Network Cabling Installation for New Construction and Tenant Improvements

Network cabling installation on a construction schedule#

This page is about the installation itself: taking a Division 27 drawing set or an IT director’s drop schedule and turning it into terminated, tested, labeled jacks in the wall before the tenant moves in. Our structured cabling page covers how we design the system to ANSI/TIA-568. Here we cover how we build it on a live construction schedule, where the trade conflicts are, and how we hand it over.

Telelink Business Services is a licensed C-7 Low Voltage Systems Contractor, CSLB License #472017. We self-perform network cabling installation on ground-up commercial buildings, tenant improvements in occupied buildings, and renovations of institutional space, and we have been in business since 1983.

How we count and place drops per workstation#

The drop count is the number that drives the price, so we settle it first. On a tenant improvement the furniture plan usually tells us more than the electrical plan does. We count one outlet location per workstation, then ask the owner’s IT staff how many jacks they want at each. Two data jacks is the common answer for an open office desk, with a third where a hardware desk phone is planned instead of a softphone. Private offices, conference rooms, huddle rooms, printers, wall-mounted displays and reception desks each get their own count.

Then we count the drops that do not show up on the furniture plan.

• Wireless access points: one Cat6A drop per AP location from the wireless design, ceiling mounted, with a service loop.
• Security cameras and access control doors: one drop per camera and one per door controller or reader location, coordinated with our security camera and access control scopes.
• Building systems: HVAC controllers, lighting control gateways, AV equipment, and anything else that lands on the network.
• Spares: a drop to each electrical room, mechanical room and IDF for future equipment.

The result is a drop schedule with a room number, an outlet ID, a jack count and a category for every location. We price from that schedule, we build to that schedule, and the closeout drawings reference the same IDs.

Rough-in sequencing with framing, drywall and ceilings#

Cabling has a narrow window on a construction schedule. Too early and the cable gets damaged by other trades. Too late and the walls are closed. We break the work into three visits that line up with the GC’s framing, drywall and ceiling milestones.

Rough-in happens after framing and before insulation and drywall. We set mud rings or boxes at each outlet location, at the height on the drawing, with pull strings run up into the ceiling cavity. On a hard-lid ceiling we set our ceiling boxes and conduit stubs at the same time. The electrician is usually in the walls the same week, so we walk the floor together and confirm that our boxes and theirs are not fighting for the same stud bay.

Cable pull happens after the ceiling grid is hung and the overhead trades (duct, sprinkler, lighting) are mostly complete, but before ceiling tile goes in. Pulling cable through a finished tile ceiling is slow, dirty, and damages tile. Pulling it before the grid is up means the cable is in the way of every other trade. We ask the GC for the window between grid and tile, and we staff the pull to finish inside it.

Trim-out happens after paint. We terminate jacks, install faceplates, terminate patch panels in the IDF, test, and label. Trim-out is also when a missed location shows up, so we walk the floor against the drop schedule before we call the work complete.

Support and pathways: J-hooks, cable tray and conduit#

Cable needs support at regular intervals in open ceilings, and it cannot rest on the ceiling grid, on ductwork, or on the sprinkler pipe. The pathway system is described in ANSI/TIA-569, and on most of our jobs it looks like this.

Cable tray or basket tray runs down the main corridors from the IDF, sized so that the cable fill leaves room for the tenant’s future drops. J-hooks branch from the tray into each room, spaced to keep the cable off the ceiling and within its bend radius. Where the ceiling is open to structure, we use J-hooks with the finish the architect approves and we run them straight and level, because they will be seen.

Conduit and sleeves carry the cable through rated walls, into the IDF, and anywhere the cable would otherwise be exposed. When the electrician provides the sleeves and conduit under Division 26, we confirm sizes against our fill count before they are installed. A sleeve that is one trade size too small becomes a second core drill later, and core drilling a finished, occupied floor is the expensive way to do it.

Cable jacket rating follows the space. Plenum rated cable (CMP) goes in ceiling cavities used for return air. Riser rated cable (CMR) goes in shafts between floors and in non-plenum spaces. We confirm which ceilings are plenums from the mechanical drawings before we order cable. Which manufacturer that cable comes from is a specification question rather than a preference of ours: Panduit, CommScope, Leviton and Belden are the lines commonly named on California commercial drawings, and we install the one the job names.

Firestopping at rated penetrations#

Every place our cable passes through a fire rated wall, floor or shaft is a penetration that has to be sealed with a listed firestop system. The listed system is specific to the wall assembly, the sleeve type, the cable type and the fill percentage, and the inspector will ask for the listing number.

Our standard practice is to install sleeves with a listed firestop device, or to seal the annular space and the sleeve interior with a listed putty or sealant system, then label the penetration with the system number and the date. We photograph each penetration before and after sealing and deliver the photos in the closeout package. Where the GC carries a single firestop subcontractor for all trades, we coordinate sleeve locations with them and exclude the sealing from our scope in writing, so there is no gap between the two contracts.

Abandoned cable is part of the same conversation. The California Electrical Code (Title 24, Part 3) requires the removal of accessible abandoned communications cable unless it is tagged for future use, and many specs require removal outright. On a tenant improvement we price the removal of the previous tenant’s cable as a line item so it is not a surprise.

PoE, bundle heat and why Cat6A is often the right call#

More devices on your network are powered over the same cable that carries their data. Desk phones and most cameras draw modest power. Wireless access points for Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, PTZ cameras, video intercom panels and some displays draw more, and IEEE 802.3bt Type 3 and Type 4 power sourcing equipment can deliver up to 60 W and 90 W respectively at the switch port.

Power on a twisted pair cable produces heat. In a bundle of cables carrying 802.3bt loads the heat builds up in the middle of the bundle, and a cable that runs hot has higher insertion loss and can fail its channel limits. TIA TSB-184-A gives guidance for power delivery over balanced twisted pair cabling, and the practical takeaways for the installation are these: larger conductor cable such as Cat6A dissipates heat better, smaller bundles run cooler, and cable should not be packed tightly in conduit or sealed pathways where it cannot shed heat.

For that reason we recommend Cat6A for every access point drop and for any location that will see 802.3bt power, and we recommend Cat6 or Cat6A for the workstations depending on budget and the ten-year plan for the space. Our Cat6 vs Cat6A guide covers the tradeoffs in detail. We plan bundle sizes and pathway fill on the drawings rather than in the ceiling, and we show the planned bundle count per pathway on the submittal so the engineer can check it.

PoE type	Power at the switch port	Typical devices	Cabling we recommend
802.3af (Type 1)	Up to 15.4 W	Desk phones, fixed cameras	Cat6
802.3at (Type 2)	Up to 30 W	Wi-Fi 6 access points, PTZ cameras	Cat6 or Cat6A
802.3bt (Type 3)	Up to 60 W	Wi-Fi 6E and 7 access points, intercom panels	Cat6A
802.3bt (Type 4)	Up to 90 W	Displays, lighting, high-power devices	Cat6A, small bundles

Certification, moves, adds and changes#

Every link we install is certified to the permanent link limits in ANSI/TIA-568.2-E with a calibrated tester rated for the category installed, Level III for Cat6 and Level IIIe for Cat6A. You get the full test database, one record per link, with the outlet ID that matches the faceplate and the record drawing. Failed links are fixed and retested before we call the job done. Labeling follows ANSI/TIA-606, with the scheme agreed with your IT staff before trim-out.

After turnover, the drop schedule keeps changing. Furniture moves, a huddle room becomes an office, a new camera is added. We handle moves, adds and changes on the cabling we installed and on cabling we did not install, with the same certification and labeling standard, through our service and maintenance work.

On a project like the State Controller’s Office tenant improvement, where a working state agency floor stayed in use during the network cabling and room buildout, the sequencing described on this page determined which cutovers the staff noticed and which they did not. Planning ranges for this scope, and the variables that move them, are in our structured cabling cost guide.

Next step#

Send us the drawings, the furniture plan, or a drop count through request a bid and we will return a priced drop schedule with the pathway, firestop and electrical handoff items called out. General contractors can review our bid and coordination process on the for general contractors page.