Back in 1992 I was building Cable-Fiber jobs for Adelphia (Adelphia was one of the first MSO to go Fiber). Hurricane Andrews hit their S Dade Cty Florida system, they ask me to send in crews for repairs whick ended up in a rebuild....Don't rush into such a situation until you know all the details. My proj mgr and I was on site day after it hit,CNN was sitting up their uplinks. Here is the skinny !
Poles broke off, hot power lines on ground, No electric, No water, No fuel, No vehicle service, No Food, No banks, No land lines, no mail svc, Zoo animals running around, No red lights..people needing help "NOW"...a real F...ing Mess. You have looters, You need a water buffalo, fuel tanker, campers, shower trailers, Material is slow coming, not enough prints on site, need your own mechanic on site, an on site proj mgr, a couple of field suprv/GF, You can't work phases until Power clears, prints are now designed by node which could cover numerous power phases..so your delayed. I had about 30 crews on site with some 25 splicers. Adelphia wanted me to do this on units (It's a F...ing National Disaster) they have insurance. So many delays, I had men sleeping in tents, bathing in canals, trucked in food, Budweiser stop making beer and sent canned water instead-however the crews would of rather had the beer...now today with all latest technology..some of this does not apply. Gangs roaming the street-finally 82nd Airborne was sent in for security-one squad got surrounded and weapons stolen by the gangs. Once established, donations from around nation was outstanding however people coming from out of the area to get "Free" stuff. So I would wait a while before responding. Most likely Today..Dycom or Mastec would be called in as they can draw from all their affiliated companies. Oh yea I forgot...You had to be a licesed FL contractor-which I was. With all the problems, I ended up with 10% profit....the buck was not worth the bang....Since then over the years I've had numerous calls to respond to storm damage...I declined all.
If you do go....Be X Safe as danger is all around..more than a normal job. Be prepared to take care of yourself, don't expect some company to do it for you....man up-Go for the "Hourly" bucks..if unit work...3 x normal rates is the minimum. It was an experience that I was not fully prepared for........MicroMan
Don't Rush Into the Hurricane Repair Work
Member #: 2039
Registered: 1996-2001
Posted:
1090
Name:
MicroMan
Name:
Gary E. Ogden
Company:
Micro Network Svc Grp
Occupation:
Coax-Copper-Fiber-
Location:
Domestic-International
Personal:
Experience:
~59 years
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