Wiring in new condo

[ToniCipriani]

I bought a new condo that's still under construction, one thing I noticed is that they specified CAT5 wiring. And seems like it's standard for all new builds, saw a few other they also specify CAT5.

Does anybody have any experience with builders asking them to upgrade the wiring inside the condo? I kinda want to get the wiring up to CAT6 and possibly run two wires per drop instead of the usual 1, so I can have a dedicated line for Ethernet and phone. Previously I tried to run 2 pairs for ethernet only and one pair for telephone line and it didn't fare well.

[Mark77]

Anything's possible for a price. The builder very likely sub-contracted the job out to a data wiring contractor. I have personally prepared bid packages for a wiring contractor, so I've seen what goes on.

If its a concrete building, in all likelyhood, there is conduit through which the wires can be run. So replacing the wiring with whatever you want, in such circumstances, shouldn't pose much if any difficulty.

The problem you're going to face in dealing with the builder is that they have so many things on their plate, that customizing the wiring in one unit, outside of what's on the blueprints, is a giant hassle. After all, the wiring contractor is going to have to order special CAT6 wall plates, bring a box or two of special Cat 6 cabling, etc., to the job, just to do one unit. They can do this -- but after they've done 50 units in one way, there's a tendency to 'forget' to do your unit with the requested variation.

[ToniCipriani]

That's what I'm sort of thinking. I don't mind redoing it myself, but I just don't want to rip everything apart again, after all it's a brand new place, just to get everything a bit more future proof, so I'm considering options.

I guess I won't know until they call me in for customization next year.

[mikeo007]

You could be lucky and they could use Cat5e. Price isn't that different, so it's possible.