In all 17 fiber networks built across Western Massachusetts towns, make-ready ran longer than the builders planned for, and in every case it pushed the in-service date out [CT Mirror, 2022]. Make-ready is rarely the line item that sinks a budget on paper. It is the schedule that quietly slips while crews stand idle.
Make-ready coordination matters right now because most BEAD-funded routes ride existing poles, and the people who own those poles are not all on the same clock. Federal pole attachment rules govern poles owned by investor-owned utilities, but they do not reach poles owned by municipalities or electric co-ops, which often set their own fees and timelines [Pew Charitable Trusts, 2025]. If your route crosses two pole owners, you are managing two different processes at once.
The federal timeline gives you the framework to plan against. After you submit a complete application, the utility has 45 days to survey the poles and decide what make-ready is required [47 CFR 1.1411]. Once make-ready is ordered, existing attachers get 30 days to move equipment in the communications space, or 90 days for work above it. For simple wireline attachments, one-touch make-ready lets the new attacher do all the moves with one crew instead of waiting on each existing attacher in sequence. That single change can collapse months of serial waiting into one coordinated pass.
The cost side is just as variable. Make-ready cost is driven by labor to rearrange attachments, pole replacements, and tree trimming, and the per-mile number has climbed sharply. One state official reported original contracts of $30,000 a mile rising to $90,000 a mile [Pew Charitable Trusts, 2025]. A route that looks clean on a map can carry a handful of replacement poles you did not budget, and a single replacement can cost more than ten straightforward attachments.
This is where accurate cost-per-pass modeling earns its place. Alson's feasibility modeling accounts for pole-owner mix and make-ready exposure before you commit capital, so the number you take to a board or a lender reflects the poles you actually have to touch.
For anyone making the build decision, the practical move is to pull the pole ownership breakdown before you finalize the route, not after. Knowing which segments sit on co-op or municipal poles tells you where the federal clock does not apply and where your schedule risk really lives. Route around a corridor of replacement poles early and you save more than any change order recovers later.
The networks that hit their dates are the ones that treated make-ready as a planning input from day one, not a permitting surprise.
Sources
- CT Mirror, 2022: Make-ready delays high-speed fiber rollouts — 17 Western Massachusetts networks, every one pushed its in-service date out.
- Pew Charitable Trusts, 2025: Broadband Expansion May Hinge on States' Pole Attachment Processes — cost escalation data and municipal/co-op pole attachment gaps.
- 47 CFR 1.1411: Timeline for access to utility poles — federal 45/30/90-day make-ready schedule requirements.