Portfolio · Building or renovating
Security pre wiring for new builds and renovations
The window is open for about three weeks, and almost nobody uses it.
Borderless Solutions pre wires homes during construction across Melbourne under an ACMA registered cabler licence. If you are building or renovating, the cheapest security system you will ever own is the one cabled while the walls are still open.
When to wire, and what it saves
Each answer below is written to stand on its own, so it makes sense whether you read the page or see it quoted somewhere else.
When should I wire a new house for security cameras?
The window is at rough in, after the frame goes up and before the plasterboard goes on, and Borderless Solutions attends during that window because once the walls close the same cabling becomes a retrofit.
On a typical Melbourne build that window is around two to three weeks. It sits after the electrical rough in and before lock up. Your builder can tell you the date and it is usually the single most useful thing to ask them. Miss it and nothing is lost permanently, but the same runs then have to be found through a finished cavity, which changes the cost and sometimes the possible positions.
Do I need cabling if I am using wireless cameras?
Wireless cameras still need power at each position and a network that reaches them, and Borderless Solutions runs power and data to the likely positions at rough in because that is what makes wireless work properly later.
The word wireless refers to the video path, not the power. Only battery and solar cameras are genuinely cordless, and those trade convenience for a recharge cycle. What actually kills wireless camera systems in Melbourne homes is not the camera, it is a router in the front study trying to reach a camera at the back fence through double brick. A single data point in the right spot at rough in solves that permanently.
What should be cabled at rough in beyond cameras?
The useful list is wider than security and Borderless Solutions maps it in one visit, covering camera positions, alarm sensor runs, an intercom at the entry, data points for access points, and a location for the recorder and network gear.
The three things people most regret leaving out are a data point where the wireless access point should sit, a conduit from the house to a future shed or studio, and a cable to the front gate. None of them is expensive at rough in. All of them are disruptive afterwards. We also mark a recorder location with power and ventilation, because a recorder in a hot cupboard fails early.
Can I pre wire without deciding on equipment yet?
Yes, and it is usually the better approach, because Borderless Solutions terminates the cabling and leaves it ready so you can choose and fit equipment months later at a fraction of a retrofit cost.
Cable is cheap and equipment dates quickly. Running the infrastructure now and fitting cameras when you move in means you buy current hardware rather than whatever was current at slab stage. We have owners who cabled at rough in and fitted equipment nine months later, and the second visit was a fraction of what a full retrofit would have been.
Who is allowed to run cabling in a new build in Victoria?
Cabling that connects to the telecommunications network must be installed by an ACMA registered cabler, and Borderless Solutions holds Cabler Licence T59216 alongside a Victorian security licence so both halves are covered by the same team.
This matters more on a new build than a retrofit because the work is inspected and because your builder will ask. An electrician can run power. Data and security cabling that ties into the network legally requires the cabler registration. Using one team for both avoids the common situation where security cable is run to the wrong place because whoever ran it was not the person who will fit the equipment.
What the three week window actually saves
At rough in, a camera cable is a run through open studs. It takes minutes per position and it goes exactly where the camera should be rather than where a cable can be made to reach. After lock up the same run has to be found through a closed cavity, which on a double brick or concrete slab build sometimes means the position simply is not available and you settle for a compromise.
The compromise is the real cost. A camera two metres from where it should be, at a height chosen by the cable rather than by the approach, produces footage that shows something happened without showing who. That is the difference between a system that helps and a system that only confirms.
The second saving is finish. Cable run at rough in is invisible. Cable run afterwards means surface conduit, patching, or a route around the outside of the building. On a rendered facade or an architect designed home this is often the deciding factor, and it is why we get called to heritage and premium builds specifically to attend before the walls close.
The third is scope. At rough in you can run a conduit to a future shed, a cable to the front gate and a data point at the ceiling where an access point will eventually go, for very little. Each of those retrofitted separately later is its own job with its own callout. Doing them at once, while the site is already open, is the whole argument.
Pre wire jobs across Melbourne
Each links to the area page for that part of Melbourne, where the local conditions are set out in more detail.
Cabled at rough in, equipment fitted nine months later
The owner wanted a full system eventually but not yet. We pulled and terminated at every camera, sensor, reader and network position, agreed on site with the builder. Equipment went in later at a fraction of a retrofit.
Local detail: rebuild pre wiring in Balwyn
The side gate nobody plans for
New estate blocks put the side gate behind a fence where it is invisible from the street and from the house. We cabled that position at rough in, because retrofitting to it afterwards means going around the outside.
Local detail: estate pre wiring in Epping
Seven approaches, cabled before plaster
The block had seven ways in, which is more than most four camera packages assume. All seven were cabled while the frame was open, so the owner could decide later how many to actually fit.
Local detail: large block pre wiring in Glen Waverley
A cable to the gate, run once
Forty metres of driveway and a gate that needed a camera at identification distance. Trenching afterwards would have meant cutting the finished drive. Conduit went in while the ground was still open.
Local detail: driveway cabling in Doncaster
Data points where the access points go
The estate handed over with a single router point in the front study. We ran data to two ceiling positions at rough in, which is what makes whole home coverage possible without mesh nodes plugged into hallway power points.
Local detail: estate cabling in Melton
Terminated and labelled, ready to sit
Every run terminated, tested and labelled at both ends rather than left as bare cable in a cavity. The follow up visit becomes an hour of fitting rather than a day of tracing.
Local detail: renovation cabling in Canterbury
What to ask your builder, and your installer
Ask your builder for the rough in date as soon as the frame is up. That single date decides whether this is cheap or expensive.
Ask whether the installer holds an ACMA cabler registration. On a new build the work is inspected and your builder will ask for it.
Ask them to mark positions with you on site rather than from a plan. A plan does not show you where the sun hits, where the gate is, or which side the bins go.
Ask for every run to be terminated, tested and labelled at both ends. Bare cable in a cavity with no label is a second job waiting to happen.
Ask about the extras while the site is open. Conduit to a future shed, a cable to the gate and a ceiling data point cost very little now and are separate jobs later.
Get a fixed price for your property
Tell us your rough in date and we will work to it. A technician marks the positions with you on site, and puts a fixed price in writing before anything is pulled.
Licensed and insured. Security Licence Z67-511-50S and ACMA Cabler Licence T59216. 5.0 from 82 Google reviews. Head office 81 Junction Rd, Nunawading VIC 3131. Monday to Saturday, 7:00 to 20:00.