Office Building + Dataline/phone lines installation..

[yasir]

Any electrical engineer or any one with experience installing Data lines/telephone lines,i need your help with few questions..
1)-How technical is to install the Data lines from the server room to other rooms in an unfinished building..
2)-Same question regarding the telephone lines...

Thanks...

[Don Plumley]

It's the same thing - just more wire pairs. Pretty much same punchdown blocks. It's really easy. Doing a 3-way switch is harder.

[mudman]

Yeah, what Don said. I learned on my own and spent a summer doing it as a side business. It was fun, and the tools were cheap. Leviton used to have a lot of good info on their site.
-Jeremy

[jriera]

Put (at least) two CAT-5 cables per location (one for data one for phone).

Punch blocks and tools are easy and cheap. Usually data punch blocks are already color coded, depending on the number of locations even Fry's Electronics has punch block to RJ45 boxes.

Let me know if you need any help.

[masraum]

I'm not sure, but if you are running in the walls run "plenum" cable. You can get it at Home Depot. I'm sure Fry's has it too.

The tools can be had from Home Depot, Radio Shack, Fry's, etc...

[dad911]

Unfinished Building - run some empty conduits with pull strings (use metal in commercial/plenums) for future needs.

[yasir]

It's a medical office building ( 5600 sq feet )and i was quoted close to $8000 to do 43 drops for data & telephone lines + 14 speakers for a sound system and few TV stands..There's another guy who is going to do it for close to $4300 so i was wondering if it was really worth $8000 or the guy who is charging $4300 be good enough..
thanks for the help fellas...

[mudman]

Uh, anytime there is that much of a % difference between quotes you have more homework to do. Are they specing materials the same(apples for apples)? Do they both have established businesses and carry proper ins? Is one supporting a drinking problem while the other is into coke? Are they both experienced in commercial work? Off the wall guess based on sf and med bld spec: $1000 for materials
-Jeremy

[HardDrive]

I can't believe you are guys are telling him to do it himself. I'm a network engineer, and I can wire a socket just fine. But pulling cable is a pain, even in an unfinished building.

Its doable, and if it saves money, great. But installing it CORRECTLY takes more time than some of you guys are indicating.

[masraum]

I'm not recommending he do it himself. I'm a network guy, I can do cabling, but I don't unless I have to.

[Don Plumley]

Yeah - I'm just saying it is really easy to do, and shouldn't take a network engineer to pull cable and hit a punchdown block.

[yasir]

Well after reading all these posts i decided to let the second guy do the data/tele lines for $3600 installed ( 56 drops ) I was kinda nervous about the tele lines but found out his partner works full time as a field worker in a telecom co so i am sure he's at home doing all this.
Thanks once again and YOU GUYS ROCK

[id10t]

Local places charge 125-150 per drop when working in a finished building...

[Jamie79SC]

Fully terminated @ less than $87/drop would be inexpensive, even in an unfinished building. If his references check out and he's installing proper materials to code, by all means take him up on it. Does the $4,300 include speakers and TV stands too?

As everyone said, this work is easy but dirty and time consuming. One advantage of having a pro do it is you should get a sheet showing that all the runs have tested good. This make life much easier if you have problems down the line.

[yasir]

Originally posted by Jamie79SC
Does the $4,300 include speakers and TV stands too?

As everyone said, this work is easy but dirty and time consuming. One advantage of having a pro do it is you should get a sheet showing that all the runs have tested good. This make life much easier if you have problems down the line.

I signed the $3600 contract for 56 drops ( 30 data & 26 tele ) including the tele jacks,patch panels,brackets and all that.The lines will be marked and tested in the server room.
The speakers and the TV stands are not included but the labor to do that would be around $300-$400,still not bad..
He is just after finishing another physicians office so ref wise he is OK.
Later, Yasir

[masraum]

Actually terminating the cables is easy. Fishing crap through the walls, ceilings, floors, whatever is a pain in the butt.