Industries · General Contractors

Low voltage subcontractor for general contractors

You already know what a bad low voltage sub costs you. The one who misses rough-in, cuts pathways into finished walls, disappears at trim, and hands you a closeout package three weeks after you needed it. We are the other kind. We show up when the schedule says, coordinate before the walls close, and turn over labeled, tested cabling with documentation.

The problem

Low voltage is small money and big schedule risk

Our scope is a rounding error against the total contract on most jobs. It is also one of the last trades in and one of the easiest to stall a certificate of occupancy over, which is a bad combination. A missed rough-in window means core drilling and patching after finishes. A sub who bid off a set of prints they never checked against the building means a change order at the worst point in the job. A sub who cannot produce test results means your closeout sits open while the owner's IT vendor complains that nothing is labeled.

None of that is complicated to avoid. It just requires a sub who reads the look-ahead, walks the building, and treats the paperwork as part of the work instead of an afterthought once the crew has moved on.

We walk the site before we give you a number. Prints give us counts and locations. The building gives us deck type, ceiling height, existing conditions, and the path the cable can actually take. Bidding off both is why our number tends to hold instead of coming back as a change order in month three.

Sequencing

Rough-in and trim, on your schedule

We work off your current look-ahead, not the schedule from the preconstruction meeting. Tell us when the deck is up and when drywall is going on and we will build our manpower around those dates.

Preconstruction

We review the drawings, flag anything in the low voltage scope that will not build as drawn, and get you a bid that reflects the building rather than an allowance.

Rough-in

Boxes, rings, stub-ups, sleeves, and backing set before the walls close. Home runs pulled and supported off structure, not laid on ceiling grid or another trade's hangers.

Trim

Terminations, plates, racks, and patch panels once the ceilings and finishes are far enough along that we are not working on top of the painters.

Closeout

Test results, labeling scheme, and as-built information turned over in one package. Punch items handled without a third request.

Coordination

Sleeves and pathways settled before the walls close

Almost every expensive low voltage problem on a build traces back to a conversation that did not happen at the coordination meeting.

  • Electrical. We settle separation from power runs, shared pathway usage, and who is providing conduit for which drops before anybody starts hanging. We are also clear about what we need at the closet: circuits, ground bar, and enough clear wall.
  • Mechanical. Duct wins. It always wins. We would rather find out where the mains are running at coordination than discover our path is gone when we are in the ceiling with cable on the reel.
  • Fire-rated assemblies. Sleeves located and firestopping handled at the penetrations we make, so it is not an inspection finding with your name on it.
  • Framing and drywall. Backing for wall-mount displays, cameras, and access panels called out early, and our rough-in complete before rock goes up. Cutting into finished walls is a failure, not a technique.
  • Ceilings. Runs supported off structure with proper J-hooks or tray, dressed and out of the way so the ceiling crew is not moving our cable for us.
  • Owner's IT vendor. We coordinate directly with them on rack layout, port counts, and cutover timing so you are not relaying technical decisions between two parties.
Bidding

A number that holds instead of becoming a change order

We walk it first

On renovations and tenant improvements especially, the existing conditions are the job. Bidding those off prints alone is how a sub ends up writing a change order for the thing they should have seen.

Written scope, no vague allowances

Drop counts, cable types, terminations, pathway work, and what is excluded, in writing. If something is outside our scope we say so at bid time, not when you are chasing substantial completion.

Changes priced straight

Real added scope gets a fair number quickly so it does not sit in your log for a month. What we should have caught is on us, and we will tell you which is which.

Submittals and closeout

Paperwork that does not hold up your job

At submittal you get product data and cut sheets for what we are installing, turned around fast enough that your PM is not sending a second reminder. During the job we stay current on RFIs that touch our scope rather than sitting on them.

At closeout you get the labeling scheme, test results for every run we installed, and as-built information showing where the cable actually went, packaged to drop straight into the O and M manuals. Every run is labeled at both ends and tested to verify performance, so the owner's IT team can trace a drop on day one without pulling ceiling tile and calling you about it.

On punch, we come back. Low voltage punch items are small and they are usually the last thing standing between you and substantial completion, which is exactly why we do not make you file three requests to get twenty minutes of work done.

Our scope on your job

What we cover

We travel nationwide for multi-site work if you are building the same box in six markets.

Questions

What general contractors ask us

How early do you need to be on the job?

Before the walls close, and ideally before the electrical rough-in is set. Sleeves, core locations, and pathway routing are cheap to coordinate at that stage and expensive to fix after drywall. If you bring us in at trim we can still do the work, but you will pay for cuts and patches that nobody needed to make.

Do you bid off prints or do you need a site visit?

We bid off the drawings and we walk the site whenever the building exists. Prints tell us counts and locations. The walkthrough tells us ceiling height, deck type, existing conditions, and where the path actually goes. That second half is where most low voltage change orders come from, so we would rather find it before we hand you a number.

Can you hold a schedule when the job compresses?

We plan for it, because every job compresses. We ask for the current look-ahead rather than the original schedule, we tell you honestly what our crew size can absorb, and if a date is not achievable we say so at the meeting instead of missing it quietly. Nights and weekends are on the table when the finish date is real.

What do you provide for submittals and closeout?

Product data and cut sheets for the materials we are installing at submittal, and at closeout the labeling scheme, test results for every run, and as-built information showing where the cable actually went. It is packaged so it drops into your O and M manuals without your PM chasing us for it.

How do you handle punch list items?

We come back. Low voltage punch items are usually small, a mislabeled port or a drop that moved during finishes, and they are the last thing standing between you and substantial completion. We do not make you file three requests to get a technician on site for twenty minutes of work.

Send us the drawings

Give us the plans and the current look-ahead and we will walk the site and get you a bid with a written scope. Bid day or preconstruction, either works.