Price per drop

We charge $165 per drop.

"Robert R Kircher, Jr." wrote in news:4- snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Around 120.00+ since you need the lines certified.

With no idea of where you are located, for budget purposes I would estimate the length of the average run and estimate $1.50 per running foot. There are a lot more variables that can come into play, like are the telephone closets stacked, are you planning on running hubs/switches on two floors or one, what kind of backbone etc. All those will affect the price. Don't forget to factor in the price for any racks. Those are not included in the $1.50 running foot guess.

For a small incremental amount, you can double the number of cables, providing at least 2 network drops. The material is cheap in comparison to the labor - and as long as they are there pulling one cable, two isn't a whole lot more work.

Labor and the size of the space are critical factors here, and labor greatly depends on your geographical area. Here on the East Coast you could get your CAT5E cabling installed anywhere between $100 and $200 for the number of drops and the general environment you indicated (plenum likely). You may also help your bidders by specifying exactly what you need rather than just saying "give me 36 drops". State what kind of rack or bracket you need, brand of the cable if you have one in mind, patch cords or not, as much data you can give out as possible. Also, make sure the floor plan is available to them and the site is accessible for a walk-through (if it's built already). By doing your part you'll help them to bid with confidence, and you'll get more consistent (and cheaper, too as contractor's guesswork costs customers money!) bid results.