Telecom Use Case: Post-Construction Closeout

Using Optelos to Reduce Cost and Improve Accuracy of Post-Construction Closeouts

A cell tower post-construction closeout is critical to ensure that installations and upgrades have been completed correctly and in compliance with project specifications. Optelos has found that the as-built doesn’t match the design spec in 64% of audited sites, so completing accurate and comprehensive closeouts should be considered mandatory. Unfortunately, completing closeouts using traditional approaches is time consuming, labor-intensive and prone to error.

The manual post-construction closeout process is challenging for both auditors and analysts. Closeouts can incorporate hundreds to thousands of shelter and tower photos from construction crews and others that must be reviewed to close out the site in order to achieve goals relevant to both the operator and their contractor. For the operator, to ensure a properly constructed project. For the contractor, to receive final payment. These images and post-construction data are difficult to effectively organize due to their unstructured format. Video closeouts—which could include hours of video to show azimuths, greenlights, mounting bolts, etc.—are tedious to review and often offer incomplete views. These issues can make it easy to miss problems in the build that impact tower performance and structural reliability. New technologies, however, are making a huge impact by streamlining and automating processes while improving accuracy.