Fttp

[Zubo9231]

I just got put on FTTP. Let me know if you guys like it or not

[Goldenboy]

So you have to locate all projects so they can bury FTTP? I don't know if I'd like to be on nothing but rear lot upgrades all year, but it is work.

[RD_Wrangler]

So you have to locate all projects so they can bury FTTP? I don't know if I'd like to be on nothing but rear lot upgrades all year, but it is work.

If it's anything like the cable upgrades they had in OKC 2 years ago, I'd run screaming for the hills...

Non-stop multiple back-yard locates, impatient contractors, extremely beligerent home-owners, and lowered production and increased risk of damages, which effects your yearly review/pay raise....

Yeah that sucks...

[UULC]

We had 5 years of FTTP. Some folks like it others hated it. You do have a better then average possibilty for a damage. The ot was great. The down side is the prime contractor had 20-30 subs working for him. with that each sub had 4-5 crews with anywhere from 10- 100 hispanics working for him. Each person on that crew had to do at the minium 100' per day. That is cross trench every utility every 25 ', dig the hole, pull the conduit, backfill, tamp and then restore. So some subs can do 5000'-6000' a day.

I sure hope your district has a crew dedicated to only FTTP work. We did have a crew of 20 and now are down 4. Our FTTP forward path had dried up and we are now doing FTTP MTU work only and we have area locators helping put on them since the area ticket volume is low.

Feel free to PM me and I can give you more info or I can post answers here.

Peace

[Zubo9231]

ya they have a dedicated crew for just fttp. They dont do emergencys and im quit sure they dont have to do on-call either ill try it out and hope for the best. thanks for your inputs.

[Mke]

They may not do emergencies, but it won't stop the crews calling you every 15min. To verify a line that may or may not match up to paint. I've gone through 2 rebuilds and both sucked. If you are starting midway through the rebuild, it may not be to bad, but if it hasn't started yet, the begining sucks.

The contractor usually pushes faster in the begining before the verbal bitch slapping starts, then they tend to slow down a bit. But they always will try to pull you off what you are locating to come "freshen" up paint, or mark an area that you havn't painted yet.

Good luck.

mke

[FiosKing]

zubo fttp with utiliquest is good... and you have a good supervisor there i known him a long time.. hopefully he keeps you close to your house... and no you dont do oncall or emergencies over there with fttp...

[OVUS1]

I'd be cautious about running every time a contractor calls. They will end up getting used to it and call you all the time complaining about no marks when they never have been to the site or even gotten out of their truck. FTTP has been one of the worst managed projects I have ever seen. They got shut down in Texas and Florida for over-running all local locating resources, and have been creating major problems in Virginia in the 3 years we have been up there now.

Ask the excavator to call in an update ticket or even a short-notice/3 hour ticket if possible to cover your butt. Most state laws require the excavator to maintain the locate marks, and the more favors you do the more they will ask. If someone calls one of our techs direct and asks them to refresh the marks, they either ask them to call in another ticket (to help pay for this second trip), or refer them to their manager. You want to build a good working relationship with your excavators, but it can get out of hand real quick if you're not careful. We use a call center for most external communication, and they will take these calls and route them to the correct office for follow-up keeping you free to work the next ticket in your box.