Planning for Site Acquisitions, Modifications and Upgrades – How to Break Murphy’s Law

By Harry Kapp
Project Supervisor, Md7

How can we use Murphy’s Law to our advantage? Simple. Knowing from the onset that anything that can possibly go wrong, will likely go wrong, may very well be one of the keys to success in planning and completing a successful project. It’s great when everything is completed perfectly according to plan and on schedule. Happens all the time …right? Well, maybe not all the time.

For those of us who have worked in the telecomm industry for a while, we have all heard or possibly experienced numerous horror stories, funny stories and misadventures ranging from landlord threats of arrest to the removal of the wrong equipment by decommission crews. I have actually had a tower owner tell me that another carrier’s construction crew had once installed equipment upside down requiring a second trip by a crane. Even what should be a simple equipment upgrade can often take some interesting twists and turns. Perhaps a bird has made the tower its new home, building a nest with a glorious view or the tower owner has recently had a very bad experience with another carrier and has decided that you are no different from the carrier that haunts the landlord’s dreams. You now have a landlord that is seeking some measure of payback or an outlet for previous frustration with another carrier.

But, there is a saying that with experience comes wisdom. Proper planning and knowing what to do or whom to call when a perfect plan manages to go awry is critical to the success of any project or site acquisition. In many cases, relationship building and communication will save the day. If you have worked with a site or a landlord in the past, your knowledge of the site’s telecomm history will be a huge assist in resolving unforeseen events. If you have not previously worked on a particular site, all is not lost. With well-planned lease and file audits, you can quickly become well-versed with the specific good, bad and, perhaps, ugly parameters of a site. There is no real need for surprises or entirely cold calls.

Anticipating what may go wrong will result in a plan that succeeds. You can create and name your own law to stay on a path to success!