Service 02
Outside plant design a crew can build from.
Outside plant is the physical network beyond the building: aerial and underground routes, conduit, cable, splice points and the structures that carry them. The drawing has to satisfy a reviewer and a construction crew, and those are not the same audience.
Levels of design
Not every project needs the same depth, and paying for detail you do not need is as wasteful as discovering you needed it.
High level — route feasibility and planning, enough to make a build-or-not decision
Mid level — route and structure definition sufficient for estimating and permitting
Low level — full construction detail: spans, placements, splice points and bill of material
Aerial and underground
Aerial work covers pole route design, attachment positions and the clearances that govern them. Underground covers conduit routing, trench and bore detail, handholes and vaults, and the crossings that usually drive the permit strategy.
Most routes are a mix, and the design has to make the transitions deliberate rather than incidental.
The network types we design for
FTTH — feeder, distribution, FDH/splitter placement, drops and terminal planning
FTTx / Fiber OSP — fiber routes serving nodes, cabinets, businesses, MDUs and other network facilities
Cable & Hybrid Networks — plant extensions, redesigns and upgrades to existing infrastructure
Enterprise & Building Connections — dedicated fiber routes and commercial building entrances
The architecture changes what the drawing has to show, but not the sequence: survey first, design to the reviewing agency’s standard, then a package a crew can build from.
Drawn for the reviewer
Drawing standards vary by municipality and by county. A package built to a generic template is a package that comes back with comments. Work is prepared against the requirements of the agency that will actually review it, which is also why the permit phase sits alongside design rather than after it.
What you receive
Route design at the agreed level of detail
Construction drawings in your required format
Material and placement detail where the level calls for it
A package prepared for the reviewing agency’s standard
Often paired with
Volume
Engineering-only design packages were the single largest category of work in 2025.
Start
Send the route.
Tell us the level of detail you need, or describe the decision you are trying to make and we will recommend one.
What is the difference between OSP and ISP?
Outside plant is everything between structures — the route, the cable and the hardware carrying it across the world. Inside plant is what happens once it reaches a building or a cabinet.
AB’s engineering work is outside plant. If your project needs both, say so early: the demarcation between them is a common source of gaps in a scope.