Yeah $3K sounds really high. Every tower rental is different. Depending if it's corporate (American Tower, Crown Castle, etc) owned or if its more of a mom and pop owner your lease per month is going to vary. Obviously the easiest and cheapest to deal with are towers that are not owned by the big corporate companies but I'm going to guess if it's a 1000 ft tower at the tower farm it's going to be a corporate owned tower. They will always come to you with some crazy expensive monthly rate. The thing to remember is that they need you more then you need them. There is always going to be another tower down the street or around the corner. It's not everyday that someone needs to stick a 3 bay FM antenna on one of their towers. So when they do get a potential customer it's in their best interest to secure that deal with a long term lease (usually 3 to 5 years). I've had American Tower get back to me with a $800 a month rate on one tower that I'm on and I countered back with a $300 a month offer that included shelter and electricity. After a few emails and calls back and forth with them they agreed to do $350 a month with electricity and shelter. Same goes for Crown Castle. Here in Corpus Christi they wanted $950 a month for a 2 bay on one of their towers. I got them down to $550 a month with electricity. I have a 3 bay FM on a 500 ft tower in Corpus Christi and I am paying $500 a month with a really nice building, rack space, and electricity included in the monthly lease price. If the tower is in a smaller city I try to lock in a deal of $300 a month with shelter and utilities included and they always agree. They may go up $50 bucks or so here and there but as long as I have everything included I'll agree. I would say in Austin at 1000 ft up with a 3 bay antenna a fair price would be $900 min to $1500 max. If it's a corporate owned tower be ready to face a bunch of other BS cost they stick you with such as structural analysis fees, engineering fees, etc. Some even want close out packages that consist of diagrams, pictures, etc. If you don't provide one they will do it and charge you a boat load for it. They only let approved vendors work on their towers also. So if you have an affordable tower crew that's not on their vendor list for whatever reason (insurance umbrella limits, etc) then you'll have to hire one of their tower crews which is a lot more expensive. It's a pain in the butt dealing with corporate owned towers.
