December 2014, Vol. 69, No. 12
Features
S&N Adapts, Grows To Meet Market Needs
North Carolina-based contracting company S&N Communications has quietly evolved from a respected regional installer of telephone cable to a utility contractor with a national footprint.
S&N currently has active projects in the Pacific Northwest, Southwest and Midwest as well as its home territory in the Southeast. The company does both underground and aerial construction and provides utility locating services in more than 35 states.
Telecommunications remains a primary focus, but S&N also is active in the electrical power, natural gas and other utility markets.
“Over the past three-plus years, we have installed more than 40-million feet of fiber and averaged about 100,000 drops per year,” said Allen Powell, S&N chief executive officer and president.
“Currently,” said Powell, “telecom is roughly 70 percent of our workload, power is 18 percent, gas 5 percent and other work 7 percent. These percentages are fluid, based on contracts awarded.”
Turnkey services
Whatever the market, S&N is focused on providing complete services for a project, an approach that had its beginnings early in the company’s history.
Company founders Wayne Newkirk and Crawford Smith were experienced cable splicers and in 1978 when S&N was incorporated, there was strong demand for splicing work. However, the two saw the potential of not simply splicing cable but for installing it also, and as they extended the company’s capabilities, they laid the foundation for a full-service telecommunications contractor.
As S&N grew, it became necessary to find qualified subcontractors and the company developed a relationship with Virginia contractor Pyramid Construction, owned by Allen Powell. Pyramid had a solid reputation for performing outside plant infrastructure construction and in 1995 Powell sold Pyramid to S&N, enabling the combined companies to better serve a rapidly changing telecommunications market.
“In the ‘90s,” said Powell, “communications companies were transitioning from monopoly to entrepreneurial thinking, and they began trimming headcount to become more cost competitive with others in the industry. This transition opened the door for forward looking companies like S&N to grow by assuming a greater role to their communication provider customers. It wasn’t long before S&N earned a reputation as a company capable of providing a full range of solutions to its growing portfolio of utility customers.”
“Today,” Powell said, “we are the go-to resource for a wide range of services, including retrofit upgrades of existing networks; full service installation of copper, coax and fiber networks; gas pipeline construction; and utility locating services. We also order and store customer materials so we can efficiently respond to their needs. From one-stop turnkey operations to drops, service repairs, installation, splicing, testing and implementation, we do it all and we do it right.”
S&N also has engineering capabilities, including backbone routing, distribution planning and design that include strand mapping, make ready surveys, pole surveys, route designs, outside plant inspections and other engineering services.
Other markets
S&N has been involved in power work since 1990s, and began natural gas construction in 2012, extending the company’s full-service approach to these markets.
S&N provides turnkey services for major electrical companies. In addition to installation, S&N handles terminations of both primary and secondary services.
“Historically most utility contractors have performed the work requested, draw a check and go on to the next job,” said Powell. “Power and gas contractors had become comfortable providing a service with the same approach that had worked well in the past. S&N studied these industries and acted on that intelligence to provide solutions to the challenges faced by service providers, including cost-saving measures and initiating safer ways to perform work. S&N manages its workforce daily, completes audits during the work process and post construction and provides customized reports to our customers.”
S&N’s utility locating services has more than 300 locate crews working in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Ohio. Daily workloads fluctuate, but an average of 220,000 locates are completed per month for telecom, power and gas lines, as well as locates on private sites and for subsurface utility engineering. Locating services recently were expanded with the acquisition of Stake Center Locating, based in Utah.
When weather or other disasters knock out communications and power, S&N crews are among the emergency teams on hand to quickly restore services. Emergency response services include planning for providing management oversight, employees, transportation, fuel, food preparation, water and equipment.
Right people, equipment
“S&N Communications finds solutions to our customer’s most challenging situations,” Powell summarized. “We have invested in the human and equipment capital necessary to provide turnkey operations.”
Many S&N employees have worked as lineman, technicians, splicers and equipment operators prior to assuming additional responsibilities and significant management roles. S&N selects only seasoned professionals to manage operations.
“Most members of the field management team have years of aerial, buried, underground, cable locating, tree trimming, logistics and inventory management experience,” said Powell. “Whether in the office or in the field, each member of our team values a job completed with integrity and craftsmanship. We have an extensive network of reliable subcontractors who know how we conduct business and have grown with us over the years. Our approach to subcontractor operations is we actively manage crews and their work, just as if they were our own personnel.”
In the late 1970s, contractors put telephone cable in the ground by trenching and vibratory plowing. Both techniques still are used, but equipment options have greatly advanced and S&N uses trenchless methods as conditions require.
Powell said the percentage of underground versus buried and aerial is driven by the customer. While buried and underground is typically more expensive during the initial placement, aerial frequently comes with make-ready work and annual attachment fees. Ratios of aerial to underground vary, depending on soil conditions, space in the right-of-way or customer requirements.
“The method of buried placement is dictated by multiple factors. Easements and rights-of-way are more congested now than ever. Multiple utilities and abandoned cables in the same easement and right-of-way create the need for exposing existing utilities and placing buried facilities via directional drilling.”
Exposing utilities to visibly confirm their locations – potholing – is necessary when a utility crosses or parallels an existing pipe or cable. For that, S&N uses “soft” excavation technology to safely expose buried lines with minimum risk of damage.
“More and more we see the method of placement option left to the contractor. Whatever the project, S&N has the trained personnel and equipment to do the job right. S&N is flexible to meet every need of our customers,” concluded Powell.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
S&N Communications, (336) 992-5420, www.sncomm.com/
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