Structured Cabling for an Office Fit-Out or Move in Singapore: What to Settle Before the Ceiling Closes

In an office fit-out the cabling is decided long before a cable is pulled. Where the comms room goes, how many points each desk gets, which category of cable, and how it reaches the floor from the building riser are all settled on the drawings. Once the ceiling boards go up and the carpet goes down, every change costs access, making good and time. The cheapest moment to get structured cabling right is the week the layout is agreed, not the week before move-in.

When to bring the cabling contractor in

The usual mistake is to treat cabling as a late trade, booked once the interior design contractor has finished the walls. By then the comms room is wherever space was left over, the ceiling may have no access where the cable has to run, and the containment, if anyone drew it, is sized for today's cables.

The better order is simple. The cabling contractor sees the layout when it is agreed, walks the floor and the riser with the fit-out contractor, and prices the job against the real route. The cable then goes in while the ceiling is open, before boards and carpet go down. Testing, labelling and patching follow, so the network is proven before the furniture arrives.

The seven decisions to settle first

1. Where the comms room goes

The comms room or rack location sets the length of every run on the floor. Copper links have a 90-metre limit, so a rack in one far corner of a large floor can push the furthest desks past it. The room also needs power, cooling, a door that locks, and space for a technician to work at the back of the rack. Settle it on the drawing; it is the hardest thing to move later.

2. How many points, and where

Count the points per desk, meeting room, printer, wireless access point, camera and door controller, then add spares. A floor box or wall outlet added after the carpet is down costs far more than one installed with the rest. Wireless access points and cameras are easy to forget because they sit in the ceiling, not at a desk.

3. Which category of cable

Category 6 suits most offices today; Category 6A gives more headroom for faster wireless and longer equipment life, at a higher cost per point. Whichever you choose, the outlets, patch panels and patch cords must match, and the testing has to be done to that category. A Category 6A cable terminated on Category 6 parts is a Category 6 link.

4. The containment

Tray, trunking and conduit decide whether the cabling can be maintained and added to. Containment sized only for the cables on day one is full at handover, and the next contractor runs cable outside it. Allow for growth, keep data clear of power, and make sure every route can be reached through a ceiling access panel. Our page on cable support systems covers what good containment looks like.

5. The route to the building riser

The floor has to connect to the building: to the landlord's riser, the telecom room and the point where your telco's line arrives. That route is often shared, often full, and controlled by building management. Find out early what the building allows, who holds the keys, and whether a permit is needed to work in the riser.

6. The telco line

Your telco provides the line up to its termination point; everything on your side is building wiring. Telco appointments are booked weeks ahead, so book them as soon as the move date is fixed and plan the cabling cutover around them. A floor fully cabled and patched with no line arriving is still an office without internet on day one.

7. The labelling scheme

Agree how outlets, panels and cables will be numbered before anything is labelled. A scheme invented at the end, or one that changes halfway, leaves records nobody can follow. The label on the outlet, the label on the panel and the line in the schedule should all say the same thing.

Voice on the same cabling

Most new offices no longer run separate telephone cable: the phone uses the same outlet as the computer. Where a building still needs dedicated telephone pairs, or a key phone system that runs over them, settle that at the start too, because it changes the point count and the frame. See voice systems for the telephone side.

Moving into an existing office

Inheriting someone else's cabling is common and can save money, but only if it can be proved. Before reusing it, ask for the previous test results and labelling records. Where none exist, a certification test of every link shows what is usable and what is not, and is far cheaper than finding out from faults after the move. Cabling that cannot be traced is usually cheaper to replace than to rescue.

What should leave site with the job

A cabling job is finished when someone who did not install it can maintain it. Before award, agree in writing that the handover includes:

• Test results for every link, in the certifier's own output, not retyped into a table
• An as-built drawing showing the routes as installed
• The labelling schedule, matching the labels on the cable, outlet and panel
• A record of the cable category, panels and outlets used

How the test methods differ is explained in OTDR vs light source and power meter. What moves the price, and how to compare two quotations, is in structured cabling costs in Singapore and how to compare structured cabling contractors.

Where Fiber Tech sits

Fiber Tech Solutions Pte Ltd has designed and installed copper and fibre structured cabling across Singapore since 2007, for office LANs, university campuses, data centres and industrial sites, and has cabled more than 1,000 buildings. The company holds IMDA Wiring Contractor (Class) Licence No. IW105464, designs and installs the containment as part of the same package, and tests and documents every link before handover. To discuss a fit-out or move, get in touch.

— Written by the team at Fiber Tech Solutions Pte Ltd, IMDA-licensed wiring contractor and FOA-certified fibre specialists, Singapore.