ANTENNACONCEALMENTSURVIVALGUIDE

STEALTH® CONCEALMENT SOLUTIONS, INC.

OUT OF SIGHT.OUT OF MIND.

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EVERY ANTENNA YOU’VE HIDDEN COSTS 20% - 30% MORE THAN IT SHOULD HAVE. WHY?!THERE ARE MANY REASONS THE SOLUTION!

We believe educated & informed participants in the process can solve this problem.

ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES, we will illustrate how you can get more for your concealment dollar while avoiding many of the traps that frequently confront the typical project.

2.DESIGNERS ARE UNAWARE of the most cost-effective materials and methods.

3.INSTALLATION METHODS ARE OUTDATED; wireless moves at the speed of sound, except

when it comes to towers.

1. CONTROL OF DESIGN HAS SHIFTED from people in the wireless business to cities

and towns and the well-meaning citizens who sit on zoning boards.

YOU’RE SPENDING MOREMONEY THAN YOU NEED TO ON EVERY SITE

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ENTER STEALTH®. Plywood was fine until it wasn’t. Slowly, but surely, all those wooden concealments required retrofit ting. That drove the need for a proven, RF-transparent panel that could remain relatively invisible when placed in front of an antenna. That panel also had to match its surroundings, meaning transparency and camouflage — of ten bordering on true ar twork — were key.

CONCEALMENT EVOLUTION: As time went on, concealment was no longer “nice to have”. It became a “must have”. Municipalities sought quality concealment. End users understood they had options, and were focused on getting sites ramped up and serving customers. Today, we’re part of a vast network of designers, builders, and suppliers conjuring up concealments for just about anything the wireless industry needs.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONCEALMENTCONCEALMENT WAS BORN MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO. THE FIRST SITES WERE MADE OF PLYWOOD. They worked, but weathering made them a less than ideal option. But that didn’t matter much, because the networks were pretty unreliable at the time. Impeded signal wasn’t a concern.

IT WAS COOLER TO HAVE A PHONE THAN IT WAS TO BE ABLE TO MAKE A CALL.

20

hello?

we want concealment!

PART ONE: BEFORE

CONCEALMENT

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INSIDER INSIGHT: CITIES ALL OVER THE U.S. ARE HIRING CONSULTANTS TO WRITE CONCEALMENT ORDINANCE LANGUAGE. THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DRIVE COSTS HIGHER, BUT IF YOU FOLLOW THE SIMPLE GUIDELINES IN THIS HANDBOOK, YOU CAN BE A PROACTIVE PART OF THE DIALOGUE AND CONTROL COSTS.

INVOLVE A CONCEALMENT COMPANY AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE!SITE ACQUISITION FOR CONCEALMENT REQUIRES THAT CONSIDERATIONS BE MADE DURING THE SEARCH RING PROCESS (the time carriers or their agents are negotiating for the rights to use land or airspace). A carrier should approach a site with a couple of options for concealment in their hand. The more detailed these initial options are (i.e.: photos of past

sites that have been concealed, an initial sample drawing or a photo simulation) the better you can set the expectations. Pre-thinking concealment can help steer the team to the right site, and the right camouflage. Plus, people who appear organized and thoughtful inspire confidence.

COLLABORATE. Bring your concealment company along on the search ring process and listen to the advantages /disadvantages of potential sites.

ENTERTAIN OPTIONS. Work with them on two or three simple sketches and cost estimates.

PREPARE YOUR CASE. Outline likely objections from the landlord and have solid answers.

ARM YOURSELF. Have written references speaking to your concealment partner’s quality and professionalism.

LISTEN TO YOUR CONCEALMENT COMPANY. Any major concealment vendor can tell you what concealments they’ve done in a given area. A vendor’s knowledge is a powerful tool.

GET HITCHED. Centralizing your concealment relationship with one vendor could save you time and money on future projects. Consider it!

ANOTHER BENEFIT IS YOU GAIN CONTROL OF THE COMPLEXITY & COST OF THE CONCEALMENT. After all, concealment is generally the last thing any carrier wants to consider because of the additional cost involved. However, the longer the site is delayed the more revenue is lost. At a point, it becomes cheaper to conceal than to resist.

Goodwill is best achieved through full disclosure regarding potential for the site(s) in question. Practical, real-world solutions for questions and concerns that pop up will be prized. And pop up they will. If you go to a hearing, or visit with a landlord, without an idea of what the most cost-effective concealment option is, you cede all control to others. Be proactive and have your choices and details on hand as you engage the owner(s). Manage the decision process or it will surely manage you.

OUR 20+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE TELL US THAT A CASUAL APPROACH CAN DRIVE COSTS UP ANYWHERE FROM 25% TO 75%.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS DURING THIS PHASE OF THE PROJECT IS THAT MAXIMUM GOODWILL IS ESTABLISHED WITH ALL THE STAKEHOLDERS.

YES!HOW CAN YOUR CONCEALMENT PARTNER HELP YOU GET TO ...

NOW THAT YOU’VE ENGAGED YOUR CONCEALMENT PARTNER, SET THE MEETING. WRITE AN AGENDA AND GUIDE THE CONVERSATION. KNOW YOUR GOAL.

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KEY LESSONS LEARNED

APPROACH YOUR FIRST MEETING ARMED WITH DRAWINGS, PHOTO SIMULATIONS, SAMPLES, AND EXAMPLES OF EXISTING INSTALLED SITES.

PART TWO: BUILDINGTHE CONCEALMENT1 Bring a concealment expert into your site selection process from the start.

A good vendor is a partner as interested in your long-term success as theirs.

2 Determine the advantages/disadvantages for each potential concealment site.

3 Based on this upfront work, create two or three options using existing drawings, photo simulations and/or samples from the site in question or a similar, existing site.

4 Know in advance what types of concealments are good, fast track, low hassle candidates in the eyes of the other party.

5 Standardize the concealment selection purchase process while it’s still a relatively small portion of the site budget.

6 Centralize the purchase of concealment products to share designs and material costs across several projects.

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INSIDER INSIGHT: IT MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE TO HAVE A CONCEALMENT PROVIDER CREATE THE DESIGN, BUT YOU CAN STILL BENEFIT FROM THEIR EXPERIENCE. MAKE SURE YOUR ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING FIRM GETS INPUT FROM A CONCEALMENT COMPANY TO MAXIMIZE THE DESIGN.

TOO OFTEN PROJECTS ARRIVE ALREADY DESIGNEDTHAT MAY SOUNDS GOOD, BUT IT’S USUALLY NOT. It’s good when someone with more than 20 years of experience is behind it; not so much when a newbie conjured it up. The difference goes beyond aesthetics. Design integrity, durability, build-ability, RF transparency, the ability to gain municipal approval on the first attempt and a host of other factors matter. And experience is key to navigating them all.

ADDING CONCEALMENT AFTER THE SITE HAS BEEN CHOSEN CARRIES A HOST OF CHALLENGES. Pre-determined designs are more expensive to quote, fabricate and install. Why? Picture yourself designing a car, sending the drawing to a factory, and expecting the cheapest possible price for your one-of-a-kind wheels. That’s not cost saving, it’s a cost snowball, and you lose all benefits from the experience and connections of your vendor.

TYPICALLY, A PRE-SELECTED CONCEALMENT ARRIVES ON SITE IN PIECES. The local contractor, who built a carport yesterday, struggles to make sense of the drawings. Busy people, they underbid the job and are now in a hurry to get it done. They skipped the pre-construction team calls. The clock ticks and, at some critical point around the 11th hour, they call the designers for help. Now the meter is really running and everyone is scrambling to meet the deadline. Soon, everyone is pointing fingers in a desperate attempt to avoid back-charges on a project that was already quoted close to the bone.

SO, WHAT DRIVES UP COSTS DURING THIS PHASE??

IT D ESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!

Customer calls a meeting with all the involved parties, previewing potential sites.

The team discusses the best options for each, and approaches customer with their ranked choices.

The customer makes their choice, and seeks a general design approach

— complete with concealment.

An option is chosen, priced, and goes to the design department.

Customer demands that their installation team meet at least once with the concealment designers before delivery.

A frank conversation is had between carrier, contractors and concealment partners about ideal options, costs, maintenance and more.

THAT’S A LOT OF COMMUNICATING! Yes, but all that pre-thinking means engineering costs are reduced, knowledge is shared, projects are completed faster and mistakes are minimized. In fact, just the initial meeting alone has been proven to cut project costs by 20% to 30%, and cut project completion time in half.

HOW TO MAKE THE “DURING” PHASE WORK

START

FINISH

INSIDER INSIGHT: POST ALL YOUR ENGINEERING PACKAGES IN A SHARED FOLDER AND LET ALL CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS ACCESS IT. ENGINEERING CAN BE RE-USED AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF RECREATING A SIMILAR PACKAGE.

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KEY LESSONS LEARNED

1 Designs locked in stone before reaching the concealment company cost more, almost without exception.

2 A holistic approach to a carrier’s concealment needs will drive down cost at every phase of the concealment project.

3 Concealment companies have more design experience: use it.

4 Exploit similarity in design across regions to reduce engineering and fabrication costs.

5 Ask concealment companies which products they can build the best, easiest and most cost efficiently. Look for opportunities to deploy that design across the company.

INSIDER INSIGHT: ASK YOUR CONCEALMENT VENDOR FOR ANY PHOTOS THEY MIGHT HAVE. IT CAN BE AN IMPORTANT ADDITION TO YOUR PROJECT ARCHIVE.

PART THREE: AFTER

CONCEALMENT

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Pick a partner you can trust and set up a schedule for regular inspections. Stay in touch with your original contractor or retain a larger concealment company to maintain the site. Categorize your concealed sites from oldest to youngest, and categorize them into sites with the greatest risk, based on age and proximity to people and property.

On new installations, invite your concealment company to conduct a final approval of the installation. Expect your site to be well engineered and to last a good while. But remember these aren’t traditional materials and will require routine reviews.

COMPLETION IS NOT THE END OF THE PROJECT HOW TO GET TO “HAPPILY EVER AFTER”90% OF THE TIME AFTER A JOB IS COMPLETED, HIGH FIVES ABOUND, ELVIS LEAVES

THE BUILDING, AND EVERYONE FORGETS THE SITE. Abandoned, the concealment is left to the elements until, generally, something goes wrong. Absent proactive involvement by the landlord, the carrier or a designee, there’s little thought given to the maintenance of the site and its concealment. This is another expensive problem.

THEY MUST ADAPT TO CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES. They must remain structurally sound so as not to create problems in their surrounding areas. Yet little to no thought is given to the long, healthy life of a site. The better approach is to pre-plan and pre-budget regular inspections. Some sites benefit from quarterly visits; others less, and some even more. Your region’s weather will drive the optimal schedule.

EACH INSPECTION SHOULD BE CONDUCTED IN A RIGOROUS AND DETAILED MANNER. Take photos and make notes. Damaged or worn parts should be replaced or repaired. Connections should be tested for strength. But don’t expect concealments to meet the standards you’d apply to permanent buildings: those are fake bricks and tree branches, after all. And the key is to use RF-transparent materials, which are automatically less resilient than traditional building materials.

CONCEALMENTS AND TOWERS NEED MAINTENANCE

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO HIDE? CONCEALMENT IS SIMPLE. It’s not easy, but it doesn’t have to be hard, either. You can seriously reduce the time, frustration, annoyance, and cost that concealment too often conjures. COME ON — STOP HIDING FROM CONCEALMENT!

KEY LESSONS LEARNED

1 Reactive replacement and repair processes are recipes for trouble.2 Concealment company sign-off is a great way to finish a project.3 Set a specific schedule for inspecting your sites.4 Keep good records. Photographs, videos and drawings with any

approved changes are useful project artifacts to keep.

MAINTENANCE is the most cost effective way to keep neighbors, landlords, municipalities, carriers and their customers happy and avoid zoning pitfalls.

800.755.0689 | 3034-A ASHLEY PHOSPHATE RD. | N. CHARLESTON | SC | stealthconcealment.com