Survey an Outbuilding Internet Link: A Worksheet to Give Your Installer

Research checked 1 November 2026. This worksheet prepares a site visit; it does not prescribe a cable, excavation depth, radio model or electrical design.

Describe the job at the far end

Write what the workshop or garden office needs: work calls, a wired computer, cameras, guest Wi-Fi or occasional browsing. Note when several tasks happen together. Decide whether the far building should share the house network or have controlled separation.

First confirm that Starlink works adequately near the house router. If it does not, record that as a separate problem. An extension project should not hide an unresolved upstream fault.

Measure the route, not just the gap

Sketch the house router, possible exit point and destination. Estimate the actual route including indoor sections and bends. Label each measurement as measured, estimated or unknown. Keep the sketch private if it reveals security-sensitive details.

Record existing ducts without assuming they are usable. Note roads, boundaries, shared land, buried services and places where access permission may be needed. Do not dig, drill or open electrical equipment for this exercise. Ask the installer what survey and permissions are required.

Record what might block a wireless path

From safe ground-level positions, note buildings, tree cover, likely parked vehicles and seasonal changes between candidate locations. Photographs can help describe the path, but a photograph is not a radio survey.

Ask the installer to check the intended radio manufacturer's planning requirements and exact supported device pairing. Ubiquiti's current bridge documentation, for example, lists combinations that are supported and others that are not. Two products with “bridge” in the name are not automatically a compatible pair.

Note power and local coverage separately

Record where power is available without making changes to it. Identify where the access point or switch might sit and where people need Wi-Fi inside the building. The link between buildings and Wi-Fi inside the workshop are separate parts of the design.

Ask the installer to explain the chosen backhaul, power arrangements, weather protection, access for maintenance and how any required separation will be enforced. Get professional advice for electrical, grounding and excavation work rather than borrowing a US recipe for a UK property.

Set an acceptance checklist

Agree the result you will test at handover:

• The house connection still works.
• The intended office devices connect and receive only the access you intended.
• A representative work call and upload work from the actual desk.
• Labels, management details and recovery instructions are handed over privately.
• Any untested seasonal or weather limitation is recorded for follow-up.

Use the worksheet to obtain a proposal, then read our fuller connection-options guide. Do not order a second dish or a long cable merely because the buildings look close together.

References and next steps

• Our garden-office and outbuilding connection guide
• Ubiquiti: supported bridge device roles and combinations
• Topic inspiration: Starlink Farm's outbuilding planner. Our survey worksheet does not reproduce its decision rules, parts prices or US wiring recipes.

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