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personanondata

2 posts

Wannabe Geek


#325635 26-Sep-2026 18:40
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Kia ora all,

 

I'm after recommendations for a residential data cabler in West Auckland (Te Atatū). I'd especially like to hear from anyone who's used someone for a retrofit in the last couple of years.

 

The house:
- 1966 single-storey, timber frame and plasterboard, just under 120 m²
- Very shallow roof (~10°), so the roof space is tight, especially near the eaves
- Suspended timber floor, so the subfloor is accessible
- Getting a full re-roof soon, and I want every new cable pulled and tested while the roof is off

 

The job (~8–10 Cat6 runs, all home-run to an office patch panel):
- 2 × central ceiling drop (UniFi U7 Lite AP, plus a spare for a future Thread radio)
- 1 × second ceiling AP position, pre-cabled as a hedge
- 2 × eave runs for UniFi G5 Turret cameras (outdoor/UV jacket), plus spares, and possibly one extra eave position. I'm not really sure about best placement of the cameras on my property hoping to get away with only needing two but appreciate expertise in this area.
- 2 × drop down a bedroom wall to the alarm panel (possibly a Konnected PoE board later)
- Test two existing Cat6 runs to the lounge

 

Spec: solid copper Cat6 (no CCA), keystones and a patch panel, service loops, both ends labelled, draw strings left in, and per-run test results before sign-off. All the devices are PoE, so no mains is needed at the drop points.

 

What I'd love to hear:
1. Who you've used in West Auckland and would use again (or avoid). Anyone good with helping plan the network and security. 
2. Whether anyone has experience with Can Do Electrical, Procabling or EAV for residential work
3. For a shallow-pitch 1960s house: would you run the wall drops from the roof space or up from the subfloor?
4. Any gotchas with coordinating a cabler and a roofer during the same roof-off window

 

Thanks in advance.


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SATTV
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  #3531062 26-Sep-2026 19:40
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While to roof is off, it may be a good time to do electical cabling as well as 1960's wiring will be getting close to the end of it life, we were close on doing it on our 1966 house before we sold it.

 

Dont forget to do the insulation as well, my inlaws did their roof but forgot about the insulation so it was a missed opertunity.

 

 

 

John





I know enough to be dangerous




Wellingtondave
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  #3531063 26-Sep-2026 21:02
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Done this. It's an absolute prick of a job to coordinate. The roofers job is to get the roof back on to your house, presume still habited, as fast as possible. You obviously don't want to pay any trade to stand around and then there's weather to consider.

 

Other poster notes -  consider electrical for the life of the house as most important, so consult an electrician and see whether they'd recommend running anything new - say to / for a future kitchen renovation.  At the end of the day data cable can be done in various ways, cutting into interior plasterboard / finishes, lifting floors and carpet might be cheaper than trying to do it all on one day and having various parties trip over each other whilst all charging hourly. 

 

Consider running conduit where you want it if possible and running cable later, you can also have non skilled people pull cable and you can terminate it later / tidy it up later. 

 

One thing to remember, talk to your insurer. Reroofing often triggers construction clauses.   

 

 

 

 


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