Transmission Tower Painting — Cake Commercial Services

Transmission Tower Painting

Transmission towers carry the country's electricity, and they corrode. CAKE delivers painting, refurbishment and corrosion mitigation on energised transmission and communication structures across New Zealand and Fiji, working on live-line assets without taking them out of service.

Our Services

What we offer

Energised tower painting and protective coating application

Tower refurbishment and remediation

High pressure water blasting from 2,000 to 5,000 PSI

Wet abrasive blasting

Steel and bolt replacement

Earth plate installation

Corrosion assessment and mitigation strategies

Communication and broadcast tower refurbishment

We work on live circuits, at height, in remote locations. Access is part of the job, and our teams are equipped and trained for helicopter access into sites that cannot be reached any other way.

Working on energised assets

Painting a transmission tower while it remains energised is one of the higher risk activities in the industry. It combines working at height with proximity to live conductors, and it demands work practices built specifically for that environment.

Our crews are trained in painting energised circuits, with site-specific electrical theory and practical knowledge underpinning how they work. Equipotential bonding of plant and machinery, mechanical preparation and blasting methods for live lattice steel, and the coating systems themselves are all handled to methodologies developed for energised work rather than adapted from general coatings practice.

The reason this matters commercially is straightforward. Transmission assets are critical infrastructure, and taking a line out of service to maintain it carries a cost that usually outweighs the maintenance itself. Being able to do the work live is what makes a maintenance programme viable.

Our tower team

We have a well seasoned team of multi-disciplined tower painters, riggers and industrial rope access technicians. Every member is certified in tower rescue, working at heights and high risk work environments, and no one is deemed competent until they have completed an intensive internal training and certification process. Many of our team are Train the Painter and NACE qualified, and some have been painting energised circuits internationally for more than fifteen years.

We have delivered energised tower work since winning a long-term national contract against international competition, and we have taken the same capability offshore, including a multi-year contract in Canada and our ongoing operation in Fiji.

Safety on this work is not a policy position. Our clients hold the same standard we do, which is that every person on site goes home at the end of the day.

Where we work

We deliver tower painting and refurbishment throughout New Zealand, including remote sites across both islands, from bases in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. We also operate in Fiji from an office and warehouse in Suva, delivering energised tower refurbishment for Energy Fiji Limited.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. We specialise in energised tower painting, which allows maintenance to be carried out while the line stays in service. It requires specific training, work practices and equipment, and it avoids the cost and disruption of an outage.

The coating is what protects the galvanising and steel underneath from corrosion. Once it degrades, section loss begins, and replacing tower steel is dramatically more expensive than maintaining the coating that protects it. Painting is asset life extension rather than appearance.

Refurbishment typically includes surface preparation and recoating, but also steel and bolt replacement where members have corroded, and earth plate installation. We assess condition and scope the work around what the structure actually needs.

Access is planned as part of the job. Depending on the site, that can mean vehicle access and rope access, or helicopter transport of crew and equipment into terrain with no road access. We have done both extensively in New Zealand and Fiji.

Talk to us about your network

Tell us about the asset and the environment it sits in, and we will get you to the right team. We are happy to advise on energised access before anything is priced.

Request a Quote Call us: 0800 376 650