What our data cabling work covers
Most of our cabling work is part of a larger job: a new tenancy fit-out, an office refurbishment, a warehouse expansion or a building that has outgrown a patchwork of old cables. We run horizontal cabling from the comms room to each outlet, install and dress the rack, terminate onto patch panels and wall plates, and test every link before handover.
Typical work includes:
- Cat6 and Cat6A outlets for workstations, printers, meeting rooms and reception
- Cabling for wireless access points, CCTV cameras, access control readers and intercoms
- Comms racks and wall-mount cabinets, patch panels, cable management and dedicated power to the rack
- Backbone links between floors or buildings, including fibre where distances or interference call for it
- Pathways such as cable tray, catenary, conduit and floor boxes
- Removal of redundant cable during refurbishments
All cabling that connects to the telecommunications network in Australia has to be installed by a registered cabler under the ACMA cabling rules. Our team holds the appropriate registration, and we issue the required cabling paperwork on completion.
Cat6 or Cat6A for a commercial tenancy
For most small to medium offices, Cat6 is still a sensible choice and supports gigabit speeds to the desk comfortably. Cat6A costs more, is thicker and needs more room in trays and conduits, but it supports higher speeds over the full channel length and suits sites that expect to run faster switching, high-powered wireless access points or PoE devices that draw more current.
We usually recommend Cat6A for backbone links, wireless access points and anything that will be hard to re-run later, and Cat6 for general desk outlets unless the client’s IT provider specifies otherwise. We cover the detail in our guide to Cat6 vs Cat6A data cabling. If your IT contractor has a preferred standard, we build to it.
Planning cabling with the electrical fit-out
The cheapest time to get cabling right is before the ceiling goes up. On a commercial fit-out we set out power and data at the same time, so every workstation, TV and printer gets both in the right place. We keep data separated from power cabling as the standards require and plan tray routes so future tenants can add cable without pulling ceilings apart.
A few things we ask for early:
- A furniture layout or reflected ceiling plan, even a draft
- Where the comms room or rack will live, and whether it needs cooling or a dedicated circuit
- The IT provider’s contact, so we can confirm rack size, patch lead lengths and wireless access point locations
- Any building rules on penetrations, fire stopping and after-hours access
Where a project involves a new or upgraded board, we can coordinate that work too through our commercial switchboard service, so the rack circuits and UPS supply are sorted at the same time.
Testing, labelling and documentation
Every link we install is tested with a cable certifier before we leave site. The test confirms wiremap, length and performance against the category the link was installed to, and it picks up damaged cable, poor terminations and split pairs that a simple continuity tester will miss. You receive the test results with the handover pack.
Labelling is not an afterthought. Each outlet, patch panel port and cable is labelled to a consistent scheme agreed with you or your IT provider, and we mark up the floor plan to match. When a desk moves or a port stops working in two years, whoever turns up can find the right cable in minutes rather than hours.
Cleaning up existing networks
Many older buildings on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane have years of cabling layered on top of itself: dead cables left in ceilings, unlabelled patch panels and daisy-chained switches under desks. We can audit what is there, remove redundant cable, re-terminate and relabel, and rebuild a messy rack so it is serviceable. Removing dead cable also reduces fire load in the ceiling space and frees up room in trays.
If a site has intermittent network faults, we test the existing links first. It is common to find a handful of damaged or poorly terminated runs causing problems that get blamed on the switch or the internet provider.
Cabling for security, wireless and building systems
Modern buildings run a lot more than computers over structured cabling. CCTV cameras, access control, intercoms, wireless access points, EV chargers and building management devices often rely on network cable and PoE. We plan these runs as part of the same job, so there is one consistent cabling system instead of several trades each running their own. See our security and access control page for more on that side of the work.
How we price and run cabling jobs
Every cabling job gets an upfront written quote. What affects the cost is mostly the outlet count, the cable category, how far runs are from the comms room, ceiling access (open grid ceilings are faster than plasterboard or exposed concrete), whether new pathways are needed, and whether work has to happen after hours in an occupied building.
Stefan runs the jobs himself and stays in contact with your project manager or IT provider through the job. We work to the program, keep the site tidy, and hand over test results, labelled drawings and compliance paperwork at the end. For ongoing sites we can also add cabling moves and changes to a maintenance contract.