21 Jan Dog Bites While Doing Network Cabling and Repair Work Wasn’t In The Manual

So a dog broke my skin the other day just trying run some wiring down a wall the other day. As you can guess this job was a residential job. To the non-installers out there doing a cabling job at a office or a house would be the same right? Way off my friend.

Let’s talk about some challenges with residential work shall we?

First is the telephone call from the customers. Sorry folks we just run the wiring in your office or home, we can not activate HBO or CNN. We typically get a few calls per month in the Philadelphia area for cable service. It’s cute  So after understanding we will professionally run the wiring we review our process.

So on the East Coast we have Comcast as one of the major backbones for the net. As scores of people will tell you anyone with a large drill bit and ladder can work for them. We review with our customers we take pride and not into drilling a hole in the middle of your dining room and snaking miles of wires into your living room. Comcast techs get paid for the job and first hand you can see it the finished job. Hats off to those guys, they take a beating and even this author work for a few days with them.

However Bridge Cable techs have been trained to reduce the sight of your wiring. Residential is more of a art than anything. With a office you can just cut out a hole in the drywall and pop a few ceiling titles. Ever worked with horse hair plaster walls? Philly is famous for their older houses. Oy Vey!

Parking?!

We hope we can find a spot!

New York and Philadelphia Center City can cause chain smoking just to find a spot close to the job site. Better to work with a teammate as one can unload and then the other tech take an hour to find a spot. Forget about the steps on older houses, pack wisely my friends.

Watch my mother’s high school pictures!

Walk SLOWLY

We understand everything is precious in your house and even juniors’ art project that is holding together with glue for the last 10 years. Make sure to tidy up the house before any trades come in the house. If you forget to tell the customer to clean up or clear a path most houses are like running a Marine gauntlet.

Every one is nervous with hiring a contractor and we do our best with the first time meeting with them for a quote. We have been onsite places that have video cameras set up just to watch us work. I guess our teams are handsome….not my type, but who am I too judge.

So the Dog Bite.

What a pretty puppy….SNAP

Okay, I write about this as I’m smiling from ear to ear. Most of our techs have dogs….I guess network cable installation techs are dog lovers? Not so much cats. Anyway, the reason this blog was started to review how different home and office jobs are. The other day I was onsite and the dogs ran over and gave me a bit of a smell and some yapping. Everyone did kisses and bit of a rub down.

For a few hours the dogs walked around the site with us inspecting our work more than a Union City Inspector. Without warning one of the dogs went for a snack and left me with two bloody teeth marks on my calf above my boot. Surprise! The owner was indeed sorry and mentioned that every so often he does that without warning. I guess it was nap time.

Another time cats have went crazy on us, to wrap this up……we love kids and animals, but let’s play another time when we are not trying work. Hence the reason our techs carry a first aid kit.

Clear a path.

You miss laundry day….or month.

To avoid longer work times and more cost home owners need to remember to clear a path. As most of our techs are not so tidy at home we do not need to walk on your piles. Lately I was drilling in closet that I had to walk sideways. That is totally fine but just keep in mind more time is more money. We generally try to give heavy discounts for residential jobs in the Philadelphia areas but help us make the most of our time.

Beware of Craigslist! 

Hire someone with insurance.

Accidents are not planned but happen from time to time. Constantly we are cleaning up installations from either untrained electricians or general help found from the internet. A recent fix was a customer looking for some network cabling from the 3rd floor to the basement. Turns out the cheap help terminated the connections wrong and left a nice hole in the ceiling. Another friend of mine, the author, had a security system installed with damage to his ceiling vents. He felt bad asking the author as he knew the author was working back to back days……wished he had asked. Wrapping it up….ask for insurance….just in case.

Call Bridge Cable for any help….Professional Network Cable Installation for New York, New Jersey and of course the best city in the world, Philadelphia, PA

(877) 832-1206

@bridgecable