Typical project · Quebec and Ontario
Low-voltage package of a new mixed-use building for a general contractor
These are typical projects, described from the kind of work we do. They do not describe a named client or a specific building.
Shops at street level, apartments above, parking below, and low-voltage systems scattered across the drawings. This is how they are taken as one scope and brought to occupancy with the rest of the building.
The situation: many small scopes and nobody holding them together
The client is the general contractor of a new building with commercial units at street level, apartments on the upper floors and underground parking. The drawings show the cameras on one sheet, door access on another, the intercom in the architectural set and the cabling in the electrical one.
Priced separately, these scopes would go to several small subcontractors, each with its own schedule and its own idea of where the conduit runs. The gaps between them (who supplies the door strike, who powers the reader, whose room the telecom room is) would land on the contractor's superintendent in the last weeks before occupancy.
What the first visit and the review of the drawings find
- Doors without preparationSeveral doors that the access drawings show as controlled have no electrified hardware in the door schedule and no conduit to the frame.
- A telecom room that is too smallThe room planned for the telecom provider's equipment has neither the space for the racks of the building's own systems nor a circuit reserved for them.
- Parking levels with no mobile signalNothing is planned for cellular coverage underground, where the occupants and the systems that depend on the mobile network will need it.
- Two networks drawn for the same purposeThe cameras and the access control each have their own cable routes and cabinets, side by side on every floor.
What is designed, and why
The aim is simple: one scope for the contractor to follow, and nothing left between two subcontractors.
- One design for all the systemsVideo surveillance, access control, door hardware, intercom, intrusion alarm for the commercial units, structured cabling, fibre between the telecom rooms, Wi-Fi in the common areas, cellular coverage in the parking and water leak detection are drawn together. They share pathways, rooms and network wherever they can.
- Questions raised on paperMissing conduit, door preparation and power are put to the contractor as questions before the walls close, when the answer is a line on a drawing and not a change on site.
- A clear division with the other tradesA table states, device by device, who supplies, who installs and who connects: the electrician, the door and hardware supplier, the elevator contractor and us.
- The shops apart, the building in commonThe commercial units have their own pathways and their own room, so that each tenant can bring in its systems, while the base building systems stay under the owner's control.
- One scope, priced as a package or by systemThe quote names the equipment of each system and states what is and is not included. The contractor can award the whole package or only some of the scopes.
How the work is sequenced with the construction schedule
The low-voltage work has no schedule of its own: it follows the contractor's milestones, floor by floor.
- Rough-in before the walls close
Conduit, back boxes and sleeves are placed or checked with the electrician on each floor, ahead of the drywall.
- Cable as the pathways open
Copper and fibre are pulled, supported and labelled as the floors advance, and the telecom rooms are fitted out once they are dry and can be locked.
- Devices as the finishes allow
Cameras, readers, entry panels and access points are mounted after painting, and the door hardware is connected together with the door supplier.
- Commissioning, system by system
Each system is powered up, configured and tested: cable links, camera views, door schedules, wireless coverage. Deficiencies are listed, then corrected before handover.
- Handover and training
The closeout documents go to the contractor, and the people who will run the building are shown how to use each system.
What is handed over
- As-built drawings of the pathways, the rooms and the device locations
- The test results of each copper and fibre link
- The equipment lists and the settings of each system
- The door list: hardware, reader, schedule and who may open it
- Labelling that matches the drawings, from the rack to the outlet
- Training for the operators of the building, and administrator accounts in the owner's name
Services involved
- Project management
- Structured cabling and LAN
- Fibre optic installation and cabling
- Video surveillance
- Access control
- Intercom and phone entry
- Cellular signal boosting
- Water Leak Detection System
Industry
Other typical projects
- Entry panel and fobs in an occupied rental building
- Cameras, alarm and a radio link on a construction site
- Wi-Fi and dock cameras in a warehouse that never closes
- A cut fibre backbone repaired and re-certified
- Leak detection with shut-off by riser in a condo building
- An office move on a fixed date: cabling, Wi-Fi, doors and phones
- Mobile coverage for two levels of underground parking
- Analogue cameras replaced by IP cameras across a group of stores
- Access control for an office building with several tenants
- Licence plate recognition at the gate of a logistics yard
- Audio and video for the meeting rooms of an office
- A network put back in order after a security incident
- An old alarm system replaced in a store with offices and a stockroom
A project like this starts with the drawings
Send us the architectural and electrical drawings and the specification sections that concern the low-voltage systems. We come back with our questions, then with a quote for the package or for the scopes you choose. We reply in English or French.