4 ms·
> Why is fiber to the home so expensive? I guess it costs more than you think to hire someone to dig a hole, put something in it, and then cover it back up aga
by bityard 4y ago
> Why is fiber to the home so expensive?
I guess it costs more than you think to hire someone to dig a hole, put something in it, and then cover it back up again.
I paid a guy almost $2000 to fix a few feet of sewer line in my front yard. Very little work to do once the old line was dug up, the main costs were in pulling various permits, renting the equipment, hiring crew, etc. Now multiply that by a few miles and $30k starts to look like a bargain.
- fundad 4y agoSoil is as heavy as almost any construction material and being underground, you're paying for potential energy. It's expensive in fuel and in the cost and maintenance of machinery designed to deliver the most energy. It's like paying for GPU compute time.
- HWR_14 4y agoIf the main costs were permits, equipment rentals and crew, then your math is way off. By definition, those are mostly fixed costs so the first foot is phenomenally expensive. A crew can easily dig 1/2-1 mile per day, so maybe 4 days instead of the one to dig a few feet. If 1/2 the cost was equipment and crew and the other half permits, that puts us at a $5k total.