If he did not want to install your equipment I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all. As long as he installs your wire correctly you will be fine. You can actually install the equipment yourself if you like which isn't that hard to do at all. There are many tutorials and videos online to show you how to do it correctly. For keypads you would just be punching down some cat and speaker wires (positive and negative) are self-explanatory. HTD is a great source of showing you how and what to do. If that isn't something you want to do you can easily find someone who can come in and install them for you once you move in with no problem. If you are building I can already tell you that builders like to charge a premium for this as they have access to the house while the walls are open and it’s so much easier to run wires. Not sure what it cost in your area looking back at my paperwork our charged $340 for one room of prewire. This consisted of (1) cat5e & (1) 16/4 homerun from each keypad back to the main hub area and (2) 16/2 speaker wire runs from the keypad up to the ceiling area. This is the preferred method of wiring as it will offer you the options in the future to change zones/sub-zone around or choose an amplified or a-bus system. I personally am not a fan of a-bus and will be going with the HTD mid-level system as well. The keypad areas have blank plates you can remove and pull the wire thru at a later date. The speaker wires were ran to the ceiling area where each speaker would be and connect to ceiling joist with a twist tie behind the drywall (I would not have speakers wires pulled to a box in the ceiling because I didn't want blank plates on my ceiling before I installed the speakers). This would allow you to pull the speaker wire anytime you were ready to install speakers and not have speaker wires dangling from your ceiling. After he finishes wiring the house it will be very important for you to go in and takes lots of pictures and video would be great as well. This way you will know where everything is behind the walls and avoid poking holes in drywall looking for wire. I had planned for 12 zone of whole house audio (6 zones and 6 sub zones). A sub zone is a zone that piggy backs off a main zone and have to play what the main zone is playing. A sub zone is controlled by a volume control. Therefore my charge would have been from the builder $4,000 plus not including any equipment just to wire my house. That was absolutely crazy to me and something I was not willing to pay for. Not sure if you will have the option or even wanted to but I ended up pre-wiring my own house. I spent about $1,000 worth of wire (cat5e, 16/4 speaker wire, 16/2 speaker wire, 12 gauge wire, RG6QC wire, misc. item) and over three days with my nephew’s help was able to finish. I would also suggest while the walls are open you go ahead and decide if you want to run 5.1 or 7.1 for surround sound speakers and have those wires run as well. I would also have them run hdmi cables as well (I didn't and ended up having to climb in the attic as my equipment is across the room from my TV). Now if you don't have the option to run your own wire and are looking for ways to save some money here are a few options: 1. Use cat5e instead of cat6. I won't get into the debate of which catxx cable is better but do your research and you will see cat5e will suffice for whole house audio and any data you need in your house as well. 2. Look to see what type of attic access you have. If you have a two story house some rooms will be virtually impossible to get to without tearing out drywall, etc. So if you want whole audio in those rooms, I would make them a priority on the 1st floor to get pre-wired. If you do have attic access and are handy those rooms whether on 1st of 2nd floor can be done at a later date (don't forget your patio also :) 3. For areas over fireplaces or where TV’s will go have them run conduit(flex tubing) so if technology changes you can run your new wire thru the conduit. 4. If you haven't thought about it I would also run future tubes from basement to 1st floor or if no basement from 1st floor to 2nd floor so that you can have the option of running wires later. Most builders are going to recommend high end systems like Russound, Nuvo, etc. For my needs HTD and Monoprice speakers will fit our needs. It all basically depends on how handy you are and what your budget is. As I'm sure you are aware now the pre-wiring can add up quickly so prioritize your needs versus wants and go from there. Did I need 12 zones of audio? NO, but that is what I wanted and luckily I was able to run it myself. If I didn’t have that option all of the rooms on the 1st floor I didn’t have access to from the attic and I wanted audio would have definitely got pre-wired and the 2nd floor would have waited. Hope it helps, Chris

You should have outlets (jacks) at both ends of the cables. At the central point where all cables come to, a patch panel is used. It is not standard and thus not right to have an outlet and one end of a cable and then put on a male at the other. This makes the job harder than it needs to be. Connections to equipment should be done with patch cables usually up to 7' long. Patch cables you purchase have stranded wire.

Just wanted to update.. I went back over and trimmed a minimum of 12 inches off of the end in the basement.. I left enough slack in the basement in case I ever needed to move the equipment to a different wall so there was plenty to trim.. Anyway, after trimming the end in the basement I decided to redo the connectors and trimmed a few inches at the keypads.. I then tried the system again and I now have the living room and kitchen keypads working which were my main concern.. I am still having difficulty with the spare bedroom keypad, however I found that the drywall installers or someone stuffed some wire through the box and into the wall cavity.. After carefully pulling it all out I found a kink in the wire that I think is the cause of hte problem.. The problem is that the kink is in such a spot that it would be impossible for me to put a connector on it.. It is too far into the electrical box.. I am thinking that the only solution is to cut out a section of drywall and try extending the wire.. I can do this from the back of the electrical box as this shares a wall with a closet so the repair would not have to be perfect as it would never be seen..

A couple of things to consider.... Where does all this communication wire terminate? You will need a centralized connection center that you can patch lines in for use or remove when not in use. Especially coax and to a lesser degree data cables. Coax runs that are unused just degrade and create noise in your signal to the devices you do use. Its great to have coax to every possible location you may want to use it, unless you're going to design it that its all connected together with no access to change the termination and connections. Bring that wire into a central location, in a star pattern with the option to connect and disconnect the runs that are not in use, it is worth it. Give consideration to WiFi coverage, homes are never setup to install a wifi router in a central location for the best coverage, and most people have horrible wifi coverage in their homes due to the limited locations they can install a wifi wire to connect it with the data and coax connections needed for it and the cable modem. Imagine if the kitchen is in the center, there being a coax, several CAT connections and a 120VAC outlet above a kitchen cabinet to install all that for the best wifi coverage and its up out of the way. Another factor, would every consider installing satellite TV service in the future, or have it as a selling point for future owner of the home? If so, now is the time to setup your coax network for a Satellite install if you elect to do it. If you install the correct wire in the correct way, satellite installers will not have to crawl all over you home destroying it with their hack installation of their coax wiring, they simply have to install the antenna, connect it to the cable you have pre-installed and reconfigure the central hook up for the satellite stb's to be installed at your existing coax drops..... Most people are using the quality RG6 for CATV that meets the spec for satellite, its just good measure to assure reliable CATV and cable modem performance. But what they fail to realize is satellite requires one more thing over CATV, it needs to pass power over the coax cable to power the satellite dish. Currently most DIY'er and Contractors and Retailers are using Copper Clad (coated) steel core (central wire) in their RG6 coax cable. The signal mostly travel overs the surface of the wire, so the copper coating offers the same performance at a much lower cost, than a solid copper core. The solid copper core does offer the tiniest bit less signal loss, but its so little it will never make a difference, so it doesn't justify the higher cost of a solid copper core. EXCEPT, if you using it for Satellite that almost all use power passing over the coax cable to power the satellite dish.... ....electrical power is transmitted through the entire wire not just the surface like the rf signal, and copper is lower resistance than steel, so a copper clad steel core will have a much bigger voltage drop at the end of the coax cable to the Satellite dish and it will perform poorly. So if you want to build in the option for possible satellite, make sure that all the coax is satellite rated (3GHZ swept) and the coax runs to the satellite dish and to the main stb in the places you're likely to install it are solid copper core coax for the power passing. Some satellite systems inject the power at the main splitter/switch for system, which the perfect location for that would be at that central location for all the wiring I spoke of earlier....