The part you cannot go back and add
A chase through a stud bay behind finished, painted, trimmed drywall is a different job from swapping a driver, and that asymmetry is the argument for pulling cable early.
So when a second run is even plausible, put the route in now: a labeled low voltage cable coiled and capped at each end, or at least a pull string. Leave a service loop, photograph the open wall before it closes, and put the label where a stranger will find it. Cable and terminations sit in the cable and connector options; planning for future expansion covers what to leave behind.
Doing this and never using it leaves a little cable in a stud bay. Skipping it and needing it means opening the wall again.
So why not simply install everything now?
Because a second phase changes what you know. Rooms get used differently once furniture arrives, a bookcase wall wants more light than the drawing suggested, and clients change their minds.
Building all of it on day one locks in decisions you have not tested: output level, color temperature, zoning, how many channels the controller needs. Where the later work is easy to reach, delaying it is not procrastination; it is buying information.
Product ranges change, and whether the same series is still listed when phase two arrives is something only the current product page can tell you. If both phases will be seen in one sightline that matters, because color and output can vary between production batches inside a product's published tolerance, which binning and color consistency describes. Buy the matching length with phase one.
Sizing a supply for a load that does not exist yet
Here is where wiring for expansion has a real consequence: planning for a later load means sizing the supply and the cable path for that load, not just for today's run.
The arithmetic is the same either way: multiply watts per foot by installed length, total everything on the supply, and put current headroom over that. At least 20 percent is the LED Club guidance right now, and the figure should be confirmed before you specify. Driver headroom explained sets out why the margin exists.
One caveat before oversizing anything. A driver chosen for the eventual total, running only phase one, sits low in its output range, and some dimmable systems specify a minimum load for stable behavior. Whether that applies to your combination is a product question, so check the driver's published minimum load and dimming behavior with the dimmer or controller.
That argues for a middle path where the driver is accessible: size it for phase one, leave the pathway for phase two, and change the supply when the load changes. Where the driver is buried, size for the total and verify the minimum load. Voltage stays matched either way, so a 24V run keeps a 24V driver and controller, and a 12V run stays at 12V.
Control capacity deserves the same treatment, since adding a zone later is straightforward only if the controller has the channels for it. One option to check against both phases is the EnoSync Hub5 controller; confirm its per channel capacity, supported strip types and control options on the page. Running several runs from one driver covers how loads combine.
Once the supply is hardwired, none of that is your side of the wall. Chases, in-wall cable, junction boxes, hardwired drivers and every connection to building wiring sit on the line voltage side. All of it belongs to a licensed electrician working under the manufacturer's instructions, the local electrical code and the NEC where those apply. The breaker goes off before any enclosure is opened, and nobody probes or tests a live line voltage connection.
That is why the conversation happens early: an electrician can pull a spare path on the same visit, at a fraction of the disruption of a return trip. Briefing an electrician properly lists what to hand over. Guidance about low voltage strips and cable does not extend permission to line voltage work.
