Custom Advice, Part One

During my many years in the custom installation industry, I've been involved in hundreds of projects of all sizes.

- John Sciacca

These are some of the pearls of accumulated wisdom that I typically share when new customers come into my shop with plans, or we are walking together through a jobsite.

PREWIRE FOR EVERYTHING

One of the questions I get asked now more than ever is, “With so many devices going wireless, do I even need to pull any wiring?” Yes, you do. First off, actual wire cost is usually pretty minor in a project’s overall scope. Second, even when using Wi-Fi-enabled gear, your home should have a solid wired backbone. The reasons for this include alleviating wireless traffic, data security, and gaining the ability to expand your Wi-Fi network by adding hardwired wireless access points (WAPs). Third, many devices still require physical connections, like speakers, cable boxes, and TVs.

A related thing I often tell people is, “This might be a wire that we aren’t using today, but it could come in real handy tomorrow.” I can’t count the number of times my company has gone back to a job years later and took a Cat5 cable originally intended as a phone or audio control wire and repurposed it to send HDMI video via an HDMI extender. If you think you might want to do something in the future, then make a point of pulling a wire for it.

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