Tower contractors. Not a GC subbing it out.
We build, modify, and maintain communications towers for WISPs, tribal nations, electric utilities, oil and gas, public safety, and municipal broadband. Civil, steel, and RF under one roof. One crew, one schedule, one number to call.
One company. Civil, steel, and RF under one roof.
How we got here.
We started in 2018 building for rural WISPs, under the name Waldrop Wireless Technicians. In October 2023 we rebranded to Vertical Axis. Same crews. Same customers. Cleaner name, broader scope.
The work that got us here was small-dish WISP buildouts. The work that’s in front of us is the same craft, applied to electric-utility SCADA sites, oil and gas remote comms, tribal broadband, and public-safety backhaul. All of it is a tower in the ground. None of it is what a macro-cell contractor is built for.
Where our crews run from.
Who we work with.
What we hold to.
Four things that are non-negotiable on every site, regardless of scope or deadline.
Expert craftsmanship
Every bolt torqued to spec. Every cadweld cooled and verified. Nothing left for someone else’s inspection to catch.
Safety first
100% tie-off. Authorized climber rescue on every crew. A site-specific rescue plan on every job before steel moves. See the full safety program →
Client consultation
Your engineer, your RF plan, your permit strategy. We work to your build documents and your schedule, not to our preferences.
Connecting communities
Rural WISPs, tribal broadband, and emergency services. The sites we build close the coverage gaps that big carriers leave behind.
What you don't see.
The tower is the visible part. Whether it stands for 30 years is decided by everything you don’t see from the side of the road.
Pre-dawn starts
Weather windows are measured in hours, not days. Cranes get staged the night before so we’re rigging at sunrise and flying steel before the wind picks up.
Rigging checks and rechecks
Every sling, every shackle, every load cell logged before anything leaves the ground. If a single piece of rigging looks worn, it’s cut off the inventory on the spot.
Soils that surprise us
When what’s in the hole doesn’t match what the soils report said, somebody has to make a change-order call before concrete gets poured on bad assumptions. That call gets made in person, on the site, not over the phone a week later.
Grounding and bonding
Cadwelds, not clamps. Bonded before the compound gets backfilled, because once the soil is back over the ring, nobody’s digging it up to fix a lazy connection. One bad ground shortens a tower’s life by 15 years.
Handover documentation
As-built drawings, torque logs, grounding inspection, VSWR checks, a photo package, and a signed punch-list walk with your engineer or inspector. Delivered before we demob, not two weeks later.
Leadership.
The people who run the work. Click through for full bios, backgrounds, and what they’re proud of.
Named as the primary tower contractor for Alabama Lightwave.
Tell us the site.
We'll bring the steel.
Send the location, tower type, scope, and timeline. We come back with a quote, a crew, and a schedule you can build a business around.