Line of Sight
Cabling · Connectivity · Office build-outs
Connectivity is the one system every other system depends on.
And it should be done right and on time. Structured cabling, circuit procurement, and network installs for office and coworking build-outs — planned backward from your occupancy date.
The problem
The building decides your timeline
Typical lead times on a fit-out, in days. The two with open ends are the ones that decide whether you open on time.
| Item | Lead time |
|---|---|
| New fiber build | 90–120+ days, plus permitting |
| Existing fiber activation | 35–65 days |
| Structured cabling | 30–60 days, by scope |
| MDF buildout | 30–45+ days |
A new fiber build runs 90 to 120 days — and that is before permits. City permitting can add months, and seasonal moratoriums can stop work from starting even when the approval is already in hand.
So the answer isn't ordering earlier. It's finding a provider already on-net in the building, where there's little or no build work to do at all.
That question is worth answering before you sign the lease — not after.
And “activation” on an existing fiber building is still five sequential steps
- 1Order placed and processed1–2 wk
- 2Site survey scheduled1–2 wk
- 3Survey reviewed, SOW issued1–2 wk
- 4Fiber splicing scheduled and completed1–2 wk
- 5NID installed, circuit activated1 wk
Steps 4 and 5 wait on the MDF — and the MDF waits on the room
The MDF buildout is power and outlets, the IT rack in place and bolted to the floor, a plywood backboard mounted for the carriers, and ventilation in place or close to it. A carrier will not splice into a dusty, half-built room, so none of it counts until the space is genuinely finished.
Low-voltage work is rarely what holds this up. The vendor starts early, pulls cable into the IT room and leaves it coiled, and sets the rack — they simply can't terminate until that rack is in. The real constraint is the construction happening around them: drywall, drop ceiling, and the electrical work.
Which means your activation date is set by somebody else's drywall schedule. That seam between the trades is the one nobody owns, and it is where dates get lost.
21 to 42 days before a scope of work even exists, and 35 to 65 days in total when nothing goes wrong. None of it starts until the order is placed, and every step waits on the one before it — so a delay anywhere moves the activation date.
What I do
Three things, and the first one can't wait
Circuit Procurement & Provisioning
Real pricing from the carriers that serve the address, not a coverage map.
Pricing and term negotiation, order placement, and management of the carrier through demarc extension and activation — with primary and failover both scheduled to your occupancy date.
Structured Cabling
Scoped properly the first time, so you aren't paying for revisits after the space is occupied.
Drop counts, pathway coordination, terminations, testing and certification, and rack build-out.
Network Installation & Migration
Configuration stays with your IT team or MSP.
Installation of network switches, firewalls, access points and similar hardware, fully patched and labeled. I make sure the hardware and the cabling behind it are right. Installation fully documented and provided on completion.
How it works
One schedule, and one person accountable for the date
The low-voltage vendor handles the design — yours if you have one, mine if you don't. I hold the scope and the schedule — the carrier coordination, the sequencing, and the closeout documentation. Physical installation is performed by licensed, insured low-voltage contractors working under my direction, so you get one person accountable for the outcome instead of three vendors pointing at each other.
And if the schedule says the circuit won't land in time, I bring in a temporary connection so you open on the date you announced. That call has its own deadline — made too late, it doesn't help either.
The alternative is holding three schedules and three points of contact yourself — and finding out in move-in week which one slipped.
Who I work with
If you're opening, moving, or expanding
- Coworking and flexspace operators opening new locations, or expanding within existing sites
- Landlords and property managers preparing tenant and spec suites, or reviewing existing riser distribution
- Companies relocating or expanding into new space
- General contractors on tenant improvement work
- MSPs who need the physical scope covered
About
Vincent Carminati
I've spent the last twelve years in telecom infrastructure — most recently leading IT infrastructure and telecom delivery for coworking operators, across hundreds of sites. Along the way I've delivered more than a thousand internet circuits, which means I've also seen most of the ways a build-out goes wrong.
Line of Sight exists because connectivity is the piece your Go Live date depends on, and it is the piece with the least slack in it. Everything else on a fit-out can absorb a week. A circuit ordered late cannot.
What I took from that is simple: the schedule is the deliverable. Cable and circuits are the straightforward part — sequencing them against a date that can't move is the actual job. It's why the first question I ask anyone is when they need to be in the space.
The full history is on my LinkedIn.
Contact
Send me an address
Tell me the building — or buildings — you're looking at and I'll come back with real pricing from the carriers that actually serve it — what it costs, whether it's on-net or a new build, and how long it will take. No charge and no obligation.
If you already have an occupancy date, include it — that's the number everything else gets planned around.
Quotes come back from the carriers, so this takes a few days rather than a few minutes. I'll tell you where it stands either way.