Quick answer – what the calculator proves

In a traditional Canadian office spec it’s still common to see four Cat6 home-runs per desk: PC, phone, printer and a spare. The POE-Jack® cost calculator compares that legacy pattern with a zone cabling design built around:

• APOEJK2-WH – In-wall 4-port Gigabit PoE switch (Active POE-Jack® plate, $199.99 each)
• POEJC6E-CMP – 23-AWG Cat6e plenum cable ($1,110.99 per 1000 ft / 304.8 m)
• POEJK-S48-750E or POEJK-S48-3600 – Centralized GRID PoE cores sized for PoE+/PoE++ loads
• POEJKPP6-24 – 24-port Cat6A patch panel with PoE-optimized jacks ($369.99 each)

For typical 10, 50 and 100-desk examples, the calculator shows that a POE-Jack® design can:

• Reduce horizontal home-run copper by ~50–75%
• Cut patch panel ports, riser fill and rack space by similar margins
• Push intelligence to the edge via in-wall PoE switches instead of scattered desk switches
• Often deliver 20–30% total project savings on combined materials and labour

Who this calculator is for

• IT managers defending POE-Jack® / DC microgrid designs to finance and procurement
• Low-voltage contractors building structured cabling bids and VE alternates in Canada
• Consultants and engineers testing zone cabling against “4-drop” baselines on drawings
• Owners and developers comparing riser, tray and telecom room impacts between designs
• Sustainability and ESG teams documenting copper reduction, dematerialization and LEED alignment

What the POE-Jack® cost calculator does (and doesn’t) estimate

This tool gives you a MAP / D2C pricing-based, order-of-magnitude estimate for:

• Material costs for structured cabling: copper, jacks, plates, patch panels, racks and PoE core switches
• Labour costs based on your loaded hourly rate and productivity assumptions
• Per-desk costs for a traditional 4-drop cabling design vs a POE-Jack® zone cabling design
• Approximate reductions in copper, patch ports and rack units when you move intelligence to the edge

It does not attempt to estimate:

• Full network electronics (firewalls, routers, WAN, Wi-Fi controllers or servers)
• Conduit, baskets and ladder tray beyond what’s implied by cable quantity
• Detailed design work, commissioning time, or specialized programming for automation systems
• Taxes, duties, shipping, currency fluctuations or local mark-ups

Think of it as a transparent comparison tool to communicate the economics of DC microgrid / POE-Jack® designs, not a sealed tender.

Inputs you’ll need for accurate numbers

• Number of desks / endpoints on the floor or area you’re analysing
• Average home-run length (metres) from telecom room to work area or zone
• Traditional drops per desk (typically 2–4 in Canadian office specs)
• Desks per APOEJK2-WH plate (often 3–4 desks per zone)
• Loaded labour rate for your cabling crew (CAD/hour, including burden)
• Realistic labour productivity per traditional drop and per Active POE-Jack® plate
• Whether your AHJ / spec requires CMP (plenum) or allows CMR (riser) cable

Once you have those, the interactive calculator below will do the math for both designs and show you the deltas.

🧮 Interactive POE-Jack® Cost Calculator (Precise D2C Pricing)

Traditional cabling vs POE-Jack® at 10, 50 and 100 desks

Before you even type numbers into the calculator, it helps to visualise how a distributed, in-wall PoE switch design changes the structure of a floor compared to a legacy star topology.

The calculator turns those structural differences into dollar ranges based on your true unit costs and labour rates. In practice, you’ll tweak “desks per plate” and run length for your own layouts, which is why we talk about “up to 75%” rather than a single fixed number.

How labour, cable, patch panels and racks add up

1. Cable & boxes. The calculator converts horizontal metres of copper into full 304.8 m (1000 ft) boxes: POEJC6-CMR for traditional runs and your chosen CMP/CMR POE-Jack® SKU for the zone design.
2. Jacks, plates & Active POE-Jack® switches. The traditional design builds up JK6-BK jack counts and JKWP4-WH wall plates. The POE-Jack® design replaces groups of passive ports with APOEJK2-WH in-wall 4-port PoE switches.
3. Patch panels & racks. Required terminations are grouped into POEJKPP6-24 24-port panels, then translated into rack units and cabinet footprint in the IDF or telecom room.
4. Switch ports & PoE power budget. Core switches are sized to port count and PoE budget. The calculator automatically upgrades to POEJK-S48-3600 if a single POEJK-S48-750E cannot supply enough 60W zones.
5. Labour. Based on your hours per traditional drop vs hours per Active POE-Jack® plate, the tool calculates total field hours and multiplies by your loaded rate. That’s where many “hidden” savings show up.

Using the calculator in VE and budget reviews

Value engineering discussions often get stuck on “per box” pricing instead of topologies. This calculator keeps discussions honest by separating:

• Bill of materials: copper, jacks, plates, panels, racks and PoE cores
• Labour hours: time to pull, terminate, patch and test home-runs or zones
• Per-desk economics: total project cost divided by the actual number of endpoints served

Export the summary and line-item tabs, attach them to your VE proposal, and highlight where POE-Jack® cuts material complexity instead of just swapping brands.

Using calculator results against “cheapest cable and switch” bids

When a competing bid arrives with “cheaper” Cat6 and commodity PoE switches, this tool helps you:

• Compare the total number of ports, panels and racks, not just price per box
• Highlight the labour impact of pulling 3–4× more home-runs through risers and trays
• Show how 23-AWG PoE-optimized cable and APOEJK2-WH change the topology, not just the logo
• Back up design decisions with line-item math instead of opinions or rules of thumb

How the calculator supports LEED & sustainability stories

Because the calculator tracks metres of copper and patch port counts, it’s straightforward to:

• Estimate potential embodied carbon reductions from using less copper and plastic
• Document dematerialization for LEED v4 Materials & Resources narratives
• Support DC microgrid strategies where PoE cores feed distributed edge loads

Many teams export the sustainability tab and attach it to LEED documentation, ESG reports or owner presentations on low-voltage infrastructure.

Canada-ready checklist – using the calculator well

• ✅ Use realistic run lengths based on your riser and tray layout, not absolute maximums
• ✅ Confirm whether your AHJ and consultant require CMP or allow CMR
• ✅ Align labour rates with union / non-union assumptions and travel time
• ✅ Set “desks per APOEJK2-WH” based on density and furniture, not wishful thinking
• ✅ Export results and attach them to RFIs, VE proposals or owner technology briefs
• ✅ Re-run the calculator when scope changes (extra desks, added IoT devices, or PoE lighting)

FAQ – POE-Jack® cost calculator & ROI

Assumptions, limits and code reminder

• Results assume standard Ethernet distances (up to 100 m channel length) and typical Canadian commercial interiors.
• Cable derating, bundling and tray fill should follow the latest TSB-184-A and applicable electrical codes.
• PoE budgets are simplified; always cross-check if you have many high-power devices or long runs.
• All installations must comply with local building, electrical and fire codes and any project-specific specifications.

Next steps – getting and using the calculator

• Use the interactive calculator above with one real floor from an active project.
• Export or print the summary, line-item and sustainability views as a PDF.
• Attach the output to your RFI, VE proposal, owner memo or internal business case.
• Iterate your assumptions (run length, labour, desks per plate) until they match site reality.
• Share results with your GRID / POE-Jack® representative if you want help tuning the design.

Once a team sees the math, it’s much easier to justify DC microgrid / POE-Jack® designs as a structured cabling optimization, not just an interesting hardware swap.