MadEngineer: Quite common. There’s been some industry pressure but the builders are just not interested.

thats one of the issues with nz housing, they are not building houses for people to live in.

The sparky's spec for my new build had ethernet run to everywhere there was likely to be a TV - six in total I think. I added one ceiling AP per floor and two ports in every bedroom plus a few more scattered about in useful places, for 23 in total.

It's the kind of thing you'd easily look past in an older house but in a new house where it's so easy to add it during construction, it would drive me a bit crazy to have none.

davidcole:

it did sound like cost cutting to me.

allio:

for 23 in total.

allio:

 

The sparky's spec for my new build had ethernet run to everywhere there was likely to be a TV - six in total I think. I added one ceiling AP per floor and two ports in every bedroom plus a few more scattered about in useful places, for 23 in total.

 

It's the kind of thing you'd easily look past in an older house but in a new house where it's so easy to add it during construction, it would drive me a bit crazy to have none.

 

Yep, agree. Our 12 yo house has 12 ethernet ports including in the stairwell (5 BR 3 LR home) Might be overkill, but as you say, why not when constructing. These days it should be a selling feature. In our case the wall plugs for the ethernet also have coax for the external aerial, thats also makes sense for terrestrial freeview, and was done same time as ethernet 

OllieF:

 

I'd prefer ethernet cabling as well, but would not let it make or break a decision on a house purchase.

 

It did break the decision on a brand new home purchase for me. Agent was - but everything is wireless....

Due to the construction method, retrofitting would not have been possible, apart from surface mounted cable runs.

Nah.

Rough budget of probably $200 per run. Can easily run into four figures. If you figure $20-30k for the total electrical package, that's a pretty substantial chunk.

Sparkies generally work to what the developer/customer wants, and the bidding can be competitive. They're not going to add more points without being paid for it. I would say blame the developer, but honestly, they're right. 90% of people won't use anything but WiFi and maybe a hardwired TV.

NZ doesn't have any strict legal functional requirements for this or most electrical matters in new builds. With few exceptions, you can just cross things off the plan and get rid of them.

Minimum quantities of networking jacks, lights, power sockets, and other things don't exist. They're a contractual matter, not a receptacle-every-12-feet like the US has.

SomeoneSomewhere:

 

and the bidding can be competitive..............

 

NZ doesn't have any strict legal..........

 

As there is no legal requirements with low voltage wiring so they are open to do what they like. So its typically the first place they cut corners. All care but no responsibility. 

very common for them to under quote, talk BS and remove features from the design. or have no design and leave it to customer to make it it work. or install cheap under spec cables so it doesn't work.

In 10 years i only ever had one sparky willing to come back and fix his work. I also worked on two houses where the sparkies workmanship set the house on fire.

neb:

allio:

 

for 23 in total.

 

"We're gonna need a bigger switch".

Me and the SO are both trying to move into a place that has internal wiring and it's a mission. Most of Christchurch's new builds have internal wiring however the placement of the patch panel and the ONT are just absolutely mind boggling sometimes(and also the lack of room to place a gateway and a switch).

Sometimes it's not just "we're gonna need a bigger switch." it's also... how much is it gonna cost to make it work.

We've walked away from a few places due to that. 

tweake:

 

SomeoneSomewhere:

 

and the bidding can be competitive..............

 

NZ doesn't have any strict legal..........

 

 

As there is no legal requirements with low voltage wiring so they are open to do what they like. So its typically the first place they cut corners. All care but no responsibility. 

 

very common for them to under quote, talk BS and remove features from the design. or have no design and leave it to customer to make it it work. or install cheap under spec cables so it doesn't work.

 

In 10 years i only ever had one sparky willing to come back and fix his work. I also worked on two houses where the sparkies workmanship set the house on fire.

 

Getting a rubbish install when you've asked for and paid for a good one is one thing. If it's done, do it decently. I've seen rubbish installs, in commercial, from reputable installers using reputable product. Requiring two ports per room won't change anything.

But if the architect/developer/customer says "we don't want to pay for hardwired networking because no-one will use it", well, there's not much the sparky can or should do about that.

SomeoneSomewhere:

 

 

 

Getting a rubbish install when you've asked for and paid for a good one is one thing. If it's done, do it decently. I've seen rubbish installs, in commercial, from reputable installers using reputable product. Requiring two ports per room won't change anything.

 

 

 

But if the architect/developer/customer says "we don't want to pay for hardwired networking because no-one will use it", well, there's not much the sparky can or should do about that.

 

if the customer doesn't want it, thats fine.

The problems i used to run into was when customer wanted it and the sparky short cuts the install so it won't work, and then refuses to fix it. ie its basically a scam. Having to rerun cables on new house was pretty common. Tho one sparky got really pissed off because i fixed it and the cust took the repair cost off the sparkies bill. 

Yeah, that's a flat out failure to provide the services contracted. Small claims court or just refuse to pay until it's corrected.

But most of this thread was more whinging that sparkies weren't installing data in the first place when:

• There's no regulation requiring it (and IMHO probably shouldn't be)
• No-one wants to pay for it
• It's not on the plans
• The contract they signed probably says that they need to provide, and they did provide:

   

  • Lead-in pipe from the boundary to the edge of the foundation
  • Conduit, LSZH microduct, or optiCat5 from edge of foundation to...
  • A box to put the ONT in with a power outlet

What's next, where's my TV antenna/satellite dish?

I do find it ironic that often the best place to install the TV and get the best connection to fibre is often in the garage where the fibre comes into the building. Some sparkies don't seem to have a very good knowledge on networking. 

The same could be said for why your switchboard isn't in the kitchen, where most of the high-demand appliances are (excluding the concerns around water). People don't want to see a big ugly box on/in the wall in their living room.

The garage is utilitarian, so people don't really care what it looks like too much. It's near an outside wall, so the actual fibre run is fairly short. And it's where the architect put it on the plan, because yes, that's specified.