When setting up a new office, structured cabling is often an afterthought. Many businesses focus on furniture and decor, only to realise later that poor cabling creates ongoing connectivity issues. Here is why getting it right from the start matters, and what it actually involves.
What Is Structured Cabling?
Structured cabling is a standardised approach to designing and installing a building's data and communication wiring. Instead of running cables ad-hoc as needed, a structured system uses a planned layout with proper cable management, patch panels, and labelling — every cable has a defined path, a documented endpoint, and a clear label at both ends.
Cat5e vs Cat6 vs Cat6a: What's the Difference?
This is one of the most common questions we get from businesses planning a new fit-out:
- Cat5e supports gigabit speeds over shorter distances and is the minimum standard we'd recommend for any new installation today.
- Cat6 supports higher speeds over longer distances and better resists interference — a sensible default for most offices, giving you headroom for future network upgrades without re-cabling.
- Cat6a supports 10-gigabit speeds and is worth the extra cost for server rooms, backbone runs between floors, or businesses that expect to need very high bandwidth in the next several years.
For most offices, we recommend Cat6 to workstations and Cat6a for the backbone between the server room and any secondary comms cabinets — a sensible middle ground between cost and future-proofing.
Benefits of Professional Cabling
Reliability
Properly terminated and tested cables deliver consistent network performance. Loose connections, kinked cables, and poor terminations are the number one cause of intermittent network issues in offices — the kind of problem that seems to appear and disappear randomly and is maddening to diagnose after the fact.
Scalability
A well-planned cabling infrastructure includes spare capacity. When you add new workstations or meeting rooms, the data points are already in place — just patch them in at the rack, rather than opening up walls again months or years later.
Clean Aesthetics
Professional cabling uses trunking, conduit, and cable management to keep wires hidden and organised. No more cables running across floors or dangling behind desks — which matters both for appearances with clients and for basic safety (trip hazards are a real liability concern).
Easy Troubleshooting
With proper labelling and documentation, identifying and fixing network issues takes minutes instead of hours. Every cable, port, and patch panel connection is documented, so a future technician — even one who's never seen your office before — can understand the setup at a glance.
Planning Cabling During Construction vs Renovation
The ideal time to install structured cabling is before walls are closed up during new construction — cable routes can go exactly where they're needed with minimal extra cost. Renovations are more constrained: existing walls, ceilings, and finishes limit routing options, and cables sometimes have to run through more visible trunking rather than being fully concealed. Either way, involving your cabling contractor early — ideally at the same time as your electrical contractor — avoids the costly rework of retrofitting data points after finishes are already in place.
A Real Example
For a two-floor IT office in Kandy, we installed 80 Cat6 data points and a fibre backbone between floors, including server rack installation and full testing and certification. The work was solid enough that another local IT company now subcontracts their own cabling jobs to us — a good sign of what "getting it right the first time" actually looks like in practice.
What It Costs
For a typical 20-person office in Kandy, professional structured cabling costs between LKR 150,000 to LKR 300,000 depending on the building layout and cable type (Cat6 vs Cat6a). This includes data points at each workstation, patch panels, a network cabinet, and testing certification.
The False Economy of DIY Cabling
We regularly get called in to fix networks where cabling was done by general electricians or in-house staff. Re-doing poor cabling costs 2-3 times more than doing it properly in the first place, because existing work must be removed, walls may need to be reopened, and business operations are disrupted — often exactly when the business can least afford the downtime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can structured cabling be added after an office is already furnished?
Yes, though it costs more and takes longer than doing it during construction, since cables often need to run through visible trunking or under raised flooring rather than being hidden inside open walls.
How long does a typical office cabling project take?
A 20-person office typically takes 3 to 5 working days, depending on building layout and whether work can happen during business hours or needs to be scheduled after hours.
Do I need to re-cable if I move to a bigger office later?
Not necessarily — well-documented, properly labelled cabling with spare capacity can often be extended rather than replaced, which is exactly why planning for some headroom at installation time pays off later.
If you are planning a new office or renovation, contact our structured cabling team early in your project. We coordinate with your contractor to install cabling at the most cost-effective stage of construction, across Kandy and our wider service areas.