We see a lot of construction sites every year, from residential single-family homes to small businesses. When we are able to get involved in the project at an early stage, we can guide the client’s decisions throughout the construction process to make sure all their tech gets installed smoothly and works properly. But there are many times when we get this call:

“Hi! I just finished building my dream house, and I would like to get Wi-Fi, TVs, cameras, and much more. Can you help?”

Of course, we can find solutions to almost any tech problem, but hearing this always hurts just a tiny bit. No wires anywhere, no demarcation run, no conduits for future runs, and many more things that could have been installed during construction. So today, we’ll go through the common mistakes that we see homeowners and business owners make when building a new space, so hopefully you won’t make them too!

1.      No demarcation run

This one hurts the most. Most people don’t even know what this is, which is why it gets left out on so many projects. It might just be the most important run in your building.

The demarcation run is a set of cables and/or conduit that runs from the main hub of your network to the exterior of your building for your internet service provider (Xfinity, AT&T, Cox, etc.) to connect. This ensures that your modem/fiber terminal can be placed EXACTLY where you want it.

If you don’t make a demarcation run, then the ISP has to run their wires wherever is most convenient. If that means drilling a hole in your family room wall, that’s what they’ll do, and you usually can’t move it after the fact. We have seen far too many buildings (homes, especially) where the modem or fiber terminal is sitting in the middle of the living room, primary bedroom, or conference room for businesses.

If you do nothing else, at least run a conduit from your network hub to the exterior of your building. That will ensure you can use whatever cable you need, depending on what ISP you use. When we do a demarcation run, we run a Cat6 cable, RG6 coax cable, and a 1” conduit for fiber. That ensures the owner can use whatever type of internet they want.

2.     Wiring up TVs only

Back in the day, the only low voltage wire that builders would run was a coax cable to the TVs, so that each TV could get a signal. Now that all TVs are smart, builders are just throwing in a Cat5e cable in that mix and calling it a day. That’s great for your TVs, but there are so many more important wires to run, that wiring up only TVs is like putting icing on an un-baked cake.

We will have a whole blog post dedicated to this topic, but wiring up your Wi-Fi access points is the most beneficial thing you can do to your network. These carry the load of your Wi-Fi, as ALL wireless devices will connect to these. Mesh Wi-Fi is great, but if you can wire the nodes together, you will see immediate improvement in stability, reliability, and performance.

3.     Electricians running low voltage cable

Sorry electricians, nothing personal! Electricians work with wire even more than we do, and they are some of the best wire-runners in the trades. Low-voltage cables are easier to run than electrical cable, but designing, terminating, and commissioning low voltage infrastructure is not common training for an electrician. As a result, we see many buildings that have been wired improperly because “it was included from my builder.”

Where will the Wi-Fi access points need to be installed for optimal coverage? What kind of bracket do you need for a particular brand of camera? Where should speakers be placed? These are all things that we take into account when we approach a project, which will make the final installation of equipment extremely smooth.

4.    “Builder-grade” surround sound

I have to hold my tongue when I walk into a home and the homeowner shows me their “surround sound” setup that their builder installed for them. The default living room speaker layout for most builders is to have three ceiling speakers in the front of the room, and two ceiling speakers in the back of the room. Some will even install a larger center speaker in the ceiling, which actually makes things even worse.

There are several issues with this:

• When looking at someone speaking on TV, you will see their lips move, but their voice sounds like it’s coming from above you;

• You lose a lot of sound localization, meaning that EVERYTHING sounds like it's above you, instead of making you think cars are whizzing by;

• You are off-axis from all your speakers, so all your audio is directed to the floor, and not to you.

There is plenty of documentation, such as from Dolby, that recommends the speakers to be at ear level. This can be achieved with in-wall speakers, floor-standing speakers, bookshelf speakers, and more. In any home, that is our first goal.

Of course, especially with an open floor plan, there are no walls to install your speakers cleanly, so you are forced to put speakers in the ceiling. In that case, at LEAST get some angled in-ceiling speakers, like these from TruAudio. That way you can get most of the sound directed to you, not to the floor.

No matter what your builder installed, a good subwoofer can be one of the best upgrades you can make to your sound system. It is relatively easy to add a wired or wireless subwoofer, so even if it didn't come in your "package," you're not out of luck!

5.     Blocking behind a TV

Many folks building a new space see videos online that show them all the “things you MUST DO during construction.” One of these tips is to add blocking behind where your TVs will go, which ends up being a 2x8 piece of wood that goes between your studs. The idea is, after construction, you won’t have to find a stud to mount your TV; you can drill virtually anywhere and you’ll hit a piece of wood!

First of all, we have mounted a LOT of TVs, and you can always find a stud. Even if you have a small mount for a small TV, you can use toggle bolts to mount the small TV to drywall. If you are uncomfortable finding a stud, then a professional can mount your TV for you.

Second, if you ever want to drop something in the wall behind the TV (like an HDMI cable, ethernet cable, etc.), you now have this huge piece of wood in the way. You will have to use a specific tool to cut the drywall then cut the wood behind it, so the job becomes much harder.

Instead, we would recommend installing a TV back box. These recessed enclosures allow you to house your power cables, streaming boxes, ethernet cables, and more, behind the TV. It also allows the TV to get extremely close to the wall, which is essential for TVs like Samsung’s Frame TV.

6.    TV above fireplace

Okay, we know this might be unpopular, but if you’re designing a new home, please consider this: placing your TV above your fireplace might be one of the worst places for your TV to go. Here’s why:

• Your TV will almost certainly be too high. TVs should be at eye level, and unless you have a short fireplace, your TV will be much higher than that. Many homeowners are looking UP at their TV every night.
  

• Wiring after the fact is impossible without tearing into drywall. Want an HDMI cable up there? Using a new Samsung TV with a OneConnect cable? Want to add a soundbar? All these tasks will be more difficult because you can’t drop the wires straight down the wall.

• If you have a brick or tile chimney, mounting the TV will be more difficult (or expensive). It won’t be a huge difference, but just another reason not to do it.

Instead, see if you can have two focal points in the room, such as having the fireplace off to one side or in the corner, while having the TV on another wall. Or, keep the fireplace as the focal point, and have the TV off to the side. Many modern fireplaces come in shorter sizes so you can keep your TV low without interfering with the fireplace.

If you’re building a new space, it’s never too early to get a tech expert involved. We can make sure your design will work perfectly and look great when you move in.