Had to pick between hardwired and wireless for a 3-story office building

I got a contract to do a 3-story office building downtown last month and had to decide if I'd run all the cabling or just go with wireless sensors. Picked hardwired because the customer was worried about battery life and signal drop on the top floor. Took me 4 extra days to fish wires through the ceiling but it was rock solid on the final test. The wireless quote I gave would have saved them $1,200 but they said they liked the idea of no batteries to change. Anyone else run into clients who push for one over the other and regret it later?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_wood841mo ago

Oh man I feel you on this. Did a 2 story clinic last year and the owner INSISTED on wireless because he saw an ad for some fancy system. First week we had issues with the second floor sensors dropping out every time someone used the microwave in the break room. Had to go back and run hardwired anyway, cost him way more than if we just did it right the first time. Hardwired is ALWAYS worth the extra days when you're dealing with multiple floors and thick concrete between them.

seth_shah1mo ago

The microwave thing is classic, I had a similar situation where the fire alarm panel was right next to the break room fridge and the compressor cycling would trip the wireless smoke detectors every 15 minutes during lunch. We finally figured it out after like 3 service calls and the customer was pissed. Now I tell everyone if theres more than one layer of drywall or any kind of metal framing in the ceiling, just save yourself the headache and pull cable from the start.

milarodriguez1mo agoTop Commenter

Respectfully, I see it a little different. In my experience, a lot of those wireless issues come down to bad placement and not taking the time to map out the environment first. Metal studs and double drywall are real problems, sure, but you can work around them if you pick the right wireless gear and do a proper site survey before mounting anything. Pulling cable is definitely bulletproof but it adds a ton of labor and sheetrock work, especially on a retrofit where you're dealing with finished ceilings. I've had plenty of jobs where wireless worked just fine for years once we figured out the right spots and avoided things like elevator shafts and big appliance motors. Your mileage may vary depending on the building, but I've saved customers a lot of money by not defaulting to hardwire on every single job.