Office Cabling Checklist: From Survey to Handover

A good office cabling job is decided before anyone pulls a cable. Use this checklist to survey the space, choose the right cable category, plan routes away from mains power, specify testing, and insist on proper documentation at handover. It works for a brand-new fit-out and for an office move, and it is written for the person who has to sign the job off: the business owner or office manager, not the installer.

Cabling is the part of an office you rarely see and can least afford to get wrong. It sits behind walls and above ceilings, and it is expensive to redo once the desks are in. Get the decisions below right and the network should serve you for many years.

TL;DR

• Survey the building and your people first: count desks, phones, printers, cameras, door readers and access points, then add spare capacity.
• Specify Cat6 as a minimum for general data and Cat6A where you want 10Gbps, advanced Power over Ethernet or a long service life.
• Keep data and mains cables on separate routes, seal every fire-rated penetration, and dress cables with Velcro, not tight nylon ties.
• Every link should be tested and certified, with labelled outlets and a handover pack that includes as-built drawings and test results.
• Order your internet circuit and run a wifi survey early, because both have lead times that cabling alone does not fix.

Table of Contents

• Before you start: define what the cabling must carry
• Survey the building (and walk it before you sign)
• Choose the cable category
• Plan routes, containment and separation
• Design the wifi before you place the outlets
• Book your internet and voice early
• During installation: what to check on site
• Testing and certification
• Handover: the documents you should receive
• Office move extras
• What we think about cabling
• Cabling, wifi and connectivity from one team
• FAQ
• Sources

Before you start: define what the cabling must carry

Most cabling regrets come from a brief that was too narrow. “Twenty data points” is not a brief. A brief says what will plug in, where, and what it needs to do over the next decade.

Write down the following before you ask for a quote:

1. Staff and desks. How many people today, and how many in three years? Each desk usually needs at least two outlets: one for a PC or docking station, one for a phone or spare.
2. Fixed devices. Printers, meeting-room screens, door entry readers, CCTV cameras, card readers, alarm panels, time clocks and card machines. Many of these now run over the network and draw power from it.
3. Phones. If you are moving to VoIP, handsets need a network point each, and many are powered over Ethernet.
4. Wireless. Access points need cabled backhaul, usually ceiling-mounted, so they need data points where the wifi design says, not where it is convenient.
5. Growth. Plan outlets for the layout you may have in two or three years, and leave spare capacity in the cabinet.

If you are moving, add one more item: a list of what comes with you. Old cabling in the building you are leaving stays there, and cabling in the new building may not be what the landlord’s agent described.

Survey the building (and walk it before you sign)

If you can, have someone technical walk the new premises before the lease is signed. Photograph the ceiling void, risers, any existing cabinets, the incoming service entry and the likely comms room. You are looking for four things.

• Where the internet arrives. Find the point where fibre or copper enters the building and how far it is from where you want your comms cabinet.
• Routes. Is there a ceiling void, floor void or trunking, and is there room for more? Are there fire compartments between the comms room and the desks?
• Existing cabling. Unlabelled legacy cabling of unknown category is a liability. Decide what you will reuse, if anything, and have it tested before you trust it.
• The comms room itself. It needs space for a cabinet with clear access front and back, adequate power sockets, ventilation, and ideally a lockable door.

A professional site survey should produce a route plan, outlet positions, cabinet location and a list of the work needed to reach each point. Our network cabling service starts the same way, because the quote is only as good as the survey behind it.

Check distances

Copper Ethernet is limited to 100 metres per channel. Guidance from Elec-Mate gives Cat6 as supporting 1Gbps to 100 metres and Cat6A as supporting 10Gbps to 100 metres. Measure real cable routes, not straight lines on a floor plan: up the wall, along the ceiling void, down again and round obstructions all count. If a desk or an outbuilding is beyond that limit, you need a second cabinet or a fibre link, and that should be in the plan from day one.

Choose the cable category

This is the decision hardest to undo, so it deserves the most thought.

The speeds above come from the same Elec-Mate guide, which describes Cat6 as the current standard for new commercial installations in the UK and Cat6A as preferable where you need 10Gbps or want to future-proof. The same guide puts a typical service life for structured cabling at 15 to 25 years. That is why it is worth spending a little more per run now: the cable outlasts several generations of switches, phones and laptops.

Solid copper, not copper-clad aluminium

Check the specification says solid bare copper conductors. Cheap copper-clad aluminium (CCA) cable is sold at tempting prices and the same guidance warns that it leads to performance problems and safety risks that cannot be fixed without re-cabling. Ask your installer to name the cable brand and type in the quote, and keep the answer.

Think about power over Ethernet

IP phones, cameras, access points and door readers can all be powered through the data cable. Higher-power devices run hotter in the cable bundle, so cable category and bundle size matter. If you expect several PoE devices per ceiling route, Cat6A is the safer specification.

Plan routes, containment and separation

The cable is only half of the installation. How it is supported and routed is what keeps it working.

• Separate data from mains. Run data and mains power on separate containment routes, or in separate compartments of the same trunking, and keep sensible distances where they must cross. Interference from shared paths causes the kind of intermittent faults that are maddening to trace after the fit-out. Fixing it during planning costs very little. Electrical work itself should follow BS 7671, the wiring regulations, and be carried out by a competent electrician.
• Follow the installation standard. BS EN 50173 describes what a structured cabling system has to be, and BS EN 50174 covers how to install it. Elec-Mate’s structured cabling guide explains the split and notes that most certification failures trace back to installation practice. Ask your installer which standards they work to.
• Respect bend radius and pull tension. Cable that has been pulled round tight corners or hauled with force can pass a quick check and fail later. A competent installer manages this without being asked, but it is fair to ask how.
• Use Velcro, not tight nylon ties. Hook-and-loop straps let cables settle without being squeezed. Nylon ties pulled hard can crush cables over time and damage the pair geometry, which matters most on Cat6A. A university specification for Cat6A, published by UCL Estates, calls for exactly this.
• Leave service loops and slack. A little spare cable at each end allows re-termination without a new run.
• Keep cabinet airflow clear. Do not block vents with cable bundles, and leave room for patch leads to be added tidily.

Fire stopping and penetrations

Every hole through a fire-rated wall or floor must be sealed to the same standard as the barrier it passes through. Fire safety guidance in the Ministry of Defence’s JSP 480 makes the point plainly: penetrations need fire-rated sealing to stop the spread of fire, smoke and toxic gases. The principle applies to any office. After the job, walk the risers and ceiling voids with the installer and check each penetration is sealed and, ideally, photographed.

There is one recent regulatory change worth knowing if fibre is part of your plan. The government has issued a time-limited dispensation under the Building Act 1984. From 1 September 2026 and for three years, drilling holes of 25mm or less for fibre optic cabling in existing non-higher-risk buildings does not need formal building control approval, provided firestopping, weatherproofing and soundproofing are done on the same day. The detail is in the GOV.UK direction. It does not remove the duty to seal properly, and it does not cover every type of building, so check your premises against it. If you rent, you also need your landlord’s consent for drilling and for new routes.

Design the wifi before you place the outlets

Wireless and cabling are one design problem, not two. Access points need cabled data points, and their best positions depend on the building, not on where a socket happens to be.

Materials that quietly weaken signal include foil-backed plasterboard, glass meeting pods, lift shafts and metal shelving or racking. A predictive or on-site wifi survey before cabling begins lets you place the right number of access points in the right spots and then cable to them. Doing it in the other order is how offices end up with dead corners and a second round of cabling.

Our wifi survey and design service is built for this: survey first, then the outlet plan.

Book your internet and voice early

Cabling does not give you connectivity until a circuit is live. Lead times for new lines, and especially for leased lines or fibre to a new address, can be longer than the fit-out itself. For a move, order early and have a plan for the gap if the new service is late.

A short list to settle in the planning stage:

• Which service suits the office: standard business broadband, fibre broadband, or a leased line for guaranteed capacity?
• Is there a resilient backup, such as a 4G or 5G router, so a line fault does not stop the office?
• Are you keeping your phone numbers, and who is arranging the transfer?
• Is the phone system moving to VoIP, and are the handsets and network ready for it?

If you are comparing options, our business broadband page lists the plans, and fibre broadband starts from £49 per month.

During installation: what to check on site

An installation is easier to correct while the crew is there. Visit at least twice: once when first-fix routes are in, and again before the ceilings close.

1. Compare the work to the plan. Outlet positions, cabinet location and routes should match the agreed drawings. Changes are fine if recorded.
2. Check containment. Cables should be supported and not draped on ceiling tiles or lying on top of light fittings.
3. Inspect terminations. Outlets should be neatly terminated, with the cable jacket kept intact close to the connector and no excess untwisting of pairs.
4. Confirm labelling as you go. Each outlet and each patch panel port should carry the same unique identifier at both ends.
5. Look at fire stopping. Every penetration through a fire-rated barrier is sealed, and the installer can show you where.
6. Check protection of finished areas. Floors, carpets and furniture are covered, and dust from drilling is contained. If staff are working in the building, ask how noisy or disruptive work will be scheduled.

Testing and certification

A cable that “lights up” a laptop is not a tested cable. Ask for every permanent link or channel to be tested with a certification-grade tester against the category you paid for, with a pass or fail result for each. Proper test reports record parameters such as insertion loss, return loss, near-end crosstalk and delay skew, and are saved per outlet.

Two points to put in the contract:

• Results delivered to you. Electronic test files, not just a statement that testing was done.
• Failures fixed and retested. Any link that fails is corrected and tested again before handover.

If you are reusing old cabling, test it too. Passing is not guaranteed and you want to know before staff arrive.

Handover: the documents you should receive

The handover pack is what lets you, or any future engineer, manage the network. Manufacturer guidance, such as the Excel Networks installation guide, stresses that this documentation is essential for ongoing management and troubleshooting. Do not accept the keys to a comms room without it.

Your handover checklist:

• As-built drawings showing real outlet and route positions.
• A port map or schedule linking each outlet label to a patch panel port.
• Test results for every link, in the original electronic format.
• Product specifications for the cable, outlets and patch panels used.
• Warranty certificates. Some manufacturer-backed systems offer long warranties, such as the 25-year warranty in the UCL specification, but a warranty only applies if the installer is approved to register it, so ask before you buy.
• Details of any fire stopping carried out.
• Contact and support arrangements for faults.

Store a copy off-site and one in the comms room. When you next change provider, add a phone line or move again, this pack saves hours of surveying.

Office move extras

Moving adds a few jobs that a new build does not.

• Start early. Aim to begin planning months before the move, not weeks.
• Audit what you have. List every device on the network, including the ones nobody remembers, such as door controllers, alarm dialers and card machines.
• Phase the cutover. Where possible, have the new network live and tested before staff arrive, then move equipment in stages.
• Test before day one. Walk every desk and meeting room with a laptop and a handset.
• Plan decommissioning. Check your lease for reinstatement obligations at the old site. Some landlords expect cabling to be removed, and others expect it to be left.
• Tell your suppliers. Broadband, phone, mobile and alarm monitoring providers all need the new address and timings.

What we think about cabling

We install and support telecoms for businesses across Essex, London and the South East, and the same pattern comes up on almost every cabling enquiry: the cable is rarely the problem. The problem is a brief that never mentioned wifi, a comms room that was an afterthought, or documents nobody asked for.

Our advice is simple. Decide the outlets with the wifi design in front of you. Pay for the category that matches how long you will stay in the building. Insist on labelled, tested, documented work. And treat cabling, broadband, phones and wifi as one project with one timeline, because each one waits on the others.

We also work without pushing long contracts, and we are independent of any single vendor, so the specification we recommend is the one that fits your office rather than a product we have to sell.

— Paul

Cabling, wifi and connectivity from one team

If you would like a second pair of eyes on a plan, or a full installation, we can help. We survey the premises, design and install the cabling, and design the wifi to match. We can also line up broadband, leased lines and VoIP so the office is ready when your team arrives. Start with our network cabling installation page or look at leased lines if your office depends on guaranteed capacity. If you want to talk it through first, our telecoms clinics are a good place to start.

FAQ

Should a new office use Cat6 or Cat6A?

Cat6 is a sound minimum for standard office data, supporting 1Gbps to 100 metres. Cat6A supports 10Gbps over the same distance and suits high-power PoE and long-life installations. If you plan to stay in the building for many years, or run many PoE devices, Cat6A is the safer choice. See the Elec-Mate guide for the figures.

How many data points does each desk need?

Two per desk is a common starting point: one for the computer and one for a phone or spare. Add outlets for printers, meeting-room screens, access points, cameras and door entry, then allow extra for growth. It is cheaper to install spare outlets during the fit-out than to add them later.

Do I need building control approval to run cables through walls?

It depends on the work and the building. For fibre optic cabling in existing non-higher-risk buildings, holes of 25mm or less are covered by a temporary government dispensation from 1 September 2026 for three years, provided firestopping is done the same day. For anything else, or if you are unsure, check with your installer, your landlord and your local building control team.

What should I be given when the cabling is finished?

You should receive as-built drawings, a port map, test results for every link, product specifications and any warranty certificates. Labelled outlets and patch panel ports should match the documents. Ask for this pack to be named in the quote so it is not an extra at the end.

When should I start planning the cabling for an office move?

As early as you can, ideally before the lease is signed so the building can be surveyed. Internet circuits often have the longest lead times, and cabling and wifi design should be settled before furniture is positioned.

Sources

• Data Cabling Installation UK: CAT6 Wiring Guide, Elec-Mate
• Structured Cabling BS EN 50173, Elec-Mate
• UCL Estates Cat6A specification
• JSP 480 Installation of Communication and Information Systems, GOV.UK
• Direction under the Building Act 1984: dispensation for holes for fibre optic cabling, GOV.UK
• Excel Networks installation guide

Recommended

• Network Cabling
• Wifi Survey
• Leased Lines
• Routers