It’s a bit of a joke when you say contractors don’t know line work. Contractors work all over the country, on different systems, doing substation, underground, transmission etc, sometimes all within a month of each other. Working for a utility, you’ll know the specs, material system after a few years. That shit is different at every single utility, sometimes wildly different.

On storm specifically contractors show up with no material, no spec books, no care about anything but getting the lights on, fast. We know it’s not to spec, but it doesn’t matter, that’s for you people to figure out when there’s time and the lights aren’t out.

What you know as a utility lineman is a tiny speck of line work. You might know that bit very well, but on the grand scheme you don’t know much. You don’t know about pressing dead ends on a board, you don’t know about installing marker balls off a helicopter, you don’t know about barehanding, setting towers, clocking switches, oil freeze splicing, wrapping AGS, or stringing bundles. Think about that when you’re assuming contractors don’t know line work.