Office Cabling: The Specifications Nobody Puts on the Quote

Structured cabling is the one part of an office IT fit-out that is genuinely difficult to change later. It goes in before the ceiling closes, it outlasts three generations of the equipment plugged into it, and the difference between a good job and a bad one is close to invisible on the day.

It is also the part most often quoted as a single line: supply and install network points — RM X per point.

Here is what that line should say instead.

Specify the category, and the cable itself

Ask for the cable category in writing — the common choices for offices being Cat6 and Cat6A, with Cat6A the sensible default for new work that should survive a decade and support higher-speed access points.

Two details that separate real specification from a number on a page:

• Solid copper, not copper-clad aluminium. CCA is cheaper, more brittle, has worse performance over distance, and is a recurring problem in low-bid cabling. Ask for solid copper and put it in the scope.
• The fire rating of the jacket, particularly for cable running in ceiling voids and risers. Building management often specifies this; if nobody has asked, ask.

Specify the brand and part number of the cable, the outlets and the patch panels. “Equivalent” is where substitution happens.

Insist on certified test results

This is the single most valuable thing in this article.

Every outlet should be tested with a cable certifier and the results handed to you as a report — one line per point, showing pass or fail against the category standard. Not a continuity check with a cheap tester that confirms eight wires reach the other end. A certifier measures the electrical characteristics that determine whether the link will actually carry the speed it claims.

The difference matters because a marginal link works fine at low load and fails intermittently under real traffic — which presents months later as “the network is slow sometimes” and costs far more to diagnose than the test would have.

Write into the scope: certified test results for 100% of outlets, in the contractor’s certifier report format, provided before final payment. Suppliers who do this properly already have the equipment. Ones who do not will tell you it is unnecessary.

Labelling and the point schedule

Every outlet gets a unique label. The same label appears at the patch panel end. A point schedule maps each label to its physical location.

This is unglamorous and it is the thing that determines whether the next person can work on your network without tracing cables by hand. An unlabelled patch panel converts a five-minute job into an afternoon, every time, for the life of the office.

Ask for the schedule as a spreadsheet and a photograph of each rack as built.

Plan for more points than you need

The cost of a cabling job is mostly labour and access, not cable. Running an extra outlet while the ceiling is open is inexpensive. Running one afterwards means the ceiling again, cable trays again, and working around people at desks.

Two per desk position is a reasonable baseline even in a wireless-first office, plus dedicated runs for access points, printers, door access controllers, and every camera position. Cameras in particular are often cabled by a different contractor at a different time, which is how buildings end up with two parallel networks nobody has documented.

The rack is part of the job

Ask what the finished rack looks like: patch panel layout, cable management, patch lead lengths, and power. Get a photograph of a comparable installation the supplier has completed. Rack discipline is highly visible in photographs and correlates well with how the rest of the work was done.

Also confirm what the rack needs from the building: adequate ventilation, a dedicated power circuit, and a UPS sized for the equipment. A cabinet in an unventilated store cupboard shortens the life of everything in it.

What to put in the scope, in one block

Copy this into the requirement:

• Cable category and part number, solid copper, jacket fire rating stated
• Outlet, patch panel and rack part numbers, no substitution without approval
• Certified test results for 100% of outlets, report supplied before final payment
• Unique labelling at both ends, matching a point schedule supplied as a spreadsheet
• As-built rack photographs
• Point count per position, including access points, cameras and door controllers
• Reinstatement and making good of ceilings and walls
• Warranty period on the installation, distinct from the cable manufacturer’s warranty

Eight lines. They are the difference between a network that can be maintained and one that has to be rediscovered every time something breaks.