I’m looking to add ethernet ports to our home, and can’t get any ballpark quotes without having an electrician come to the house charging a $50 service fee to evaluate. I would do this if I had any idea what to expect ahead of time, but don’t want to have 3-4 electricians come out to compare quotes and end up paying $150 in service fees before even having any work done.
The ISP modem is on the main level, no current ethernet is wired in the home. I want to add an ethernet port on the second floor, so would need the ethernet wired through the wall likely into the attic and back to the wall of the second floor.
Any ideas on a ballpark for pricing here? I have no idea what to expect so wasn’t sure if I’m looking at $200 or $800 or somewhere outside that range.
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I paid about $150 a drop to run them through the attic and terminate them as keystone jacks in the wall for 10 drops
Material included? That’s a good price for residential work IMO.
125 ish per run.
I paid $1200 for five ethernet runs in April. I live in a pretty small house with lathe and plaster walls built in the forties. Runs into my attic, basement, and between a few rooms. Sort of complicated install.
The plaster makes it a pain, yeah. No drywall saws, gotta upgrade to an angle grinder or rotozip, and you’ll want a respirator, shop vac, and to keep the cutting surface wet.
Complicated install is right!
Ya, it was a bunch of work and these guys did a great job at what I thought was a fair price. If anybody happens to see this and lives in the Portland, OR metro, I worked with PDX Hardwire. Recommended.
Need a lot of info what you want done size of house access in walls ect ect ect
DO NOT HAVE AN ELECTRICIANS DO THIS. Installing low voltage network cable is a very different discipline. Granted, some electricians are skilled at both while others will install network cabling just like they install romex.
Also, the most difficult part running network cable will be patching holes in drywall which most electricians won’t do either.
Use a low voltage installer. You will want to get a professional because there are fire safety considerations
Wiring like that requires removing drywall and then patching and then a new Paint job. It will be more like thousands than hundreds. You should take a hard Look at just using wifi extender with an Ethernet port.
If you can’t do that you might see if there is a way to go up the downstairs Wall outside the drywall and do a floor plug upstairs. Could work if you could live with wire mounding or Trim in a corner.
Or do it like an AT&T installer and poke it outside, staple cat 5 to your siding and then poke it back inside once you get upstairs. Not kidding they do sh!t like that.Note on what you’re looking for and why it will be so hard. Your house wall has a top plate. A 2x4 on its side. Then there is floor decking. Probably 3/4” plywood. And then there is a bottom plate on the walls up there. So your electrician has to drill a hole thru 4” of solid wood to make a whole from 1st to 2nd floor. You need a big drill for that. There is no way to do that without removing some drywall.
Good luck with the project. I’d pursue wireless options. You can easily bridge the floors and still have ports.
I’ll get 'er done, thanks for the comments!
If you are in Australia an Electrician isn’t licensed to run Ethernet, they must have the required qualifications.
In my town (I am an IT contractor) and it can cost as low as $170 thru to $1400 to run one outlet, depending on how far and how difficult it is to run the cable.
If you decide to do it yourself
- Keep it at least 200mm (10") away from electrical wiring
- Keep it away from Flourescent lighting
- Find the correct connection for your Sockets (what wire goes to what pin)
Even if you run what is called shielded cable (its meant to block out noise/interference) it isn’t infallible.
I’m a commercial LV contractor but do residential for some of the business owners out of courtesy and let me tell you, residential wiring is the worst. You need to contend with finished ceilings, finished basements with no drop ceilings, wood construction where blocking in the walls is common, and stuff in your way everywhere because it is a living space after all.
As far as price, getting a cable between floors without access to the ceiling usually requires a creative solution. Is your basement ceiling finished because sometimes you can find a pathway (HVAC / plumbing) to get from the basement to the attic. Are you ok with patching holes? Closets are another option if they line up with where the cables need to run to. If I were to ballpark based on past experience, id say 3 hours @ around 100 per hour plus the cat6, jacks, low volt rings and faceplates. Take this with a grain of salt though because every house is different.
Like others said, don’t go with an electrician.
It’s very hard to ballpark without going to the site. How do they know if the wall doesn’t have a structural beam separating the floors? That’s just one example of things they have to check for.
It could be really easy too but they don’t know unless they are there. Maybe someone could do it over a video call but even that’s tricky.
Like others said, buy a snake and do it yourself. We would be more than happy to go over the steps, parts, and tools you will need.
I am interested in running cat6a and coax in my home. Please do tell.
My company would hourly for 2 guys, approx $200 per hour. Could be an hour, could take 3 depending on many factors
$420 -$580. All wire and part’s included
Another alternative is asking the cable company to run you coaxial cabling which is often very cheap if you’re a customer. Then use MoCA adapters to get an Ethernet setup on the cheap! I do this and it works great. It was only 50-100 bucks to have spectrum run the cable.
Low Voltage contractor. Watch them like a hawk, if you pay for cat6 or 7 quality cabling ensure its not catshit that gets installed. Contractors tend to be the “he don’t know any better” sorts. Check the packaging before its installed is the best way to make sure you don’t give them a nice tip in charged vs installed material costs. All contractors, but particularly low voltage and electrical contractors like to use what they like to use as long as it doesn’t fail an electrical inspection it’s free game.
If your installing one ethernet port and it’s mainly one vertical step I would guess your looking at 6 hours of work + materials.
Semi educated guess for similar work in my part of Colorado…$550-750, one port.