John, there are companies around that specialize in pre wiring homes. They
usually sell their services to building contractors, so you might want to
talk to one of your local builders to see who they use. Around here, they
charge the builders from $250 to $500 to do a complete pre wire including,
all doors, all ground floor and basement windows, a couple of motions, a
couple of keypad locations, and a smoke on the upper floor.

Time to do it is when the doors and windows are installed but there is no
drywall or insulation up. This usually gives you a window of about a week to
get it done. Have him run loops into the attic for future additions on the
second floor. I also have a bit more detail on my website if you care to go
there..

R.H.Campbell
Home Security Metal Products
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
www.homemetal.com


"I-zheet M'drurz" wrote in message
...
John Smith wrote:

I am building a new house, and as an almost afterthought, I want
to install prewiring for an alarm system. I am thinking of just
prewiring the system for now, and purchase the
system/subscription later. The drywall is not up, so this
should be reasonably easy to do.

System wise, I don't want to commit to a particular
system/vendor yet, and I want flexibility of choosing from
different provider later.

Sorry, I don't get the logic. You're trying to prepare for
a universal compatibility that you don't even know exists,
and for no other reason than not wanting to commit to a
service provider???

I assume

Well, you know what happens when you do that...

What can I expect to pay for this? How do I spot a good
installer? What questions do I ask? How many sensors should I
install (I am thinking all the doors, all the windows, fire,
water, smoke, low O2 (is there such thing), what else am I
missing?)?

So many questions, and the only answer is with another one:

WHY?

Pick a damned security company and let them wire the place.

Do you REALLY think somebody will come in and guarantee the
workmanship of their installation using your existing wiring?

If you were planning on doing this yourself, I could maybe
see some logic here, but you're talking about getting some
contractor who DOESN'T do this everyday (the installers from
the security company DO) and paying them to do it, and you
have no clue as to what they should charge you?

Yikes.

--
TP / Network Man __________________________________
If u want the races for free,
somebody has to pay for it. ($1 Earl)