Office cable management in Toronto
Cablify tidies and reroutes the cabling on your office floor: under desks, in boardrooms, above the ceiling and under raised floors. We work in commercial buildings only.
Cable management for the office floor
Most cable problems in an office are found under the desks, across the boardroom table and on top of the ceiling tiles. Cables get added there one at a time over several years, and no one is responsible for the result.
This page covers that part of the building. If your problem is a tangled rack or network closet, see server rack and IT room cable management, which is a separate job with its own method.
Where office cabling goes wrong, and what we do about it
Under the desks
Power bars on the carpet, patch cords three times longer than they need to be, and cables that pull tight when a sit-stand desk goes up. We fit under-desk trays, add a flexible cable spine from desk to floor, and swap the patch cords for the right length. Our sit-stand desk cable guide covers the details.
Boardrooms and meeting rooms
HDMI, USB and network cables trailing across the table and the floor. We move the connections into a table box or floor box and run the cables to the display inside the wall or in conduit, so the room has one tidy connection point. For displays and conferencing gear, see commercial AV services.
Above the ceiling
Data cables lying on ceiling tiles or tied to sprinkler pipe and ductwork. We lift them onto their own supports, J-hooks for small bundles and cable tray for main routes, and keep them clear of light fixtures and power.
Across the floor
Cords taped down or covered with a rubber ramp because there was no outlet where the desk ended up. Depending on the floor, we use floor boxes, surface raceway along the wall, or an underfloor routing system under raised access flooring.
Which pathway suits which part of the office
Most of these problems are solved by giving the cables a proper pathway. Each type has its place.
| Pathway | Where we use it | Good for | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under-desk tray | Fixed and sit-stand desks | Power bars, adapters and spare cord length | Holds what is at the desk, not runs between desks |
| Cable spine or chain | Desk to floor | Height-adjustable desks | Needs enough slack for the full travel of the desk |
| J-hooks | Above drop ceilings | Small bundles to a few desks | Each hook has a cable limit, so large bundles need tray |
| Cable tray | Main routes above ceilings and in open ceilings | Large bundles and future additions | Needs clear space and proper supports |
| Surface raceway | Walls with no cavity, such as concrete or brick | Adding outlets without opening walls | Visible, and limited in how many cables it holds |
| Floor box | Boardroom tables and desks away from walls | Power and data in the middle of a room | Needs a route through or under the floor |
| Conduit | Exposed areas, shared spaces and where a landlord requires it | Protection and a route you can pull more cable through | Has to be sized for the cables it will hold |
If you are sizing conduit or raceway yourself, our conduit fill calculator shows how many data cables fit.
What an office cable cleanup covers
The scope depends on the floor, but these are the parts most jobs include. You get a written quote that lists which ones apply to yours.
We work 7 days a week, so the work can be booked for an evening or a weekend when the desks are empty.
- Walk-through with photos of each problem area
- Removal of abandoned cable, old phone lines and dead patch cords
- New supports: trays, J-hooks, raceway or floor boxes
- Rerouting of data cables onto those supports
- Patch cords replaced with the right lengths
- Labels at both ends of every cable we move
- Testing of any cable we re-terminate
- Updated outlet and port list for your IT team
When offices usually call us
| What is happening | What usually needs doing |
|---|---|
| Desks are being moved or the floor is being rearranged | Outlets relocated, new drops pulled and old ones removed. See IT and office relocation. |
| Sit-stand desks are arriving | Trays and cable spines fitted before staff start raising desks |
| Hot desks or shared seating are replacing assigned desks | Every desk gets the same connections, in the same place |
| A lease is ending | Abandoned cable taken out of ceilings and risers, which many commercial leases require |
| A renovation has just finished | Cables left loose by other trades put back on supports and labelled |
| A new office is being planned | Pathways designed before the furniture arrives. See our new office cabling plan. |
What affects the price
- Number of desks and rooms. This sets most of the labour.
- Ceiling and floor access. Drop ceilings and raised floors are quick to work in. Drywall ceilings and concrete floors are not.
- New pathways. Trays, raceway and floor boxes are materials on top of labour.
- Abandoned cable. Tracing and removing dead cable can take longer than tidying live cable.
- Working hours. Evening and weekend work avoids disruption and is quoted as such.
Free on-site assessment in Toronto and the GTA
We cover Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill. Send a few photos of the problem areas and we can often give a rough scope before we visit.
Request an office cable management quote
Tell us roughly how many desks and meeting rooms you have and what the main problem is.
Office cable management FAQ
Can you do the work outside office hours?
Yes. We work 7 days a week, and most office cleanups are booked for an evening or a weekend so staff come back to finished desks.
Will our network be down while you work?
Each desk is disconnected only while its own cables are being moved. Shared equipment such as switches and Wi-Fi stays online unless we agree a time with you to take it down.
Do you tidy the power cords as well as the data cables?
Yes. We organise power bars, adapters and cords at the desk along with the data cables. New outlets or circuits are electrical work and are quoted separately.
Do you remove old cable that is no longer used?
Yes. We trace and remove abandoned data and phone cable from desks, ceilings and risers. It is often part of a lease-end restoration.
What is the difference between this and rack cable management?
This service covers the cabling on the office floor, from the wall outlet to the desk and the routes above and below it. Rack cable management covers the patch panels, switches and cabinets in the server room or network closet. Many offices need both.
Do you do home offices?
No. Cablify works in commercial buildings only.
Related services and guides
See server rack and IT room cable management, cable tray installation, conduit installation and network cabling in Toronto. Our guides to cable tray types and horizontal and vertical cable management explain the pathways in more detail.