Where did Stylites get their pillars?

Where did stylites get their pillars?

When St. Symeon Stylites decided to mount a pillar and stand on top of it, he must have got the pillar from somewhere. Did someone make a pillar for him? Did he find an old Roman pillar hanging around which could be used? Althogh we are told the height of his three pillars, the the third and last being 16 metres, there is no indication as to how he came by them.

Now, Daniel the Stylite, in Constantinople, had people who were eager to provide his pillars for him, from the owner the land he decided to stand on, to the emperor himself. These people could afford to have pillars made for him and were happy to provide them for his use.

We can still see some of the stylites' pillars in north Syria, lying on the ground, sometimes broken into pieces - but to my knowledge, no-one has categorically stated the date at which theywere made. They appear to have been contemporary with the stylites themselves, and obviously there were obliging carpenters around who made the platforms which stood atop the pillars, complete with balustrade. Of these, alas, we have no trace, and hey are only known to us in pictorial representation. Further, there is never any indication in the stories of stylites as to the cost of a pillar, and who paid for it. It would be nice to know how someone planning to become a stylite went about obtaining his pillar!