On June 20, 2019 at 18:52, davidcasemore said...
Our industry is based on standards. I hope I don't have to start listing the organizations who create these standards because this is something you should all know.
It's based on standards, but so many fly by night and low budget operations exist that many of those standards are ignored, unknown to the installers "because training costs money", "just do it the way I said" and other bad excuses for reasons. I used to help a dealer with installations and on one job, he told us to daisy-chain the network connections. Seriously. He wanted to save money on cable but his problem was in thinking as if he was the cheapskate who was paying for the work and materials.
My biggest pet peeve:
Wires and cables, of any type, just hanging down from the ceiling or poking out of the wall.
That can't be avoided in a lot of retro work, especially when the house is old and has masonry walls. Even if the wall has drywall, it's not always easy to get someone to fire up for the cost of opening it.
Every cable should terminate at both ends at some type of wall plate or rack-mounted faceplate. Since this cable is part of the structure, any rack-mounted patch panels should be wall-mounted so as to be part of the structure too.
As good as it can look, I really like to avoid making extra connections.
It's no wonder so many of you spend so much time on site for the last weeks before the client moves in (and are still there after they do move in). If you terminated all your cables ahead of time at both ends then you can almost be in and out for the final trim-out because:
1. You've built and tested your rack off-site ahead of time. You know that all of your remotes will work properly - no messing around on site. Plus you have the added benefit of not having two vans worth of empty equipment boxes to remove from the house. You built the rack off site and that's where the boxes are. I know some integrators don't have vans large enough for a full-height rack. Rental companies are your friend and are not expensive. Instead of having equipment manuals strewn all over the client's house, you've already created a couple of three-ring binders to hand to the client or the house manager at the final walk-thru/training.
2. Your trim-out consists of wall plates, keypads, TPs, speakers and displays. You bring the rack in, connect it to your terminated connection panel. Many of the trim-out pieces can be installed prior to painting which will shorten your time on site at the end. This is great "make work" for those slow days.
If you don't do these types of things then you will keep being the last trade on site. This gives you the added advantage of being blamed for the move-in delay, being blamed for damage to the floors and walls, and being the last one to get paid (hoping there is any money left). If any of these things keep happening to you then you really can't say you are a pro, can you?
Do you mainly work on commercial/industrial, or some large residential? I can only imagine the luxury of filling a rack & testing it all before it goes to the site, especially if it has to go up or down one or two flights of stairs.
