Need advice, boss told me to rewire office.

Our internal network is slow, all our computers/servers have the latest network cards. We have bought more computers and have expanded into the neighboring office next to ours (same building). We're bigger than we ever were before and now it seems our old network equipment can no longer handle the increase in bandwidth and we definately will add more computers and users in the next few months.

Our current backbone consists of older Cat5 wiring and older 10/100 mbps Linksys switches as well as three hubs which are handling almost all of our data. My boss wants to replace all the wiring in the front offices (I rewired the new offices and speeds are much better). I'm replacing the older equipment in the old offices with two Cisco 3650g switches, and a two other gigabit netgear switches (which they bought) Cat6 wire and 2 24pt Cat6 patch panels.

Now my questions is, should I do it myself? I did rewire the new offices, but it wasn't nearly as big a job as the front ones. I am excited about doing it and have never had the experience of doing it myself (using patch panels, punching in Cat6 wiring, rj45 wall jacks, etc. I always watched others do it). I'm stoked and am looking forward to it. He mentioned it to our contractor who just finished our security system and he wants to do it himself for a couple grand. Now, I'm sure the contractor has much more expertise then myself, I am new to it.

But I really want to do this. So, what woud you do in my position? Have the boss hire outside contractors or do it yourself? When am I going to have a chance to experience this again? Need help!

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Comments

dynamik

You should work out a deal where you assist the contractor. There are fire codes, etc. that you need to be aware of, so you probably don't want that all on your shoulders. However, you could still help out, learn a bit, and save the company some money if you were to assist him.

RTmarc

If it were me, I'd pay someone to come in and do it. Not to be an elitist or anything, but I'm too high up the food chain now and have zero time to devote towards a undertaking like that. For you, I guess it depends on your situation. Obviously doing it yourself will be much cheaper but there are several things to keep in mind. Do you have the time to do it yourself? Is there a budgetary restriction that will not allow you to outsource it? What are the specific building codes and regulations in your area that pertain to wiring (if any)?

Zoomer

The only concern for our building is to use plenum wiring. I've assisted contractors other times and stood over their shoulders essentially watching them work. I have plenty of time on my hands and my boss said I could use any help I needed. My boss has confidence in me that I can do it and take the time I need to get it right.

But do you think I should have him get a contractor anyways?

royal

You need to be certified to do it. If you're not, and do it, and violate fire codes, and something happens, insurance may not cover you guys and you guys could be held legally responsible.

phreak

Some areas you do not have to be low voltage certified. I'd do your research on this project if you are going to do it yourself to understand fire codes and what not.

Other than that, its pretty straight forward.

When we are asked to do drops, it runs from $80 to $200 a drop. The wide price range depends on length of the run, type of cable, penetration of any firewalls, complexity, etc. Extra things like man lifts are not included and are billed accordingly.

JJbiggle

I know in California you need a C7 (Low Voltage) contractors license to do any work over $500 dollars.

nice343

you need a licence to do wiring and all that crap. hire a contractor

seuss_ssues

RTmarc wrote:

If it were me, I'd pay someone to come in and do it. Not to be an elitist or anything, but I'm too high up the food chain now and have zero time to devote towards a undertaking like that. For you, I guess it depends on your situation. Obviously doing it yourself will be much cheaper but there are several things to keep in mind. Do you have the time to do it yourself? Is there a budgetary restriction that will not allow you to outsource it? What are the specific building codes and regulations in your area that pertain to wiring (if any)?

Im in a similar position as RTmarc. Its not economically feasible for my company to take me away from my day to day duties to pull cabling. However i will also say if you have never done a major cabling project and you have the time and the "go ahead", then go for it. Its a learning experience. Trust me after 1 or 2 decent sized wiring projects you will have all you want. It gets old fast and once you know how to do it and the learning curve is gone then its just a chore.

rakem

Zoomer wrote:

as well as three hubs which are handling almost all of our data. p!

That is why your network is slow. Collisions galore!!!

Mmartin_47

rakem wrote:

Zoomer wrote:

as well as three hubs which are handling almost all of our data. p!

That is why your network is slow. Collisions galore!!!

I second that. Can't even find hubs these days. Just switches.

Kalabin

I myself work as a contractor for a telecommunication's outfit. Again with what other's have said check your state electrical code's to make sure you dont need to be certified or a building permit. But personally if your comfortable with doing punchdown's I would do it.

As far as the actual work goes it's pretty straight forward. Just make sure you have the proper tools to do the job. I have rewired an office with 30+ drop's all Catagory 6, with a 24-port patch panel, including face plate's, and testing in roughly three eight hour day's. Just make sure you do a good clean install, and follow electric code's. This was done with two people, pulling long run's in can be a pain if working by yourself.

As an example in the city im in you can not lay Cat 6 on ceiling grid's so you would have to support all of your run's with "J" hooks, or something else approved. The biggest thing really is make sure you have a good punch down tool, and keep the twist's tight on Cat 6.