What You Should Look for in a Cabling Installer

In these hard economic times, everyone is looking to maximize the money they spend, whether it's on employees, equipment, or infrastructure. Once you've decided what type of data cabling you're going to have installed and what cabling standards to conform to with your data cabling (Cat5e, Cat 6, Cat 6 Augmented), you need to decide on who to have install that cabling infrastructure for you. While price should play an important role in what data cabling services contractor you go with, remember the axiom "You get what you pay for." You need to make sure the company you choose is properly qualified to perform the work being contracted. See if your candidates can give you references and speak with the people who must maintain the cabling and network infrastructure. Make sure the companies you're looking at provide a warranty on their work and that they use cabling that also comes with a manufacturer's warranty. Do these three things and you'll be assured of getting the most for your money.
Check the Qualifications of the Cabling Installer
This doesn't just mean that the company has guys that know how to pull cable and make connections. Improper cable installation will degrade network performance. If they do a slipshod job of terminating the cables in closets and at work stations, you'll also experience network performance degradation. Make sure the people they use to do the design work have some sort of certification, such as at least one BICSI-RCDD (Building Industries Consultation Services International-Registered Communications Distribution Designer), or equivalent. You'll also want to make sure that the actual installation staff is properly trained in industry accepted installation standards. Again, you should look for installers with internationally recognized certifications.
Insist on References
Just like you usually check the references of every job applicant to make sure they can perform the work they're being considered for, you should also ask the companies you're considering for your cable installation for references. Talk to the people in the companies you're referred to that have to deal with the cable plant on a daily basis. Did the installers leave a mess behind? Did they meet contract deadlines and budgets? Ask if proper cabling documentation was provided to the customer. Find out whether the in-house techs had to go back and fix any problems left by the installer. Lastly, ask them if they would recommend the company that did the work for them. If not, move to another contractor. Also, ask the contact person if they tested any of the links to verify any certification results that were provided to them. Contractors will sometimes double test a link that delivers exemplary results to speed up the testing process and hide any links that don't perform properly.
Insist on a Warranty
You wouldn't go buy a new car without a warranty and they cost a fraction of what a typical cabling installation will cost. A warranty makes sure that you don't have to pay for problems caused by poor workmanship or defective materials. While the chances of you having to make a warranty claim should be quite low if you adhere to the first two steps, there is always an exception So make sure you're covered if problems do arise.
Change Orders
Changes are the bane of any construction company, as well as many customers, since most are handled on a time and materials basis. Before getting into a contract with anyone, find out how they handle change orders, especially how what they will bill for an hourly and per lineal foot of installed cable. If the change is small, you may be better served by doing it in-house.
As a final note, don't be complacent once the contract is signed and the work has begun. Check up on the contractor to make sure the work is proceeding on schedule and with a level of craftsmanship that is acceptable to you. If the installed cable doesn't look professionally installed, make noise and have them fix it to your satisfaction. You're the customer. As long as what you're asking for isn't a change, it's in their interest to keep you happy.

With 25 year experience in putting together structured data cabling services project cost for our client's, Wayne Connors & ACCL offers you a free project cost estimator download. Paired with our Technical Proposal tender document for Data Cabling installation eBooks- you can save thousands! All aspects of your next tender proposal are included.


 

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