One Ethernet run in a finished house usually takes a couple of hours, and a typical house with 6 to 12 drops takes one or two days. Where you land in that range comes down to two questions: is there an attic or crawlspace we can get into, and where does every cable come back to? If there's a way in and one clear spot where the cables end, the job stays short. If every cable has to fight its own way through the walls, a single run can turn into half a day. More on how we plan runs is on our wiring services page.
How long Ethernet wiring takes: one run, a floor, a whole house
- One run with attic, basement or crawlspace access: a couple of hours, often less.
- One run through plaster, old insulation or a blocked wall: it can turn into half a day.
- One floor: somewhere in between. It depends on whether the drops can share one path from above or below, or each needs its own.
- Whole house, 6 to 12 drops: one or two days.
A single run looks slow next to a bigger job because it carries all the setup on its own: getting into the attic, finding the path, getting the tools out. On a whole house that setup is shared across every drop, so each extra drop adds less time than the first one.
Most of the day isn't pulling cable. It's finding the path. Putting the ends on and testing each run are the quick parts, minutes each, not hours.
One or two hard runs usually decide the schedule, not the easy ones. Two drops in the same house can be an hour apart. So when we estimate, we're really estimating the worst wall, not the average one.
What you don't need to wait on is a permit. Washington doesn't require a permit or inspection for telecom wiring inside a house, so nothing is waiting on the city.
Cable choice doesn't change the timeline much. Cat6 for every data run in the house. Cat6a only if a single run goes past about 150 feet, which is rare in a house. Cat5e is enough for cameras and doorbells, so you don't have to overpay there.
Is there an attic or crawlspace we can get into?
If yes, that's where the time gets saved. We drop down from the attic into the wall where the jack is going, or come up from the crawlspace or an unfinished basement into it. A small hole, a wall plate, done.
If no, the work slows down. Do you have an attic hatch? Check your closets and the hallway ceiling. Some houses with a low roof don't have one at all. A finished basement ceiling means opening drywall to get across.
There's one more option if you're ok with it: we can run the cable along the outside of the house and come in through the wall right where the jack is going. We use outdoor-rated cable for that part. It skips the inside walls, but the cable will be visible on the outside wall, so it's your call.
Then the wall itself can slow things down. In newer houses there's wood inside the wall at each floor, and sometimes that means one extra small hole to get past it.
A lot of Seattle houses are old. About one in five homes and apartments in the city was built before 1940, and houses from that era were often framed so the walls are open from the basement to the attic. That helps a vertical run. The plaster around it is what slows us down. If you're not sure whether we cover your area, check our service areas.
Where does it all come back to?
Every cable ends somewhere, usually a closet, the basement, or wherever the internet comes in. Decide that first, because it changes the route for every run.
If there's one central spot with power and a realistic path up to the attic or down to the crawlspace, we run one main path from there and branch out to each room from above or below. That saves more time than anything else. Without it, every run is its own fight with the house.
If it's not decided, or the internet comes in on the opposite side of the house from where you want the equipment, we either move the ISP box or add a run just to connect the two. Both are fine. They just need to be decided before the day, not during it. If your provider is coming out anyway, ask them to put the ONT or modem where you want the equipment to live.
You also don't need a full rack and patch panel for a small job. If it's a few drops and a mesh system, the cables can come out of a brushed wall plate straight into the switch. Our network closet setups go further when the house needs it.
What you can do the day before
- Clear the attic hatch. If it's in a closet, empty the shelf under it.
- Clear the way into the crawlspace or basement. Storage boxes, a finished shelf, anything in front of the access panel.
- Pull furniture off the walls where jacks are going, and put jacks where the desk or TV will actually sit, not where the wall happened to be easy.
- Know where the internet comes in and where the equipment is going. Make sure there's an outlet there.
- Walk through with a floor plan of where people work, watch TV and take calls. You can change a jack location up until the day of the wiring, just let us know.
In summer, attics get hot by mid-morning, so an early start helps more than you'd think.
If you want a rough idea before we come out, try the estimator, or book a walkthrough and we'll answer both questions at your house.
Have questions about your project? Contact us for a free estimate.
