Patch Panel installation..w/ pics

E

ejoech

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 14, 2000
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I made a post about a month or so looking for advice to do a patch panel installation..here is a copy of the original post:
I installed a patch panel into a pre-wired house for a client of mine. The only thing that was in place before I came in were the CAT5s wired throughout the house. She liked the job that I did and wanted me to do the same thing at her office(She owns a real estate company). A few months before she met me, she had someone do their office and they've been having a lot of problems with it. Also, she says the guy is an asshole and I'm much easier to deal with. I went into the office yesterday to take a look at what the other guy installed. I found a very sloppy and crappy job...So anyway, my job is to come in, install a patch panel, clean everything up, run a couple more lines, and get their network stable. I originally charged her $300 to do the job on her house which included all equipment...came out to be around $50 profit. I got ripped off..I ended up doing a LOT of extra work.

Here are a few pictures of the job I did on her house:


patchpanel1.jpg

patchpanel2.jpg

patchpanel3.jpg


Here is a picture of the crappy job the guy did at her office:

badjob.jpg
(note, he ran the CAT5 directly from the router to the computer itself, and added his own RJ45s to the ends)

So, any equipment aside, how much do you think I should charge roughly?
Click to expand...



---------------------------------------

Well, after all this time..I FINALLY went and did the job today

Here are the pics..please post constructive criticism..suggestions..etc

3.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

7.jpg


I ended up having to run some more wires through the ceiling and such..oh well. It took my father and I(hes a carpenter, so he helped out with some of the mounting/cutting/etc etc) 5 hours to do..I made around $375 profit.

My only complaint was that the shelf was huge. The shelf was 19" deep, while the bracket itself is only 4". Where can I find a smaller shelf? I looked but I couldn't find anything smaller.

Ok, go ahead and post comments now.
 
Were those staples holding the wires in place? When I used to install network cables if I would have used staples like that I would have been booted off the job site so quick...
 
very nice job. it looks great.

i know you were concerned w/ the charging issue. so i ask you now that it's done, do you feel ripped off?

that's how i asses how much i charge from job to job. a bit higher each time until I feel like i'm getting paid well for my work. Of course, it's also not networking work. But still.

great job :)
 
Na, I feel like I got a pretty good price. I'm happy. They're happy. It works out.

And yes, those are staples in the first pic..but I learned too late that you're not supposed to use staples...if I were to do that job over again I would definately not use staples..

Question though...I did see an ARROW T59 stapler that uses insulated staples that are supposedly used for CAT3/CAT5 wiring...is it really safe to use?
 
Well done. I'll hire you to do our next building. About 500 drops data + voice. :)
 
I got the wall mount rack at www.pcwebshopper.com

Also check out www.callcct.com for a more variation of goodies.

I had to tack some cat5 onto the baseboard of the wall...I picked up some "Data Cable Staples" which are little blue plastic staple kinda things with a nail going through one side of it...I used those for the little tacking I had to do, but if I had to do more, the little blue things would not have looked too good...so that's why I'd like to look more into the insulated staples.
 
I would have done it something like this. Granted its my speaker, but you get the idea. I don't have much love for patch panels. They're overkill IMO for small networks.

speaker.jpg
 
Originally posted by Supchaka
I would have done it something like this. Granted its my speaker, but you get the idea. I don't have much love for patch panels. They're overkill IMO for small networks.
Click to expand...


while that does look good, computer hardware is deserving of a rack :) Plus a patch panel is more functional for a business and such.

Even though I have a small network (3 computers, yet 25 some odd drops through out the house) I'm glad I have it all on a patch panel & wall mounted rack in my closet. Having LAN's and such is MUCH easier, and cleaner.

:D

ejoech: i'm glad your happy w/ how things turned out.
 
Originally posted by ejoech
Na, I feel like I got a pretty good price. I'm happy. They're happy. It works out.

And yes, those are staples in the first pic..but I learned too late that you're not supposed to use staples...if I were to do that job over again I would definately not use staples..

Question though...I did see an ARROW T59 stapler that uses insulated staples that are supposedly used for CAT3/CAT5 wiring...is it really safe to use?
Click to expand...

Yes, they are certified to be used with CAT5. And they work well to boot.
 
Yeah, I thought about installing a 2U wall bracket to hook the patch panel up to, and then using a wooden shelf to go under it to hold the modem and router, but I wanted to try it out with a shelf and see how it turned out. I admit they will probably never use the patch panel the way it's designed to be used..but what are the other options? Get a large mounting block? Maybe, although I'd like to get the practice of using a patch panel and such..plus it looks cooler. Run the wires straight from the computer to the router? Definately not.

Everything turned out well, except now they definately want me to order a smaller shelf...so I'm gonna do that, and now i have to figure out how much to charge for it.

Sweet, I think i'm gonna get that stapler.
 
Just an idea:

Next time you set up a business network like that, I'd recommend that you go with a two-post rack. They are only about 70 dollars and it will give you a lot more freedom than a smaller wall rack would.

Like this:

Dsc01153.jpg
 
I think the 2 post rack would be overkill for many and seen as an eye saw. Probably the case here.
 
Yeah I think a two post rack would DEFINATELY be overkill for the job I did. The job I did was probably even overkill. There are only 4 computers right now. They can pretty much only expand up to 8, and then their office is full. This is a small office, emphasis on the small.
 
I'm rather interested in the large black wallplate you used in this client's home installation--the one in the first pic, where the 12-port patch block and coax faceplate are mounted. It looks like a simple cutout of black-adonized metal that mounts onto three wall studs.

What's the common name for that, how do you normally make/get it, and how did you get staples into it? Also, are they manufactured to fit both 16-inch and 24-inch stud spacing?
 
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