Construction costs for the cabling of the voice, data, and BMS can be reduced by up to 30 percent when integrating the cabling and delivery methods. One project team can engineer, install, and project manage the installation for all the cabling. Trade contention is reduced, scheduling is easier, and ultimately the project runs more efficiently. If something goes wrong, the customer only has to deal with one team for systems integration. The length of the overall project for engineering and installation can also be reduced by consolidating the cabling installation.

The key to this is early planning. If the systems (voice, data, fire, security, HVAC, etc.) are bid and designed separately, costs for delivering the cable will increase and flexibility will decrease. Costs can be minimized and flexibility can be increased if delivery methods are shared for the various services. How the cabling is delivered to the work areas and devices will ultimately determine the cost of changes and rearrangements. One integrated cabling system and cable-delivery method can be implemented, versus five or six individual cabling systems and delivery methods.

Moves, changes, rearrangements, and upgrades can be performed more cost-effectively, with a potential savings of 25 to 40 percent for material and labor when using an open-office cabling approach. There is less disruption to the work environment, which also affects the cost and performance of doing business. In addition, with only one cabling system to administer, the response time to end-user cabling requests is reduced. This also reduces the time required to maintain the cabling system. How the building is built today will ultimately determine how much it costs to live there tomorrow.