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Cost for installing a patch panel?

K

KingGheedora

Diamond Member
Wiring crew is supposed to install a 24-port patch panel, and a switch. All the wiring for our new office terminates near the ceiling in a closet, and the wiring crew said they could install the panel where the wires terminate. The other ends of the wires all lead to Ethernet jacks accross the office that are already installed. The ends of the wires in the closet are raw, like someone chopped them all off. Not sure if that matters.

They are giving an estimate of $90 "per run".

Just want to know what is typical cost for this type of work. 90$ x 20 wires seems like a ton of money for what seems like 2-3 hours of work. I could be wrong though, don't be offended if I'm underestimating what needs to be done.
 
Depending on how long the runs are and how difficult the space they are being run in is that seems very reasonable. I did a project recently where it cost almost $200 per run because while not long runs it was difficult to move around in.

And this is much more than 2-3 hrs work in most cases, more like 8+ and then add in cost of materials.
 
Since they cable already exists, you might get a quote for time and materials rather than per run.

If they are only punching down the existing cables, that's too much. If they are punching down the cables, fully testing them, and leaving you with a documented map, that's a different story.
 
If all they are doing is terminating 24 cables into the patch panel $90/cable is way too much.

If they are laying the cables, putting in the wall plate/keystones and patch panel, terminating, testing and certifying them then that's definitely a decent price.
 
From your description, it sounds like someone had a panel there and cut it out when they moved. If there is enough slack in the cables to get enough length to properly terminated them then they might be able to reuse those cables. If not they need to repull them all. Before they can properly terminate them to a panel they will need to be toned in order locate them all to build in a proper building drop map. They should test them all also.

I need more info to ball park it for sure. Do you need new cable? That alone will drastically change the per loc install cost.
 
If they are going to identify, label, and certify each run as they terminate, then $90/run isn't so bad. That's $1800 for the entire patch panel. It takes much more than "2-3 hours" to do that work properly.
 
Talked to the guys again and they are going to just terminate them individually, and we will run patch cables from those directly to a switch, no panel.

How much is reasonable for that work?
Just the part about terminating the 20 cat 6 cables, and testing to see if all 20 jacks in the office work.

The guy who subcontracted them will be here later and I want to know what market value is because he initially said 125$, then $90 (per wire).
 
The wiring team themselves told me it would take them 2-3 hours. There was no mention of a map being created, but testing -- yes.
 
A good quality 24 port patch panel itself runs ~$250. It takes, depending on the quality and type of wire, ~10 minutes per wire to terminate and certify. Expect ~5 minutes per wire for the people to run around and identify which wire goes to which jack (can't certify without identifying), and you're looking at two people, ~15 minutes per wire. 20 wires = 10 man hours of work. I bill $125/man hour + patch panel = ~$1500. That's assuming that all of the runs are good and no other sides need to be terminated.

Just terminating them to loose keystones hanging from the ceiling is a terrible idea. Don't do it. The extra cost is well worth having a proper infrastructure.
 
KingGheedora said:
Talked to the guys again and they are going to just terminate them individually, and we will run patch cables from those directly to a switch, no panel.
Click to expand...

Your not dealing with pro's obviously. You should never crimp RJ45 connectors solid core cable for network use.

--EDIT--

I should learn to read but my statement stands for just having dangling keystones. Ask them to install a 24 port 19 inch keystone panel. They make those also.
 
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It took them just under 3.5 hours to test, label, and certify all 20 jacks. No panel, just terminated the raw existing ends and ran patch (5 feet long) from those to the switch. I'm fine with this since the switch is fixed to the wall, and the cables are secured along the edges of the wall. We are leased here for a year and will probably move after that. After this week there is not going to be anyone yanking on these wires or installing anything in this closet related to the network.

If this were a server room with network equipment going in and out maybe it'd be a different issue.

We may try to offer $100 per man hour for 7 total man hours.
 
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