ᐅ Costs of Network Cabling by an Electrician

Hello,

I am currently reviewing quotes from several home builders regarding the electrical installation. The prices listed are for the following components:

• per electrical outlet (including connection) 40€
• per Cat6 double socket with connection to patch panel 145€

Are these realistic prices, and can someone please explain where this significant price difference comes from? For each outlet, the wall must be chased, right? The material costs shouldn’t differ that much, should they?

The price difference is likely due to the fact that wiring the conductors of a CAT6 outlet is significantly more complex than wiring the three conductors of a standard electrical socket. Moreover, this is a double outlet, so you have to connect 2 x 8 conductors in the correct order, which takes time and must be tested afterward. On the other side, the 16 conductors also need to be connected to the patch panel. A network outlet is certainly more expensive than a standard socket, and the cable is probably installed in a conduit. Are the cables included in the price? Because a CAT6 network cable is considerably more expensive than a standard electrical cable and must be run individually from each outlet to the patch panel (so it is longer and doubled here), whereas with regular cable installation (no KNX or similar systems) for sockets, a star topology is not necessary—you can daisy-chain the connections. So there are several reasons for the price difference. Whether the prices are market-appropriate, I do not know. I am doing the work myself (not a new build).

I agree with FrankH on that!

BUT: Make sure that the network double socket is fully wired on both outlets. We have double sockets everywhere as well, but they are only wired on one side, so only one connection can be used. That’s really frustrating.

Unfortunately, I noticed this way too late... :-(

So, at the beginning of this year, we paid 26€ all-inclusive per outlet, and for the double outlet with cable (without the patch panel connection, which I did myself, it's quick) half of your price. In NRW. However, it was "only" a Gira standard series, which we liked.