Active construction sites have a technology stack that looks nothing like an office. Connectivity is temporary, weather is hostile, theft is constant, and the GC schedule has zero patience for "IT is down." The gear we specify for jobsites is different, and so is the operational model.
01The jobsite trailer is a mini office.
A modern jobsite trailer needs: reliable internet, Wi-Fi for project staff and subs, a printer, VoIP phone, connection back to the main office file share or cloud, and a document-scanning workflow for change orders and RFIs.
Cellular is the primary connectivity model. A bonded-cellular router (Cradlepoint, Peplink, Teltonika) with dual carriers and failover is the reliable setup. Wired internet on a jobsite is a unicorn, when it exists, it's a bonus, not a plan.
02Cellular connectivity: bonded, dual-SIM, hardened.
A single-carrier cellular hotspot fails the first time the AT&T tower goes down for maintenance. Bonded-cellular routers combine two or more carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) into a single virtual connection that stays up when any one carrier drops.
Budget: $1,200–$3,500 for the router, $200–$400/month for dual-carrier unlimited data. Cheap for what it enables; expensive for a line item the accounting team is seeing for the first time.
03Site cameras: theft deterrence, progress documentation.
Every active site in SW Florida needs cameras. Copper theft, tool theft, and unauthorized after-hours access are real, and insurance carriers increasingly require surveillance as a condition of coverage.
Solar-powered 4G-connected cameras (OxBlue, Truelook, Reolink solar) are the modern answer. No cabling, no trenching, no hardwired power. Place them at the perimeter fence and near material storage. $1,200–$2,500 per camera installed, $40–$80/month per camera for cellular and cloud retention.
04Access control for active sites.
Temporary access control, gate controllers, turnstiles, biometric readers for OSHA time-tracking, are increasingly specified for larger jobsites. The integration with BIM, project management, and safety platforms has gotten genuinely good.
For typical SW Florida commercial work, this is overkill until you cross 100+ personnel on-site. For major projects, it's table stakes.
05The punch-list: wire the building, too.
The other side of construction IT: pre-wiring the structure under construction. Rough-in structured cabling, pathways, conduit, firewall space, MDF/IDF locations, and low-voltage infrastructure are cheapest when specified during framing.
A 40,000 sq ft commercial building retrofitted with structured cabling post-occupancy costs 2–3x what the same scope costs as a pre-construction pull. Every GC we work with now includes low-voltage coordination in the early-design phase.
Recent GC partners include Wright Construction, Stevens Construction, and Owen-Ames-Kimball. We prefer to come in at 60% CDs, early enough to catch the conduit and rough-in issues, late enough that the MEP drawings are real. A typical 40,000 sq ft tenant fit-out runs $180K–$320K on the low-voltage package, coordinated through the superintendent, not the owner.