Got burned on a job site 2 months ago and now I'm split on hardwire vs wireless

I was putting in a system at this big warehouse outside Austin back in July. Everything was going smooth until I hit a live low voltage line running through the ceiling that wasn't labeled. Scared the crap out of me, tripped the breaker for half the building. The owner was pissed and I spent 4 hours fixing it. Now I'm stuck between thinking hardwire is more reliable but wireless saves you from that kind of mess. That 4 hour delay cost me $350 in lost time on site. Part of me wants to go full wireless for residential jobs to avoid all the wire fishing and hidden hazards. But the other half feels like hardwire still has better signal strength and no interference issues. What do you guys lean toward when you're doing new installs in tricky spots like warehouses or old houses with bad layouts?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_lopez981mo ago

You mentioned the 4 hour delay cost you $350 in lost time. That's a real hit, but I'm wondering how long you typically spend fishing wires for a hardwire install in a place like that warehouse. Is it usually a one hour job or a four hour job? Because if you're already spending two or three hours on wire runs anyway, wireless might not save you as much time as you think once you factor in setup and troubleshooting signal drops.

stone.thomas1mo ago

Finley's gotta be running wire in some nightmare drop ceiling or conduit if he's regularly hitting 2-3 hours on a single run. Lemme ask you straight up - how many access points are you usually dealing with in a job like that? One or two, or are we talking a whole warehouse floor?