Neglecting these spaces typically results in years of damage, violations, and competitor trespass. The best solution to a lack of knowledge surrounding these underground spaces is regularly auditing these spaces. Alden's trained inspectors are finding damage, trespass, and violations in handholes, manholes, pedestals, and visible ducts.
One main motivation of an inspection is to locate any trespass. This is valuable real estate and just as any landlord would not want someone living in a home without paying rent, asset owners should view this problem in the same way.
Trespass is expensive, in more ways than one. Here are three ways trespassers are distressing asset owners:
Trespassers often take a “catch me if you can” mentality, forgoing the standard permitting process to rapidly deploy their plant. This cuts their costs and allows them to charge lower prices to residents in the area. In the unlikely case they are caught, it is still to their benefit to trespass, since they have already reached the cell site, data center, or business center. They collect revenue (which should be going to the asset owner) that typically makes up for any fees and fines by the owner. However, if they were caught regularly and those fees started to mount, they might think twice about forgoing the permitting process.
Alden's inspection team found that 17% of the vaults had trespass, and the trespassers were required to pay two years’ back rent plus another full year’s rent upfront. They also had to pay a fee for trespassing in the first place, and pay back the client for the cost of the audit. The client received a generous profit from investing in and having the inspection professionally executed. Read more about that specific audit here.
Properly conducted inspections recognize the facilities of a foreign company. Sometimes asset owners require color-coding to more easily identify trespass. The only way to be sure that vault spaces are trespass-free is regular inspections and maintenance by trained professionals.