Still Installing Fiber After All These Years
Three years ago, practically every construction industry magazine you opened had a fiber-optics installation story. There was so much work to go around it was hard for contractors in the underground trade to resist making the long-haul and “last mile” work a major part of their business. New players were buying trenchers and horizontal directional drilling (HDD) units so they could get a piece of the pie. Some plumbers were even figuring out ways to jump in.
Since then, those in the underground construction industry have watched that market peak and crash. Daleo, Inc. rode the HDD-market roller coaster and survived. Today, 80 percent of the Gilroy, California-based company’s business is still fiber-optics cable installation, which Daleo, Inc. leaders are proud to call “unique.”
“I’m not saying we’re out making lots of money like everyone was during the boom,” says Joe Franke, vice president. “The market has dramatically affected our business and we had to cut our forces as demand plummeted. But we did survive. We did it right, and we didn’t buy so much equipment that we were burned when everything shut down … I know several contractors in the area who didn’t make it past the boom.”
While Daleo is currently about half the size it was during the HDD boom, it’s still a bigger, more successful company than it was before the market skyrocketed.
Daleo used to do a lot of work for MCI Worldcom and its subsidiaries, as well as a few other companies. “Now we concentrate on doing fiber work for Comcast,” Franke says. “We also do on-grade sewer and water bores in between to pick up the slack.”
Crews are currently drilling near Merced, California, as part of a fiber-optics cable installation project, providing high-speed coaxial cable access to thousands of homes and businesses in the Valley, from Fresno to Oakdale.
Daleo has installed close to eight miles of product in six months, with each bore averaging about 450 feet. From a fleet of drills, trenchers with rockwheels and backhoes, Daleo typically uses two Vermeer D24x40A NAVIGATOR HDD units on the Merced job, and sometimes as many as three or four HDD rigs in short spans. At one point, a Vermeer D33x44 model was used. The biggest reason for the trenchless methods: crews are drilling inside city limits on strict deadline. Franke says, “We’re working on heavily traveled roads and dealing with underground utilities in addition to traffic.” He also says that is their major challenge.
Franke calls the project “substantial,” but he admits that ground conditions don’t present much of a problem, even though you can go from loam to rock or sand to cobble within a matter of feet. “It’s nothing we haven’t seen before,” he says. “So we’re equipped with the right tooling and machines.”
With that said, Franke is careful to point out that his crews aren’t “just blowing and going.” In other words, there is a substantial existing network of utilities and cable that his drilling crew needs to avoid. “It’s a true horizontal directional drilling job,” he stresses. “We’re working carefully in a lot of residential areas and trying hard not to disrupt homeowners’ property or utilities.”
That diligence includes potholing to ensure utilities marked by “One Call” are accurate — just one more aspect that Franke credits with his company’s ongoing success. “We’re good at what we do and we’re very careful. We don’t want to run the risk of putting our crew or our residents’ services in danger,” he says.
Franke adds that there are definitely jobs they’ve done and will do that are much more complicated and challenging than the Merced project in many respects. “There are those tougher ones that give you an adrenaline rush. But projects like this are the backbone of our business,” he says. “They are the types of jobs for good customers that have made us successful.”
Daleo, Inc. established California operations in 1981, and — after beginning as primarily an overhead lines contractor — they’ve been involved in underground work for much of that time. They currently employ nearly 60. Franke has been with the business nine years. He witnessed the roller coaster ride first-hand and has some thoughts on what the future holds, not only for Daleo, but for the fiber-optics market overall. “I think there’s going to be more work out there, but it’s going to come at a slow pace,” he says.
The job near Merced isn’t moving at a slow pace, though. Daleo crews began working in September, and while eight miles to date may not sound too exceptional, Franke points out that it’s not eight miles in a straight line.
“We have a lot of bores 300 to 400 feet and shorter, so we’re constantly setting up, taking down and moving to a new location,” he says. “We’re working hard to keep up with what our customers need.”
Since then, those in the underground construction industry have watched that market peak and crash. Daleo, Inc. rode the HDD-market roller coaster and survived. Today, 80 percent of the Gilroy, California-based company’s business is still fiber-optics cable installation, which Daleo, Inc. leaders are proud to call “unique.”
“I’m not saying we’re out making lots of money like everyone was during the boom,” says Joe Franke, vice president. “The market has dramatically affected our business and we had to cut our forces as demand plummeted. But we did survive. We did it right, and we didn’t buy so much equipment that we were burned when everything shut down … I know several contractors in the area who didn’t make it past the boom.”
While Daleo is currently about half the size it was during the HDD boom, it’s still a bigger, more successful company than it was before the market skyrocketed.
Daleo used to do a lot of work for MCI Worldcom and its subsidiaries, as well as a few other companies. “Now we concentrate on doing fiber work for Comcast,” Franke says. “We also do on-grade sewer and water bores in between to pick up the slack.”
Crews are currently drilling near Merced, California, as part of a fiber-optics cable installation project, providing high-speed coaxial cable access to thousands of homes and businesses in the Valley, from Fresno to Oakdale.
Daleo has installed close to eight miles of product in six months, with each bore averaging about 450 feet. From a fleet of drills, trenchers with rockwheels and backhoes, Daleo typically uses two Vermeer D24x40A NAVIGATOR HDD units on the Merced job, and sometimes as many as three or four HDD rigs in short spans. At one point, a Vermeer D33x44 model was used. The biggest reason for the trenchless methods: crews are drilling inside city limits on strict deadline. Franke says, “We’re working on heavily traveled roads and dealing with underground utilities in addition to traffic.” He also says that is their major challenge.
Franke calls the project “substantial,” but he admits that ground conditions don’t present much of a problem, even though you can go from loam to rock or sand to cobble within a matter of feet. “It’s nothing we haven’t seen before,” he says. “So we’re equipped with the right tooling and machines.”
With that said, Franke is careful to point out that his crews aren’t “just blowing and going.” In other words, there is a substantial existing network of utilities and cable that his drilling crew needs to avoid. “It’s a true horizontal directional drilling job,” he stresses. “We’re working carefully in a lot of residential areas and trying hard not to disrupt homeowners’ property or utilities.”
That diligence includes potholing to ensure utilities marked by “One Call” are accurate — just one more aspect that Franke credits with his company’s ongoing success. “We’re good at what we do and we’re very careful. We don’t want to run the risk of putting our crew or our residents’ services in danger,” he says.
Franke adds that there are definitely jobs they’ve done and will do that are much more complicated and challenging than the Merced project in many respects. “There are those tougher ones that give you an adrenaline rush. But projects like this are the backbone of our business,” he says. “They are the types of jobs for good customers that have made us successful.”
Daleo, Inc. established California operations in 1981, and — after beginning as primarily an overhead lines contractor — they’ve been involved in underground work for much of that time. They currently employ nearly 60. Franke has been with the business nine years. He witnessed the roller coaster ride first-hand and has some thoughts on what the future holds, not only for Daleo, but for the fiber-optics market overall. “I think there’s going to be more work out there, but it’s going to come at a slow pace,” he says.
The job near Merced isn’t moving at a slow pace, though. Daleo crews began working in September, and while eight miles to date may not sound too exceptional, Franke points out that it’s not eight miles in a straight line.
“We have a lot of bores 300 to 400 feet and shorter, so we’re constantly setting up, taking down and moving to a new location,” he says. “We’re working hard to keep up with what our customers need.”
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