Ask three Boise low-voltage contractors for a quote and you might get three very different numbers. That's not because one is ripping you off — it's because 'network cabling' covers a huge range of scope. This guide shows you the real 2026 per-drop and per-project pricing we see on Treasure Valley jobs and what drives the difference.
Per-drop pricing — the quick answer
For a typical Boise office tenant improvement with 20+ Cat6 drops, expect $125–$200 per drop installed, terminated, tested, and labeled. Cat6A runs $165–$260 per drop. Single pulls under 8 drops usually carry a minimum-trip charge of $600–$900 regardless of drop count.
What drives the price up or down
Ceiling type is the biggest factor. Drop ceilings with easy access are cheap. Hard-lid drywall with no access panels means we're cutting and patching, and that doubles labor. Long homeruns over 150 feet eat time. Cable grade (plenum vs riser vs non-rated) can add 30% to material cost alone.
- Ceiling access — drop tile is cheap, hard-lid drywall is not
- Cable length — average run under 100 ft is ideal; 200 ft+ slows us down
- Cable grade — plenum-rated costs more per foot
- Termination complexity — patch panel vs keystone at each end
- Testing — Fluke DSX certification adds $8–$15 per drop but saves you forever
Fiber pricing
A two-strand single-mode backbone between two buildings — say 400 feet of outdoor direct-burial fiber, four fusion-spliced LC terminations, and OTDR testing — runs $2,500–$4,500 depending on trenching and conduit. Indoor multimode risers between floors are much cheaper, often $900–$1,800 for a short two-strand run.
How to get a price that's actually comparable
The only way to compare contractor quotes apples-to-apples is to make sure each quote specifies: cable grade (Cat6 vs Cat6A vs plenum), whether Fluke DSX certification is included, who supplies the patch panel and rack, and whether cleanup and patching are included. If a quote is suspiciously cheap, it's almost always missing one of those four.
We publish our standard rates on our pricing page and will walk you through line items in any quote we send.
Need a quote on your own project?
We give written, fixed-price quotes within 24 hours on most Treasure Valley jobs.