Data Center Construction
Office and multifamily pipelines are shrinking while data center spending accelerates — and data centers are built differently. Power has to be secured before the building goes up, next-generation GPU racks draw up to 230 kW each and need liquid cooling, and much of the project value flows through electrical and mechanical trades.
This series looks at the market from the general contractor’s seat: where the work is, what it demands, and how firms without a data center résumé can get one.
Getting in the door
A playbook for mid-market GCs whose office and multifamily pipelines are shrinking.
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Data Centers
The Builder's Pivot: How Mid-Market GCs Can Crack the Data Center Boom
Office and multifamily pipelines are shrinking while data center spending hit $41 billion and is accelerating. The playbook for mid-market GCs ready to pivot.
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Data Centers
The Builder's Pivot, Part II: Take the Subcontract
The 18-month plan to become a data center GC works for firms that have 18 months. Most don't. The faster way in is to work under the megabuilders.
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Power, cooling, and the building itself
Why electric power has become the scarce input, and what next-generation GPU racks demand from the structure.
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Data Centers
Power Is the New Land: AI Infrastructure Meets Real Estate Scarcity
Power is now the binding constraint on AI data centers, and the real estate playbook for scarcity, entitlements, and adaptive reuse translates almost 1:1.
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Data Centers
Powering the AI Factory: Why Your Next Data Center Is Really a Power Plant
Grid hookups take 3-7 years, operators build their own plants, and PJM capacity prices jumped 833%. Your next data center bid is really a power project.
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Data Centers
Building for the Next GPU: What Vera Rubin Means for Data Center Construction
NVIDIA's Vera Rubin doubles rack power to 230 kW, swaps air for pressurized water cooling, and pushes floor loads to 350 psf. What it means for GCs.
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Data Centers
The On-Ramp Is Gas. The Destination Is Still Nuclear.
One Nvidia rack is now specified at about 600 kW. Gas turbines win the next five years of power while SMRs win permits, reshaping nuclear engineering.
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