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
Your office and multifamily pipelines are shrinking. Data center spending just hit $41 billion and is accelerating. Here's the playbook for mid-market general contractors 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 is a fine plan for firms that have 18 months. Most don't. The faster way in is to work under the megabuilders instead of trying to beat them.
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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
How electric power has become the binding constraint in AI data center development—and why the commercial real estate playbook for scarcity, entitlements, and adaptive reuse translates almost one-to-one.
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Data Centers
Powering the AI Factory: Why Your Next Data Center Is Really a Power Plant
Grid interconnection takes 3-7 years. Operators are building their own power plants. PJM capacity prices jumped 833%. Here's why your next data center bid is really a power project — and what GCs need to know.
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Data Centers
Building for the Next GPU: What Vera Rubin Means for Data Center Construction
NVIDIA's Vera Rubin GPU doubles rack power to 230 kW, replaces air cooling with pressurized water, and pushes floor loads to 350 psf. Here's what it means for GCs building the next generation of AI facilities.
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