Search this question and you get a price per metre for the cable, which is the least useful number in the whole job. The cable is not what you are paying for.
The cable itself is cheap. On The Conduction Company's own completed Auckland jobs, a single data cable run has cost anywhere from about $290 to about $950 including GST, and the only thing that changed was how hard it was to get the cable there. Access is the price, not the cable.
Why the cable itself costs almost nothing
A data cable is eight fine copper cores inside a sheath. There is very little copper in it. Electrical cable is expensive precisely because it is full of copper and copper is a dear metal, but a data cable is not built that way, so the cost per metre is low.
That is why quoting you a per-metre price would tell you nothing about your bill.
So what are you actually paying for?
Labour, and specifically the labour of getting a cable from your router to the spot you want it, through a building that was not designed to make that easy.
Data cable normally runs at low level on internal walls. Whether that is a straightforward afternoon or a hard day depends entirely on what is above and below your floors.
Three real jobs, one cable each
We quote on facts, not guesses
Before we give you a price, we carry out a proper assessment of your property and how you'll use the cabling. That way you know exactly what you're buying and the total cost, with no surprises. Clear expectations from the outset, start to finish.
These are three real jobs from The Conduction Company's completed Auckland work. Every one of them is a single cable run. The estimates below are for standard data cabling work. The Conduction Company confirms final pricing after a property assessment.
What The Conduction Company ran How the cable got there Cost including GST
One cable, prep room through to the patch panel Underfloor space, straight run About $290 One cable, from the ONT up to a bedroom Up to a first floor, dropped inside the wall About $600 One cable, run under a deck Outside, gel-filled cable in conduit About $950
Three times the price for the same thing on paper. That is the honest answer to this question, and it is why The Conduction Company does not publish a per-point rate for an existing home. A rate would be wrong for most of the houses reading this page, and you would only find out on the day.
What makes one house dearer than another
It comes down to what route the cable can take. The Conduction Company groups it three ways.
Your home What The Conduction Company has to do Effect on the price
Underfloor space available Run the cable low level, back to the router, terminate a jack each end Cheapest by a clear margin No underfloor, but usable ceiling space Drill down inside the walls and run through the ceiling space Higher, because it is more labour No underfloor and no ceiling space, or multi-level Surface-mounted mini trunking inside, conduit outside, or open the walls and patch, plaster and paint afterwards Highest. A whole home can run into the thousands
Construction type matters more than age here. Single level homes on raised piles, with underfloor space, usually give you the cheap version. It is the concrete-slab home with a low-pitch roof that gets expensive, which catches people out because it is often the newer building.
The one thing that makes it cheaper
This is the most useful paragraph on the page, so it is worth reading twice.
The first cable to a spot carries nearly all the labour. Getting into the floor or the ceiling, working out the route, drilling the holes: that happens once, no matter how many cables you end up pulling. Every extra cable run at the same time adds materials, a jack, and a couple of minutes to terminate.
So The Conduction Company installs two, three, or four jacks at a position as standard rather than one. Not to pad the job. Because coming back in two years to add a second cable to the same spot means paying for the hard part twice.
If a cable is going somewhere, send its spares with it.
The two times The Conduction Company can price it up front
A new build, while the walls are open
This is the predictable one. The estimates below are for standard data cabling work. The Conduction Company confirms final pricing after a property assessment.
About $100 to $150 per cable run including GST. On a new build the plasterboard is off, so every hole gets drilled in one pass, and the fibre comes in underneath the house to a recessed data panel in the garage instead of being run around the outside. None of the access problems above exist yet.
Compare that with the retrofit figures further up the page and the argument makes itself. If you are building or renovating, this is the cheapest this job will ever be.
A fault visit, when something has stopped working
About $180 to $270 including GST. This is a different and much smaller product than an installation. It is the "it worked last week and now it does not" job, where The Conduction Company comes out, tests, and finds the fault.
Most of the time the fix is small. On cabling that has failed, the cause is usually a connection or a termination rather than the cable itself, so it is a re-termination or a better part rather than a new run.
What about a whole house?
There is no useful number for this, and anyone who gives you one over the phone is guessing. A four or five point job is typically four to eight hours on site, so half a day to a full day, but what that costs depends on which of the three access types above your home falls into.
The Conduction Company will look at the property, work out the routes, and give you a fixed price before anything starts. That is the only way to give you a figure you can actually rely on. If you want the fuller picture on whether the job is worth doing at all, The Conduction Company has written up whether it is worth running ethernet cable through a house , including a real Auckland job where two expensive fixes solved nothing.
Is it cheaper to do it yourself?
It can be, and it is legal. Data cabling runs at extra-low voltage, so under Schedule 1, clause 2(b) of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010 it is not prescribed electrical work. No licence needed.
The saving is real but so is the risk, and it is not the risk people expect. The Conduction Company gets called back to DIY cabling regularly, and the faults are almost always a poor termination, a cheap part, or a run that works but at a fraction of the speed it should. The bigger one is drilling: a penetration through the building envelope that is not done properly lets water in, and that costs far more to put right than the cabling ever saved.
The Conduction Company handles data cabling and WiFi installation across Auckland , from working out where the cables should go through to the jack in the wall.
Frequently asked questions How much does it cost to install data cabling in a house? It depends almost entirely on access, so The Conduction Company prices it after seeing the property. On its own completed Auckland jobs, a single cable run has cost about $290 where there was underfloor space and about $950 where it had to run outside under a deck. These are estimates, not quotes.
Why won't you give me a price per point? Because it would be wrong for most homes. The same single cable run has cost three times as much in one Auckland house as in another, purely because of how the cable had to get there. The Conduction Company would rather look at your property than publish a rate you cannot rely on.
Is data cabling cheaper in a new build? Much cheaper. On a new build The Conduction Company charges about $100 to $150 per cable run including GST, because the walls are open and every hole is drilled in one pass. It is the cheapest this work will ever be.
How much is a call out if my internet has stopped working? About $180 to $270 including GST for a fault or diagnostic visit. That is a much smaller job than an installation. On failed cabling the cause is usually a connection or termination rather than the cable, so the fix is often a re-termination or a better part.
Does it cost four times as much to run four cables instead of one? No, and this is worth knowing before you book. The first cable carries nearly all the labour, so extra cables pulled at the same time add only materials, a jack, and a little termination time. The Conduction Company fits two to four jacks at a position as standard for exactly this reason.
Can I save money by running the cable myself? Legally you can. Data cabling is extra-low voltage and is not prescribed electrical work under Schedule 1, clause 2(b) of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010. The Conduction Company's caution is the drilling rather than the wiring, because a penetration through the building envelope that lets water in costs far more than the cabling saved.
