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Pay Rates for Tower Climbers

Members of the ISP-Wireless list discuss the going rate for installing antennas that provide broadband wireless Internet service. Get the deal that's best for you—since it's a nascent industry, prices vary widely.

[June 18, 2001]

On the ISP-Wireless list in May, CO inquired,

"How much do you pay tower climbers for installing your antennas?"

Most respondents observed that there are a number of different factors to consider:

[RB suggested] "It depends on where you are: prices vary widely by geography. My antenna installation outfit here in Ohio charges about $60 per man per hour on the job. That's relatively cheap. I've run into tower jockeys that charge a $1 to $2 per foot just to climb, then another $75-$100 per hour on top of that."

[AG noted] "We've reached an agreement with a local tower climber company: we pay them $150 per POP and $80 per CPE. Maintenance and troubleshooting depends on the extent of the problem, but it's usually $40 an hour. My advice is that if you plan on covering a dense area with lots of customers, reach a flat pricing agreement. That way, you can calculate your costs with ease, and you won't run into any nasty surprises in the financial department."

[JD added] "We've been working on similar agreements, trying to get CPE installs down in the $50-60 range. POPs we do ourselves right now, until we get a tower. When that happens, I may just learn to climb."

JA warned that doing your own climbing can have some nasty side effects:

"Watch out for the insurance rates! Since we climb on leased towers and do installs, we had to have a $5 million general liability policy. We had to purchase this before we could climb on any commercial or cell tower. Our policy was a little over $5,500 for 12 months."

[BM agreed] "My general liability policy costs me almost $11,000 per year. This does not include automobile, disability, workers' comp, etc. My average layout per year for insurance is about $22,000. The insurance industry is now in a major uproar over tower construction because they are trying to get 'steel construction' rates for this.

Unfortunately, the injury and death rate on steel construction jobs is quite high. This is also why only a handful of insurance companies will underwrite tower companies."

—End

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