A Public Shift
When William Dillard Smith founded the business in 1947 it helped rural electric utilities build their distribution systems throughout the Tennessee Valley. In 1999 Dillard Smith shifted from private to public ownership after it was acquired by Quanta Services Inc.
Imsand joined the company 17 years ago as a journeyman and worked his way through the ranks into estimating, and in 2005 he became president. Since going public, “We’ve had a vast improvement in our processes, equipment and tools and access to resources and skilled labor,” Imsand says. “We now have a keener eye toward cutting costs and arriving at efficiencies. “Quanta ownership offers our employees expanded opportunities for growth and our customers access to increased resources in labor, equipment, technology and services, all of which add value,” Imsand explains.
The company operates as a general contractor for major electric utilities, and often subcontracts work to heavy crane companies for setting steel towers and large concrete and steel poles. Other subcontracted work includes helicopters for structure setting, spacer installation and sockline stringing for wire-pulling operations.
Although distribution contracting was the company’s sole focus for many years, over the last several years, “we have seen transmission equal and exceed those revenues,” Imsand says. “There is a shift in demand by the utilities [because] there haven’t been many significant transmission lines built in the last twenty years.
“The construction market in the Southeast continues to be strong. Commercial and residential development, although somewhat slower than in recent memory, is still strong in most areas of the Southeast and the demand for new electric lines and the upgrade of existing lines is continuing. In fact, many of our customers are planning to significantly increase spending, particularly on transmission line projects.”
Imsand predicts, “increased demand for electricity, coupled with an infrastructure that is 40 to 50 years old, we [will] expect to result in increased spending on transmission and distribution systems and will thereby benefit us.”
Future reliability standards required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 are also influencing electric providers’ planning and investment. “One of the objectives of the Energy Act is to improve the nation’s electric transmission capacity and reliability, and to promote investment in the nation’s energy infrastructure,” Imsand notes. “A 2006 survey by the Edison Electric Institute of its members indicated that investor-owned electric utilities planned to spend $31.5 billion on transmission projects from 2006 to 2009 – a nearly 60 percent increase over the previous four-year period.”
As the market has shifted, Imsand says the company has invested in new equipment to keep up with demand and improve competency. “Capital investment is an important part of our strategy to position ourselves to win work in the growing transmission market, as well as to maintain and improve reliability, efficiencies and safety functions for employees and existing customers,” he maintains. Dillard Smith owns more than 1,200 pieces of equipment and each crew is equipped with mobile communications, keeping operators in constant contact with each other and the company’s seven offices. In addition, Dillard Smith owns and operates a variety of specialty equipment, including cranes, all-wheel drive vehicles and bucket trucks that can reach up to 120 feet.

An ‘Energized’ Company
One of the biggest differentiators between Dillard Smith and the competition is its ability to perform transmission, distribution and substation work “energized,” or without requiring the system to go off-line. This technique allows the company to repair, upgrade or maintain active lines, and helps utilities avoid millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Using a variety of robotic arms attached to mobile cranes, Dillard Smith crews can safely perform structure maintenance, replacement or conductor installation. “Our specially trained energized line crews utilize bare-hand and hot-stick methods as well as our proprietary LineMaster robotic arm to perform maintenance and construction on energized lines without interrupting power service,” Imsand says. “We believe that the delivery of energized services is a significant factor in differentiating us from our competition and winning new business.”
Prior to beginning an energized project, a detailed structure by structure “work procedure” is developed by a team of Dillard Smith professionals. This team uses information gained from visiting the project site and customer to determine and evaluate project requirements. The detailed work procedure, once approved by the customer, is then shared with all members of the crew with each assigned specific tasks. Dillard Smith staffs its projects with only experienced journeyman lineman, each of whom has extensive classroom a nd on-the-job training and are certified on an annual basis.
In every situation, job site safety is the No.1 priority of the company and its clients. “Safety is as important as ever and increasingly our customers are participating with us in seeking continuous improvement,” Imsand explains. “Many of our customers are using safety performance and processes as a major evaluation measurement in their process for assigning work vs. lowest price being the only determining factor. We have also joined with OSHA both nationally and regionally in partnerships to help improve workplace safety by creating standards and improving safety training specific to our industry.”

Working in Rough Terrain
Dillard Smith is currently involved in a complex project for Duke Energy to replace 19 miles of 230-kilovolt transmission line on steel towers between Santeetlah and Robinsville, N.C. As Imsand explains, the existing transmission line is being replaced in two phases with new, larger steel towers and two bundled conductors per phase of double-circuit 230-kilovolt line. Phase I began in March and was energized on Oct. 30. The balance of Phase II will begin in early 2008 and will be completed in October.
“The schedule is critical in that the existing line is de-energized during construction and the owner has an agreement to purchase power from another utility while the new line is being constructed, ” Imsand says. “An existing overhead fiber-optic line on the transmission line must remain in service throughout construction. We are achieving that by temporarily placing the fiber-optic line on steel poles during construction.
“Challenges we face during this project include working in mountainous terrain and establishing and maintaining enough skilled workers,” Imsand continues.
With the expertise of more than 60 line workers on the estimated $13 million portion of the project at once, the company is able to adjust to the rough terrain and rugged mountains of the Nantahala region. “We have a superintendent and a core group who have many years of experience working in difficult mountainous terrain, and were able to find workers and share the knowledge and experience.

Dedicated Crew
“The uniqueness of this project is that 100 percent is derived from the mountainous territory,” says Regional Director and Project Manager Jody Greer. “The entire length of the process is done in the steep mountain grade with limited access.”
In fact, the only access Dillard Smith had to the site was via a narrow gravel road. Using all-wheel drive vehicles, the company transported smaller pieces of equipment to the site and assembled the towers in place. Then, using cranes provided by Amquip Crane Rental, the towers are set on the foundations. The cranes were pulled into place by bulldozers.
Amquip’s relationship with Dillard Smith began when the crane company provided cranes for a project the company was working on erecting electrical towers in Maysville, Ky. “At the time I had no idea that we were about to build a very good? relationship and become involved in some of the most challenging? situations a crane company can take on,” recalls Amquip Vice President of Industrial Accounts Jim Creek.
“There was a lot of thought and discussions as to which machines and? models would be best suited to the tough conditions,” Creek continues. “Also one of the ?main concerns was the mobilization from site to site to be cost?-effective and efficient.
Amquip provided Dillard Smith a 110-ton Liebherr All-terrain crane for about four months. “This machine also carries 171 feet of ?main boom, which makes it ideal for working in areas that have very ?little space or on the edge or top of mountains,” Creek says. “It is light and easy to pull with bulldozers or multiple snatch blocks and rigging.”
Each steel tower consists of four grillage foundations installed at a subgrade level, and each tower ranges from 125 to 150 feet tall. The crane was instrumental in erecting the heavy towers in a confined space. “A large number of these jobs are very tough to do…and in many cases, some tower erections are very time consuming with the number of lifts needed,” Creek says. “Cranes can be moved from site to site and can unload components in lay down areas to be loaded later once the erection site is prepared.”
Limiting the environmental impact while working on site was one of the top priorities of the project. “We had one crew dedicated to environmental mitigation and a full-time safety inspector on the job who implemented a program of continuous training and safety awareness,” Greer says.
“It was clear to us that safety and the environment were the No. 1 priorities on the job. “One of the largest concerns that you have with an environmentally sensitive area is fluid leaks from equipment,” Greer explains. “We assess each piece of equipment and test it for leaks. If there are leaks that can’t be fixed, we remove it from the project.”
“The success of any project depends largely on how well the parties work together,” Imsand says. “The Duke Energy [project] is a good example of how to achieve [all of our] objectives. Duke has done an excellent job of planning, permitting, design, material procurement, environmental planning, road building and maintenance. Dillard Smith utilized a full time project manager who communicates frequently with the on-site inspectors and superintendent. This model of project management has ensured good communications and resulted in a high quality of work delivered on time.”
Greer says he agrees and that, “This was really a special project from the standpoint that we had communication from the ground level to the CFO on this job.”

Ushering in a ‘New Era’
According to Imsand, the company cannot move forward without embracing those clients that gave it initial success. “We have contracts with a broad base of long-time customers, some as many as 60 years,” he says. “Our business plan includes maintaining these outstanding relationships to meet the needs of our existing customers as they expand and grow their services, with an eye and an effort toward expanding our footprint to meet the demand in the new era of electric system growth. “Our vision is one that seeks continuous improvement in safety and in operating efficiencies, identifying synergies and sharing of resources within the company while pursuing opportunities that meet our profitability goals wherever those opportunities may be,” Imsand asserts.