Auckland commercial leases rarely warrant the cabling, and it shows: most fit-outs we audit have 10+ year-old runs the new tenant is responsible for. Below are 7 things to check before you sign a commercial lease — each one with a typical cost to fix.
“Most office cabling looks fine on day one and bites you in month four. Knowing what to check before you sign saves you NZD 5,000+ in fitout repairs.”
Is the patch panel labelled and tested?
Open the comms cupboard. If the patch panel has no labels, faded labels, or random masking-tape labels in different handwriting — assume nothing is tested. Re-labelling and Fluke-certifying every cable on a 24-port patch panel is NZD 450-700, but worth knowing on day one.
What cable category is on the wall outlets?
Look at the side of any wall outlet for a printed category — Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6 or Cat6A. Cat5 won’t carry the gigabit speed your ISP delivers. Cat5e is borderline. Cat6 is fine. If the outlets are blank, lift one off the wall and check the cable jacket.
Are runs hidden, neat, or zip-tied across the ceiling?
Above-ceiling cable trays = installed properly. Bunches of zip-tied runs draped across ceiling tiles = a previous tenant who didn’t care. Re-routing 20 cables into a tray is NZD 400-650, but the bigger cost is when one of those zip-tied runs gets snagged during your fitout.
Does each desk have a working data outlet?
Test every outlet with a cheap RJ45 tester (NZD 30 from PB Tech) or a phone-tethered Ethernet cable. Dead outlets are usually a bad termination at the patch panel — NZD 75 each to re-terminate. Dead outlets in a row usually mean a chewed cable in the wall — NZD 300-500.
Is the comms cupboard ventilated?
Comms cupboards full of switches, NVRs and patch panels generate heat. No vent, no fan = switches die early. A cabinet fan kit is NZD 280 supplied and installed.
What does signing a lease without checking cost?
The most expensive Auckland office cabling redo we’ve been called to was NZD 18,400 — a 30-person tech company that signed a lease without inspecting. They had two months of dropped VoIP calls before we audited the cabling. The previous tenant had run Cat5 over 110m to half the floor, well past spec. A 30-minute pre-lease cabling check would have caught all of it.
Frequently asked questions
Can you do the pre-lease inspection before I sign?
What does the report include?
Should I make the landlord fix the cabling?
How long does an audit take?
Do you do this for residential too?
Ready for a fixed-price quote you can trust?
Auckland-owned and operating since 2018. Trusted by 100+ Auckland homes and businesses. Same-day service or your call-out is free. 12-month workmanship warranty. $5M public liability cover.
Reviewed by Namra Shah, Founder & Director of Cabling For U. Cabling For U has been delivering certified network cabling, fibre and CCTV installations across Auckland since 2018, installing to TIA/EIA and AS/NZS 3080 standards.