Per-drop numbers that survive contact with the building
Everyone has a per-drop price. Almost nobody knows whether it is right. DarkBird tracks the conditions that move it and corrects the number from your completed work.
Where low-voltage / structured cabling estimates go wrong
One per-drop rate across every building
Open ceiling, hard lid, and existing conduit are different jobs. A blended rate wins the easy buildings and loses the hard ones.
Testing and documentation are an afterthought
Certification, labeling and as-builts are real hours that get folded into a per-drop number and quietly eaten.
Change orders are argued from memory
Without a per-task baseline, scope creep is a conversation rather than a calculation.
Your workspace starts configured
Pick Low-Voltage / Structured Cabling at signup and DarkBird seeds the setup below — categories, a delivery phase set, resources with rates, and units of measure. All of it editable. Install Card hours are bracketed by quantity, so a card prices per drop, per rack, per floor.
Low-Voltage Delivery
- Site Survey
- Cable Rough-In
- Device & Equipment Install
- Termination & Testing
- Closeout & Documentation
Resources
- Lead Technician
- Cabling Technician
- Project Manager
Categories & units
- Structured Cabling
- Access Control
- AV Systems
- Units: Each, Hour, Foot, Drop
How this work gets estimated
Per-unit labor patterns and field gotchas for the systems this trade installs.
Access Control
Door hardware types, controller programming, credential types (card, mobile, biometric), locking mechanisms, and per-door labor norms.
Network Infrastructure
Switching and routing deployment, firewall sizing, VLAN design, SD-WAN, LTE failover, and wired network infrastructure labor patterns.
Structured Cabling
Cat6/6A per-drop hours, fiber pulls, patch panel termination, cable certification, conduit work, and ceiling/wall type effort multipliers.
Wireless & Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi site surveys, RF planning, AP deployment (Wi-Fi 6/6E), outdoor wireless, dense environment design, BYOD policies, and wireless network validation.
Questions low-voltage / structured cabling teams ask
Can we split labor by crew type?
Yes. Each task is assigned to a resource with its own burden and billable rate, so lead technician and cabling technician hours price separately.
Does it handle multi-site jobs?
Projects contain multiple sites, each with its own card instances and quantities, so a twelve-building campus is one project rather than twelve spreadsheets.
Can we import our existing price book?
You can import products manually or sync a catalog from ConnectWise or HaloPSA. DarkBird can then mine that catalog to propose a starter Install Card library.
Estimate from your numbers, not averages
45-day free trial with full Pro access — no credit card. Your workspace arrives set up for low-voltage / structured cabling.