[nycbug-talk] installing cat5 cabling

[George R.]

alex at pilosoft.com wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Jul 2005, Charles Sprickman wrote:
> 
> 
>>One of my clients is going to be moving in the next month.  One thing no
>>one really thought about (at least as far as cost) is the network
>>cabling.  Wow...  I had no idea that it averaged about $150/jack, with a
>>small discount for multi-outlet jacks (for example $120/jack on a quad
>>jack).  At 42 jacks, that hurts.  Lots.  We are already in a good deal
>>of cash for construction, A/C for the small co-lo, and upgrading the
>>electrical service.
> 
> Union labor will be more than that.
> 
> 
>>So after talking with a few of the guys that work in the office, we
>>thought we should look at taking this on ourselves.  We all can work a
>>punchdown tool and a cable tester, and at the prices we were quoted, the
>>install was pretty simple; they are just going to tie-wrap the cables to
>>the electrical conduit (it's a pretty bare SoHo space).  Originally I
>>balked at doing it as I don't do conduit, but apparently no one else
>>does for under $300/jack anyhow. :)
> 
> Check whether the building will *allow* you do to that.
> 
> 
>>We're only looking at a dozen desks, but the support guys each can eat
>>up a half-dozen jacks, and we're putting our phone system in the same
>>cabling setup so we can easily convert to VoIP in a few months.  
>>Everything goes back to a patch panel so support guys can easily get a
>>POTS or (S/A)DSL line to their desks, or pull in another network for
>>testing, etc.  I think 42 jacks is not really overkill.
>>
>>It looks like we need about 6300' of cable, a few patch panels, the
>>surface mount boxes, 2/4/6/8 outlet jacks, lots of tie wraps, a new
>>punchdown tool and a decent cable tester.
>>
>>Does anyone here have a favorite vendor for cabling supplies?  I need to
>>break out labor vs. parts on this to decide if we want to take a few
>>employees over and do this ourselves, but I'm not familiar with any of
>>the vendors out there.  Local or mail order, either is fine.
> 
> Home Depot has all of the above. Or you can go with graybar if you want 
> wider selection.

Ditto on Alex's points. . .

but also, you may want to check with Manhattan Electronics on ~45th 
Street for materials and any other questions.

I haven't dealt with them in a while, but they will discount stuff (I 
think) if you are doing this as a consultant. . .

G