The per-point logic
Structured cabling is mostly priced per point: one point being one cable run from a workstation, wall or ceiling outlet back to a patch panel in the comms room, terminated at both ends, labelled and tested. The total point count is therefore the first driver — and it comes from the floor plan: desks, meeting rooms, printers, Wi-Fi access points, cameras, door controllers and anything else that needs a wired connection.
Two things to watch. First, points serve more than desks — security, Wi-Fi and AV all ride on the same cabling, and forgetting them at design time means adding them at retrofit prices. Second, per-point rates only compare fairly when they include the same things: outlet, termination, labelling and a test result. A stripped-down rate is not a cheaper version of the same work; it is less work.
Ceiling access and pathways
The same cable run costs very different amounts depending on what is between the outlet and the comms room. Open ceilings during a fit-out are the cheap case — the reason cabling belongs in the program before ceilings close. Lift-and-lay tiles are manageable later. Set plasterboard, exposed ceilings where cabling must be dressed for appearance, congested ceiling voids shared with mechanical services, and penetrations through fire-rated walls all add labour per run.
Timing is a pathway question too: cabling installed during fit-out rough-in flows along open ceilings; the identical scope quoted after occupation involves furniture, working around staff, and possibly after-hours rates. When you cable is a cost driver, not just what.
Riser and backbone work
Horizontal cabling covers your floor. If the tenancy spans multiple floors, or services need to reach the building's main distribution frame, there is backbone work as well — typically fibre between floors through the building's risers. Riser work involves the building, not just the tenancy: access is controlled, fire-stopping of penetrations must be done properly, and some buildings require their own nominated contractors for riser works.
Backbone work is a different kind of line item — fewer cables, more coordination — and it is a common gap between quotes: one includes the riser fibre, another assumes the building's existing services will do. Ask.
The comms room end
Every point lands somewhere, and that somewhere needs a rack, patch panels, cable management, power and ventilation. The comms room fit-out is its own scope: sometimes a wall cabinet, sometimes a full rack build. It is also where the difference between a tidy job and a cheap one is most visible — dressed looms and labelled panels versus a nest nobody wants to touch. The nest works on day one. The difference appears every time anyone changes anything for the next ten years.
Testing, certification and documentation
Every point should be certification-tested — measured against the cabling standard with proper test equipment, not just checked for a link light — with results provided, and the installation documented: labelled outlets, labelled panels, and a cable schedule that maps one to the other. Manufacturer system warranties generally depend on exactly this evidence.
Testing and documentation take real hours, which means they are a real line in an honest quote — and the first line to vanish from a cheap one. A quote that is silent on testing has answered the question; you just have to notice.
Why cheap cabling costs more later
Cabling faults are rarely dramatic; they are intermittent, intermittent faults are expensive to diagnose, and undocumented cabling multiplies the diagnosis time. The savings of a cheap install are repaid, with interest, in specific ways:
- Fault-finding on unlabelled cabling — every future callout starts with tracing cables that a label would have identified in seconds.
- Points that fail at fit-off — untested runs discovered dead the week desks are installed, fixed at urgent rates through closed ceilings.
- No test records, no warranty — when a link is marginal years later, there is no baseline to claim against and no evidence of what was installed.
- The next project pays — every future contractor quotes higher for a tenancy with mystery cabling, because they price the archaeology in.
How to read a cabling quote
- Confirm the point count against the floor plan — including Wi-Fi, security and AV points, not just desks.
- Get the per-point inclusions in writing: outlet, both terminations, labelling, testing.
- Check the assumptions: ceiling types, working hours, whether the ceilings are open at time of install.
- Look for the backbone: is riser or inter-floor fibre included, excluded, or assumed away?
- Look for the comms room scope: rack, panels, cable management — or does the cabling arrive at a wall and stop?
- Require certification results and a cable schedule as deliverables — named in the quote, handed over at completion.
An itemised quote makes all six checks possible. A lump sum makes them a matter of trust — and cabling is the trade where you will not find out for years whether the trust was earned.