. It is not a structural assessment, and nothing here is a stamped engineering opinion on any pole.
Have a route that needs walking?
Call 862-268-2510 or send the route and what the deliverable has to contain. Pole count, roughly where, and who wants the record, and we can tell you what it takes.
Call 862-268-2510