What to specify in a prewire before the drywall goes up
Before the drywall goes up, decide three things with your builder and low-voltage installer. What devices you plan to use. Where each one goes. Where all the wires meet. Then get it written down and labeled, so the next person who opens a wall knows what they are looking at.
Start with the room, not the gadget
Think about what each room needs to do. A home office needs a solid network connection at the desk. A TV wall needs a clean path for its cables. A camera needs a clear view of the spot you want to watch.
Put those on the plan. A mark that only says "wire here" leaves too much to guesswork. The room, what it is for and the exact spot give your installer something real to check with you.
Pick where everything meets
Ask your installer where the wires will end up, usually a cabinet or panel. Talk about how big it needs to be and how someone will get to it once you live there. A spot that is reachable on paper can still be a pain to work on.
Cable type, power, fire blocking and code rules are for licensed pros and your local inspector. A blog post cannot decide those for your house.
Walk the plan room by room
For cameras, talk about what each one should see. For Wi-Fi and network jacks, talk about where people will work and plug in. For audio, name the rooms and how you want to control the sound.
A symbol on a drawing does not answer those questions. The drawing should record what you agreed on.
Keep a record
Before the walls close, ask for labels on every cable and photos of where the wires run. Keep them with your house papers. A label should make sense at both ends. A photo should show enough of the room that you can tell which wall it is.
If you think you will add something later, ask what can be done now to make that easier. Let the installer pick the method instead of guessing a path after the walls are done.
Do one last walk-through
Walk the plan with your builder and installer. Check each spot, what it is for, where it ends up and what records you will get. Fix open questions while the walls are still open.
I am Director of Business Development at Secur-Tek, a security and low-voltage company in Apex. This is a planning checklist, not a description of any customer's house. The About page explains my role.