A look at how TCSS approaches commercial low-voltage projects — the challenges, the decisions, and the finished systems that hold up long after turnover. Client names are kept confidential.
A 4-story commercial office building in the Piedmont Triad region required complete low-voltage infrastructure from ground up — horizontal cabling for 280+ workstations, a fiber backbone connecting each floor's IDF to the ground-floor MDF, and a turnover package ready for the owner's IT team on move-in day.
The project had a compressed schedule — the GC needed TCSS to complete rough-in ahead of ceiling close on each floor while also staying out of the way of finish trades. Telecom room layouts had not been finalized when framing started, requiring TCSS to coordinate with the GC and owner's IT rep to confirm MDF and IDF locations before conduit stub-ups were installed.
The owner specified Cat6A throughout — a heavier, stiffer cable than Cat6 that requires more careful attention to bend radius and support spacing, particularly in a building with a mix of open ceiling and drop ceiling areas.
TCSS attended the pre-construction coordination meeting and identified the telecom room layout question before it became a field problem. We worked with the GC and owner's rep to finalize IDF locations on each floor and confirm MDF dimensions — then submitted a revised conduit layout for approval before framing was complete.
We installed Cat6A horizontal cabling in phases by floor — rough-in conduit and J-hooks first, followed by cable pull and termination as each floor reached the appropriate stage. The fiber backbone was installed as a single pull connecting all four IDFs to the MDF, fusion spliced and OTDR tested before the MDF rack was dressed.
Rack work in the MDF and each IDF was completed last — patch panels dressed and labeled, fiber enclosures mounted and organized, and cable management installed throughout.
All 280+ ports installed, tested, and certified to Cat6A TIA-568 standards — 100% pass rate on first test.
Fiber backbone installed and OTDR tested with insertion loss well within spec on all strands.
Complete turnover package delivered — as-built drawings, Fluke test reports, port maps, and photo documentation.
Owner's IT team activated the network on move-in day without a single callback to TCSS — the system worked exactly as installed.
A 250,000 sq ft distribution center in central NC required access control on 14 dock doors and 3 secured interior areas, plus IP surveillance covering the entire facility interior and a large exterior parking and staging lot — all installed during active construction with the facility scheduled to begin operations within 60 days of project close.
The distribution center's open high-bay construction meant camera cable runs were long — up to 280 feet to the farthest exterior mounting locations — requiring careful PoE planning to ensure each camera received adequate power without brownout conditions. Several exterior locations required conduit runs across the building perimeter that had to be coordinated with the site concrete and paving schedule.
The access control scope involved 14 dock doors with complex hardware — electric strikes, REX sensors, door position switches, and overhead door interlock wiring — all requiring tight coordination with the dock equipment supplier to ensure TCSS rough-in matched the hardware spec.
TCSS reviewed the camera schedule before mobilization and identified six camera locations where standard Cat6 PoE would not reliably power the specified cameras at that run length. We submitted an RFI recommending fiber media converters at those six locations — eliminating the power limitation while maintaining the owner's preferred camera platform. The RFI was approved and the change issued before rough-in began.
For the dock doors, TCSS attended the pre-installation meeting with the dock equipment supplier and confirmed hardware specifications, rough-in dimensions, and conduit routing before a single conduit stub was installed. This eliminated a common source of rework — conduit in the wrong location for the door hardware template.
Exterior conduit runs were coordinated with the site contractor's paving schedule and completed before final pour — protecting runs from future excavation and meeting the facility's security requirements for concealed wiring.
All 64 cameras online at commissioning — zero cameras with power or connectivity issues.
All 14 dock doors and 3 interior areas commissioned and functional — no rework required on door hardware interface.
System handed off to the owner's security vendor for programming 5 days ahead of the original schedule.
Facility opened on schedule — security systems fully operational on day one of operations.
A growing K-12 education campus in NC required a campus-wide fiber backbone connecting 6 buildings — including a new construction gymnasium and a renovated administration building — to support expanded wireless infrastructure and a new district-wide network upgrade. The project had to be completed during summer break with classes resuming in 10 weeks.
The campus had an existing underground conduit system — but nobody had a reliable as-built showing which conduits connected which buildings, what was already occupied, and where conduit damage or blockages might exist. TCSS had to establish what infrastructure was actually usable before committing to a fiber routing plan.
The renovation of the administration building also complicated matters — existing copper backbone in that building was being removed, and TCSS had to install new fiber backbone during an active renovation without disrupting administrative functions that continued through the summer.
Before any design work, TCSS conducted a full conduit trace and mandrel test on the existing underground system — identifying which conduits were clear, which were occupied, and locating two sections of damaged conduit that would have caused a failed fiber pull if discovered during installation rather than before. We submitted a conduit investigation report to the district's facilities director and the GC, and agreed on a routing plan that avoided the damaged sections using an existing but previously unused conduit path.
Single-mode OS2 fiber was specified for all building-to-building runs given the campus distances involved — future-proofing the infrastructure for the district's 10-year technology plan. All fiber was fusion spliced at each building entry point and OTDR tested bi-directionally before termination at each building's MDF enclosure.
Work in the administration building was scheduled for early morning hours before staff arrived — completing all above-ceiling work, fiber pulls, and rack installation without disrupting active administrative operations.
All 6 buildings connected with OS2 single-mode fiber backbone — fully commissioned and tested 8 days ahead of the school year start date.
Zero fiber strands failed OTDR testing — all insertion loss readings well within TIA-568 standard for OS2 single-mode.
District IT team activated the network upgrade on the first day of the new school year — no delays to the technology rollout.
Administrative functions continued without interruption throughout the renovation — zero complaints from staff about installation work.