Wiring a med-sized office?

[lchyi]

I'm going to help move an office in a few months, is the wiring job easy or is it best to outsource and make sure it's done right? Has anyone done this before?

 

[midnightrat]

I helped move an office, way back in the day, get it outsourced. The amount of crawling around and testing was imo to much for just one or two diyers to do. Get it done professionaly. Also you don't want to be the one that they call when part of the network goes down or doesn't hookup right because it was wired wrong.

 

[FreshPrince]

If you know what you're doing, do it yourself and charge 20% lower than the pros. You will make decent $$$, but be prepared for some nastyness(unless it's a new building). You can also get a couple of cheap labor folks to do the runs for you. I know a few of them that always hang around the local DMV...

If you have not done one before, either do this one to gain experience, or hire a pro. My recommendation is to hire a pro, because they know how to run them correct and make sure to label and test properly. The better ones will have all the lines punched down to a patch panel with cable management on a 2-post rack.

how many lines? since you said mid sized, I'm assuming 100+ lines? If that's the case, definitely hire a pro...

I've seen them as low as $50/line to $250/line depending on distance and how messy the space above the tiles is...

 

[blemoine]

DIY wiring should only be done if you need something done in a hurry and/or it will only be temp. other than that please save yourself the heartache and have a professional do it right.

Has anyone done this before?

Yes we have that is why we are saying get a professional to wire your office. it never turns out good when you do it yourself

 

[lchyi]

Oops, I meant small office actually. Why I typed med is beyond me. There's only going to be 20-30 computers. But still, thanks, it sounds like I should outsource.

 

[spidey07]

no way in heck would I recommend anybody do this themselves. You don't have the gear, experience, knowledge, training or testing tools to do it correctly.

Hire somebody.

 

[FreshPrince]

Originally posted by: spidey07
no way in heck would I recommend anybody do this themselves. You don't have the gear, experience, knowledge, training or testing tools to do it correctly.

Hire somebody.

those of us that do have all that and a bag of potato chips still hire the pros 😉

you can tell your boss this...do you want me to run the network or run cables? I'm paid the same to do either... 😀

 

[cmetz]

lchyi, hire someone. You don't want to be responsible for it for the rest of the time you work for that company. Also, professionals have professional tools - if you're asking us, you probably don't have professional tools. And the tools make a huge difference, as does knowledge.

Ask a potential cabling contractor for references, and check. Look for neatness. DON'T go with the cheapest contractor. Go with the one whose work looks... immaculate. Or at least, neater than you could ever do yourself. Trust me, your cable plant will never look that neat again.

 

[skyking]

All good advice here🙂

If you asked, you really knew the answer. I do it, but I've done it before and do have the tools, including certification testers.

 

[midnightrat]

Make sure you get a few bids. Why my boss made the move he got 5 quotes. He threw out the highest and the lowest and decided from the three. Ultimately he choose the second cheapest, but that was more because of scheduling.

 

[ktwebb]

is the wiring job easy

This statement makes it a no brainer. If you don't know enough about running cable that you think that question can be answered by a group of people that have never seen the office in question, then clearly you need to get someone else to do the wiring. I'm not saying this to be ugly. Just to the point.

 

[Kelemvor]

It all depend son where the wiring goes. Raised floors? Panel Ceilings? cable runs pre existing? Drop poles? COuld be easy or could be a nightmware.

 

[Aarondeep]

Originally posted by: lchyi
Oops, I meant small office actually. Why I typed med is beyond me. There's only going to be 20-30 computers. But still, thanks, it sounds like I should outsource.

Definately hire someone, I only do this when its a single run to a computer that has no nearby jack. My advice is to have a few extra runs in case of growth, so you dont have to have switches all over your office.

If you decide to do it yourself get the right cable testing equipment and jacks
And don't forget the patch panel =)