The equipment for the construction method used was still very simple, at that time it had not

used a
Tower Crane. Moreover, the structural calculations were still done manually, because at that time there
were no structural analysis software such as SAP and ETABS.

Work on the foundation of the tower began on January 26, 1887 and took five months, with workers
using only shovels. The ruins were carried away by horse-drawn carts and steam locomotives. The
deepest foundation lay only 15 meters underground. The legs of the tower are set in each of the basic
trenches (four foundations in stone, which are supported by four pillars, known as truss frames).

First floor assembly. The difficulty in determining this floor assembly lies in the starting point at the base
of the truss frame. The material should be positioned at an inclined angle so that it will fill the horizontal
beams on the first floor. To achieve this, the engineers used hydraulic jacks to move each "leg" and
erected the scaffolding system we know today, over a number of empty sandboxes to adjust the slope
of the truss frame.

The second floor is assembled with a crane that takes the same path as the lift. All parts were built at
the Eiffel workshop in Levallois. The tower is installed somewhat like a giant Meccano® (stacking toy
frame) with incredible precision, which was a major innovation at the time. From the second floor to the
third floor, the carpenters worked superbly and there was not a single fatal accident during the
construction period.