This is more of a hypothetical question, but is still mostly "why not?"

Why don't small-mid size companies use unistrut suspended from building supports to suspend lighting and speakers from? I work in construction and hang 1000s of lbs every week from unistrut that is over peoples heads regularly. Never any failure.

The standard model has a ~2500lb load rating per 2', with a safety factor of 4. Sure its more complicated than that, but it is entirely reasonable to have access to the full 14,500lbs load available from a P1000 unistrut over a 20' span in front of a stage. The limitation becomes attachment to structure.

A powder coated stick costs ~$150, plus 10 fasteners that are $5 each gives you a black stick of metal that is rated to be installed in any plenum on the planet. Is 1/10th the weight of similar length truss. Has an impressively small storage footprint for $200, and can arguably hold more than all but the most well built tube steel truss systems.

So I guess what I don't understand is that for $1,000 you can have a completely demountable, indoor, fixture suspension that 1 guy with a scissor lift can install in 4 hours, that any PE would sign off on...why does no one use it?