Network cabling is the one part of an office move or build-out that's painful to fix after the walls close and your team moves in. Use this checklist to get it right the first time.
Furniture can be rearranged and switches can be swapped, but cabling lives inside walls and ceilings. Miss a drop, pick the wrong cable, or skip documentation and you'll be paying to open things back up later, usually while your team is trying to work around it.
Whether you're moving into a new space, building out a new floor, or finally fixing the closet nobody wants to open, here's what to plan.
The best time to plan cabling is when you have a floor plan, before construction starts. That gives your cabling contractor time to review outlet locations, plan pathways and conduit during rough-in, and coordinate with the general contractor and electrician instead of working around them. Waiting until the drywall is up limits your options and usually costs more.
Desks are the obvious part. The drops that get forgotten are the devices that don't sit on a desk. Walk the floor plan and count:
Then add spare drops in the places most likely to change, such as open office areas and conference rooms. A spare pulled during construction costs far less than one added after.
Cat6 supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 55 meters and works for most office environments. Cat6A supports 10GbE up to the full 100 meters and offers better crosstalk performance. For new builds, data centers, or anywhere you want full-distance 10G capability, we recommend Cat6A where the budget allows. The incremental cost is small compared with re-cabling later.
| Cat6 | Cat6A | |
|---|---|---|
| 10GbE distance | Up to 55 m | Up to 100 m |
| Best fit | Most office drops | New builds, high-density areas, future-proofing |
| Cost | Lower | Somewhat higher |
For connections between floors or buildings, or anywhere copper can't reach, fiber is the answer. We install OM3/OM4 multimode and OS2 single-mode fiber, with fusion splicing available.
Every cable run ends somewhere, and that room deserves as much planning as the outlets. Consider:
Cable run through air-handling spaces, such as many drop ceilings, typically needs to be plenum-rated. Outdoor and underground runs need outdoor-rated or direct-burial cable, or conduit. Your cabling contractor should confirm the right rating for each pathway with the general contractor and the building's requirements.
Cabling crews share the ceiling with electricians, HVAC, and AV installers. Good coordination with the general contractor and electricians keeps pathways clear, avoids rework, and keeps the schedule on track. Ask your cabling contractor how they coordinate with the rest of the project.
For an existing space, ask about nights, weekends, or phased installs to minimize disruption. As a rough guide, a small office of 10 to 20 drops typically takes about a day, and a 50 to 100 drop floor usually takes two to three days. Larger projects with rack build-outs or underground runs are scoped individually.
This is the step that separates a professional install from a future headache. Before you sign off, you should receive:
With that package, your team or any future IT provider knows exactly what every cable does.
Moving out of a space or upgrading an existing one? Abandoned cable left in ceilings creates clutter, makes future work harder, and can be a code issue. Plan for removal of dead cable as part of the project.
Cat6 supports 10GbE up to 55 meters and suits most office environments. Cat6A supports 10GbE up to 100 meters with better crosstalk performance, and is recommended for new builds and anywhere you need full-distance 10G capability.
A small office of 10 to 20 drops typically takes about a day. A 50 to 100 drop floor usually takes two to three days. Larger projects with server room build-outs or underground runs are scoped individually.
In most cases, yes. Flexible drill bits, cable fishing tools, and surface-mount raceways make it possible to add drops to finished spaces. A site survey identifies the best pathways first.
Yes. Workplace IT handles everything from a single network drop to a full building or multi-building campus.
Workplace IT's certified cabling team handles data cabling in Denver and across the metro area, from a single drop to full building infrastructure: Cat6 and Cat6A, fiber optic, structured cabling and rack build-outs, underground conduit runs, and low-voltage wiring for security cameras, access control, and AV. Every copper run is Fluke DSX certified, every fiber run is OTDR tested, and every job ends with full as-built documentation.
We'll walk your space, review your floor plan, and give you a clear, itemized quote. Free site survey.
Get a Free Cabling Quote