Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

What services does Strilla Communications Company provide?

Directional drilling and horizontal directional drilling, aerial cable construction including strand and lash, fiber splicing, fiber blowing and pulling, conduit installation, handhole and vault placement, make-ready support, system maintenance, emergency service restoration, and full outside plant construction. Directional drilling is the lead service and the rest is organized around it.

What areas do you serve?

Volusia County is the primary service area, including New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach, Port Orange, Deltona, DeLand, Edgewater and Ormond Beach. Coverage extends across Central Florida through Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake and Polk Counties, with statewide Florida capability where a project's scope justifies mobilization.

Do you handle both aerial and underground fiber construction?

Yes, and both are performed in house rather than subcontracted. That matters because real routes rarely stay in one lane. A project transitioning from a bore to a pole line does not require a second contractor, a second mobilization, or a coordination handoff that nobody clearly owns.

Do you own your equipment or rent it?

Owned. Rental availability is tightest exactly when demand is highest, which is usually when your schedule is already under pressure. Owned equipment turns an availability negotiation into an internal scheduling decision, and equipment maintained by the crews who depend on it daily tends to be in better condition.

What is horizontal directional drilling?

A trenchless method for installing conduit or cable underground along a controlled, steerable path. A pilot bore is drilled along the planned alignment, the hole is reamed to the required diameter, then the product is pulled back through it. The surface is only opened at the entry and exit pits.

When should I choose directional drilling over open cut?

When the surface should not be opened. Under roads and driveways, beneath established landscaping, across corridors carrying other utilities. Open cut is often the better choice on short shallow runs where the surface has little value, and particularly where a trench is already open for another purpose.

How deep is fiber conduit typically installed?

Required cover is set by the permitting authority and by what the bore passes beneath, so it varies by jurisdiction and by crossing type. Road crossings generally require greater cover than a run along a shoulder. The requirement is confirmed against the permit rather than assumed from a general rule.

How do you avoid hitting existing utilities?

Sunshine 811 tickets are placed and the marks verified before work starts, then existing plant is physically exposed by hand or vacuum excavation where the bore path runs close to it. Locate marks indicate an approximate position with no depth information, so potholing is what converts an approximation into a known fact.

What is potholing and why does it matter?

Physically exposing a buried utility to confirm its actual position and depth before boring near it. It is the only control that produces certainty rather than inference, and it is the step most commonly skipped under schedule pressure. That is why it belongs in the written scope rather than being left to field judgment.

What soil conditions affect directional drilling in Florida?

Clean sand bores fast but the hole can destabilize without careful fluid management. Clay holds a bore open but can swell and stick to tooling without the right additives. Limestone and rock slow progress sharply. Karst areas of Central Florida introduce void and fluid loss risk. A high water table, common across coastal Volusia, complicates fluid and pit management on otherwise routine bores.

What permits are required for fiber construction in Florida?

Sunshine 811 notification is required statewide before any excavation or boring. Work in a state road right of way requires an FDOT utility permit. County and municipal right of way work requires that jurisdiction's permit, with requirements varying considerably. Environmental resource permits may apply near wetlands or water bodies.

Who handles permitting, you or the client?

Either arrangement works provided it is explicit in the scope. What causes problems is leaving it unstated, because one contractor prices permitting and another assumes the client is handling it, producing bids that look different but are not comparable. State it in the scope and the ambiguity disappears.

What is make-ready work?

The preparation required on existing poles before a new aerial attachment can be made, typically moving existing attachments to create required separation, or replacing a pole. It is performed by the pole owner or existing attachers rather than by the fiber contractor, and it is the item most likely to control an aerial schedule.

How does strand and lash installation work?

A messenger strand is installed and tensioned between poles, then the fiber cable is lashed to it with a lashing wire applied by a lasher traveling along the span. The strand carries the mechanical load and the cable simply rides on it, which is why the strand tension and sag matter more than the cable itself.

What is the difference between fiber blowing and fiber pulling?

Blowing uses air pressure to carry the cable through the duct so it effectively floats, which handles long runs and multiple bends with minimal tension on the fiber. Pulling draws the cable mechanically, which suits shorter runs and situations where duct condition makes blowing impractical, but tension has to be monitored carefully.

What is a closeout package and what should it contain?

The documentary record delivered when construction finishes. It should contain as-built drawings or route data, bore logs with depth profile, coordinates for every access structure, photographs keyed to location, test records where applicable, reconciled footage and material, restoration verification photographs, permit closure and warranty terms.

Why do as-builts need to be captured during construction?

Because buried plant stops being verifiable the moment it is covered. Depth and position recorded while a feature is exposed are observations. The same values written a week later are recollections. The difference is invisible at closeout and expensive years later when a locate comes back wrong.

Do you provide daily production reports?

Yes, on every project. The report covers what was completed, what is planned next, what field conditions were encountered and what is blocking progress. It arrives at the end of the working day without being requested, which removes most of the reason status calls exist and creates a contemporaneous record when conditions change.

What restoration is required after directional drilling?

Restoration of the entry and exit pits and any disturbed surface to the standard the permitting authority requires. That varies by surface: sod is straightforward, asphalt costs more, and decorative concrete, pavers or brick require hand work and matched material. Some authorities require full lane resurfacing rather than a patch.

How quickly can you respond to an emergency?

Emergency calls are answered directly and mobilization is coordinated on the call rather than promised in advance, because a realistic time depends on location, crew position and what the fault actually is. Response is fastest within Volusia County. A specific hour figure published on a website would be a marketing claim rather than a commitment.

What should we arrange before storm season?

Confirm route records are current for critical segments, document site access including gates and easements, name a contact with authority to approve out of hours work, identify compatible spare material, and agree the restoration standard and emergency pricing. All of it is easy in advance and nearly impossible during an event.

How do I request a bid?

Use the Request a Bid form with project type, location, scope, footage and timeline, and attach plans if you have them. Most bid requests get a response within one business day. For an active outage, call (386) 396-2033 directly instead, so mobilization can be coordinated on the call rather than through a form.

What information do you need to give an accurate bid?

Route and approximate footage, conduit or cable specification, the number and type of crossings, surface types along the route, any known existing utilities, restoration standard, permitting responsibility, schedule, and the documentation level required at closeout. Plans or a route map help most. If something is unknown, say so and it gets scoped rather than guessed.

Why do bids from different contractors vary so much?

Usually because of differing assumptions rather than differing efficiency. Restoration standard, permitting responsibility, potholing extent, documentation level and soil contingency are the common variables. Asking each bidder what they assumed on those five points generally explains the entire spread, and is more informative than comparing totals.

Do you publish pricing?

No. Any published figure would be wrong for most projects, because two bores of identical length can differ widely in cost depending on soil, crossings, traffic control and restoration. The cost factors page explains what moves a price instead, which is genuinely useful when scoping work or comparing bids.

Can you send a certificate of insurance?

Yes. Email hello@strillacommunications.com with the entity name to be listed, whether additional insured status or a waiver of subrogation is required, and any minimum limits your agreement specifies. Providing those details up front means the certificate arrives correct the first time rather than needing reissue.

Are you licensed?

Yes. Licensing documentation is supplied directly for prequalification, procurement or permitting rather than published as a number on a web page, because a published number cannot be verified. Permitting authorities generally verify licensing before issuing a right of way permit, so the question is usually settled before construction.

Do you have customer reviews I can read?

Not yet. Rather than display star ratings with nothing behind them, this site shows trust indicators that are actually true and omits aggregate rating markup from its structured data entirely. References are provided directly on request, and are a stronger signal than reviews because you can ask your own questions.

Can you take on a project that needs multiple crews at once?

Yes, subject to scheduling. Multi crew work is common on outside plant builds where the pathway, the cable and the aerial sections progress concurrently. Capacity is confirmed against the specific timeline at bid time rather than assumed, because committing to a schedule that cannot be staffed helps nobody.

Do you work as a subcontractor to general contractors?

Yes. General contractors already working a corridor often need the bore, the conduit or the aerial section performed by a specialist. Schedule interlock matters most in that arrangement, which is why daily reporting and clear communication about field conditions are part of the standard offering rather than an upgrade.

What happens if field conditions differ from what was scoped?

It gets documented on the day it is found, with photographs, in the daily report. That gives both parties the same facts while the decision about how to proceed is being made, rather than producing a disputed recollection weeks later during billing. Change is priced and approved before it is performed.

How long does a typical bore take?

It depends far more on conditions than on length. A straightforward run in clean sand progresses quickly. The same length through congested urban corridor with multiple crossings, potholing and restricted work windows can take several times longer. Duration is estimated against the specific route rather than from a footage rate.

Do you handle railroad or waterway crossings?

Waterway approaches are within normal scope. Railroad crossings involve a separate authority with its own permitting process and its own timeline, which needs to be factored into the schedule from the start. Tell us at bid time if a railroad crossing is in scope, because it affects sequencing more than cost.

What is tracer wire and why does it matter?

A conductive wire installed alongside non conductive conduit so the pathway can be located electronically later. Without it, plastic duct is effectively invisible to standard locating equipment. Continuity has to be verified and documented, because tracer wire that is broken somewhere along the run provides no benefit at all.

Can you work with our required as-built format?

Yes, where a template or data format is specified. That is agreed before construction rather than discovered at closeout, because the field capture method has to match the required output. Accurate data delivered in a shape your system cannot ingest solves only half the problem and creates rework.