How MasTec accelerated utility record research by 7 months for undergrounding project

Customer profile

A leading provider of construction, program management, and EPC services, MasTec has 80 years of experience and employs nearly 22,000 skilled professionals. MasTec has been involved in some of the largest, most complex infrastructure projects across the country, including efforts to convert overhead electrical systems to more resilient underground lines.

Project Summary

MasTec currently provides a combination of engineering, easement acquisition, permitting, and construction to a Florida public utility as part of a multi-year effort to replace overhead power lines with underground facilities to increase grid resiliency. Engineers spent months conducting traditional boots-on-the-ground utility records research to gather data on existing utilities ahead of undergrounding projects, only to realize much of it was inaccurate or incomplete and led to constructability issues. In 2024, MasTec partnered with 4M to obtain comprehensive and reliable utility data more quickly. This allowed MasTec to free up their engineers for more productive work, enabling them to complete design and permitting ahead of schedule. MasTec also expects a significant ROI of $250,000 by shifting to 4M as its primary source of utility data.

Key Results & Takeaways

• Accelerated record research by 7 months
• Accelerated design time by 3 months
• Contained $650k in costs
• Expects $250,000 ROI in 2024 by shifting to 4M as the primary source of utility data
• Obtained utility data for 90 projects in 2 months with 4M, vs. 9 months for 80 projects in 2023 using traditional methods
• 4M provided higher data fidelity, projected to reduce constructibility issues
• Projected to complete 2024 design plan three months sooner than in 2023

Straight from the source

Hear what Michael Acosta, P.E., Division VP at MasTec had to say about his experience with 4M's Utility AI Mapping and Analytics Solution.

Challenge

Florida faces a growing number of extreme weather events, from severe thunderstorms to powerful hurricanes and flooding. Rapid population growth of more than 600 residents daily is also straining its infrastructure.

In the midst of high winds and severe weather conditions, overhead power lines are often the first casualties. Extended loss of power means costly downtime for businesses and potentially life-threatening conditions for citizens in hot weather. MasTec works with several major utilities in Florida on programs that will replace overhead wires with more resilient underground lines.

In 2019, MasTec began providing turnkey services — a combination of engineering, easement acquisition, permitting, and construction — to a public utility as part of a large multi-year resiliency program. The purpose of this project is to provide more resilient electric energy to neighborhoods currently served by overhead lines and service drops.

For the next few years, MasTec used traditional methods to gather utility data like as-built drawings — but there was a problem. “The fidelity of that data was not very good,” says Michael Acosta. “That led to constructibility issues once a designed and permitted job reached the construction stage, resulting in more downtime, increased costs, and rework.”

Traditional utility records research also ate up valuable time for their team. “Spending time on research took away from our design and research team’s efforts to meet the current year’s design plans.”

Solution

MasTec leaders wondered if utility AI mapping technology could provide a better, more efficient way to obtain the utility data they needed. “That’s when we found 4M,” Acosta says. But despite his colleague’s confidence that 4M was a viable solution, Acosta was skeptical. “It was hard to fathom how AI pulled this information from so many sources to create a reliable data set. It honestly sounded too good to be true.”

After meeting with the 4M team, Acosta and his colleagues decided to move forward with a pilot demo period. MasTec requested data for a few projects and validated it against the traditional data they had obtained. “When we did the comparison, we decided this is the way to go,” Acosta says. “The 4M data has a much higher fidelity than what we had been getting traditionally. Along with other technology we have incorporated this year, it will help us eliminate a significant portion of constructibility issues.”

Results

With the new ability to request and receive utility data from 4M in short timeframes, MasTec dramatically accelerated its record research. “Last year, it took us nine calendar months to obtain all the existing utility information through traditional methods and bring that data into design environments for 80 projects,” says Acosta. “This year, with 4M, we were able to do these same tasks — for 90 projects — in two months.”

The added efficiency liberated MasTec’s design and permitting team to focus on other, more strategic tasks. This time savings will shorten the timeframe for completing design and permitting projects by 2-3 months compared to last year. “Last year, some of our design work stretched into 2024, but this year, we’ll complete it all before the end of the year,” says Acosta. That allows us to have permits in hand and be ready to launch the construction phase in the new year.”

Once 4M provides the requested utility information, MasTec imports that data into its design environment to prepare conceptual design and permitting submittal drawings. "The 4M utility data is the foundation for a lot of the design," Acosta says. "We use it not just in the conceptual designs and permitting drawings, but also in construction drawings that are prepared, reviewed, and approved by our customers and then built in the field."

Shifting to 4M's utility AI Mapping and Analytics Solution—that remotely delivers instant, comprehensive access to detailed utility information right to your desktop—allowed MasTec to reduce costs significantly in 2024. Factoring in the cost of obtaining the 4M data, the company projects an ROI of about $250,000 through utilizing 4M. “The ability to get projects done quicker and ready for construction sooner pays for 4M on its own,” says Kevin Hotchkiss, director of design and outreach at MasTec. “We’ve never been this far along on a project so soon.”

Going forward, Acosta sees 4M as a key component that will help MasTec meet its client goals and expectations as underground power resilient infrastructure programs continue to scale. “4M is impressive on many levels, including the quality and fidelity of the data, the speed at which we obtain it, and the amazing partnership with the 4M team along the way,” says Acosta. “When you look under the hood, the AI engine and how the 4M solution pulls data from many different sources and presents it in a complete package — that’s impressive, too.”