That homeowner who asked why I run my lines straight up and down

Had a job last Tuesday where the customer kept following me around asking why I didn't just take the shortest path through the attic. I told him it's cleaner to run coax straight down the wall from the attic feed. He said his buddy who does his own wiring just drills wherever. Spent 20 minutes explaining that a straight drop means less signal loss and way fewer callbacks. Has anyone else had a client question basic practices like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

maxmurphy26d ago

Did the guy actually show you his "short path" wiring or just talk about it?

the_cameron26d ago

Hold on a second here. Most of the time, the "short path" stuff is just smoke and mirrors from guys who watched a YouTube video and think they're geniuses. If he actually showed you a clean, proper wiring job that avoided a bunch of unnecessary loops and junction boxes, that's a different story. I've seen plenty of "professionals" leave a rat's nest of extra wire coiled up in the wall because they didn't want to cut it to the right length. A neat, efficient run is actually harder to do than just slapping wire in the easiest route. So if he demonstrated it and it was up to code and safe, I'd give him more credit than the guy who just talks a big game about it.