Underground Construction - December 2022 - 18

PROFILE:PROWIRE INC.
Telecom Boom Enables Growth
of Small, Quality Contractor
Jeff Griffin | Senior Editor
The changing face of telecommunications
continues to present unique opportunities
for the growth of small, quality
contractors. Telecommunications
contractor Prowire Inc. has opened a
branch office in Albion, Maine, to better
service its clients throughout Maine and
New Hampshire. The home office is in
South Paris, Maine.
Prowire owner Mat Striegel said
he started the business in 2003 with a
pickup and a shovel. His goal was to be
a subcontractor to make drops to telephone
and cable to connect customers'
properties, for service providers and other
contractors.
Since then, the company has evolved
to a full-service cabling contractor for both
underground and aerial construction.
" We operate with large vibratory
plows, drop plows, excavators, horizontal
directional drills, pipe pushers and
support equipment, " he said. " We do
everything underground, not just drops.
" But we often subcontract drops
for other contractors to complete connections
jobs, and we also do drops for
Consolidated Communications. "
In Maine, Striegel said, no cable is
direct buried - all cable goes in conduit
that is buried and wire pulled through it.
Typically, clients do not specify how underground
plant is to be buried, Striegel
added. It is left to the contractor to select
the most efficient method for jobsite
conditions.
Challenging soils
Working in Maine involves installations in
difficult ground.
18 DECEMBER 2022 | UCONonline.com
An example of how difficult Maine soil
can be to work in was a project that
required extending a segment of a line
extension. About 400 feet of the projected
path was nothing but boulders.
Striegel used two excavators to move
boulders aside.
" We used excavator 'thumbs', " he
said, " to move rocks around and build
a rock 'conduit' to protect the new pipe.
We were there two days with the two
machines; it was very time consuming,
but we got the job done for a verypleased
customer. "
Maine winters limit underground work
to nine months a year, so Prowire expanded
its capabilities to include aerial plant in
order to stay busy a full 12 months.
In some situations, however, an underground
segment of a project has to be
completed in the winter.
" On one project, " said Striegel, " the
ground was freezing when we got to the
job site, but more than a foot of snow
helped insulate the ground.
" We met the locators on site, cleared
a path through the snow, and got existing
utilities marked. We immediately
plowed in the duct, leaving chunks of
topsoil on the ground. We came back in
the spring and finished restoration. "
Prowire now has a fleet of bucket
trucks, and the equipment and trained
personnel to complete turnkey projects,
whether aerial or underground.
" For the cable companies, we are full
service, " said Striegel. " We can build
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Underground Construction - December 2022

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