Trying to Win Data Center Projects? Here’s What Contractors Need To Do
If you run a construction, engineering, manufacturing, electrical, cooling, automation, or industrial services company, somebody has probably said it in a strategy meeting this year:
"We need to get into data centers."
I understand why. Construction spending is soft across large parts of the market, while data center demand keeps moving in the opposite direction. Associated General Contractors reported this week that total construction spending fell 3.8% year over year in July. According to AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson, data centers, power, and highway construction are the three categories currently propping up construction spending.
Earlier this year, AGC reported data center construction spending had reached a $50.7 billion seasonally adjusted annual rate in April, 28% higher than a year earlier.
The opportunity is real, and so is the rush toward it, which creates a problem I see constantly when industries discover a new growth market:
Everyone rewrites the homepage because they “serve the data center industry.”
Sure, that may get you into the category, but it does not tell a buyer why you belong on the bid list.
Buyers Are Not Shopping for “Data Center Experience”
Buyers are trying to solve specific execution problems, especially because data centers require extensive electrical infrastructure, redundancy, backup generation, cooling, controls, fiber, security, utility coordination, specialized equipment, and extremely disciplined schedules. AGC calls them some of the most complex projects being built today.
The constraints are becoming more consequential too. CBRE says North American data center capacity under construction increased 24.8% during the first half of 2026 to a record 7,481 MW. More than 80% was already preleased. Power availability and infrastructure delivery timelines now rank among the most decisive site-selection factors. In some established markets, land, utility capacity, and community opposition are slowing projects.
Meanwhile, transformers and switchgear remain supply-chain constraints in multiple markets. Skilled technical labor is tight. Turner & Townsend says data centers continue to lead U.S. construction demand while labor availability and global volatility contribute to rising costs.
Your buyer knows all of this. So when your website says you provide “innovative, turnkey data center solutions,” you have told them almost nothing that matters.
Your Positioning Has to Answer the Risk Question
I would think about marketing a data center contractor differently from marketing a general contractor. The core question is:
What risk becomes smaller because you are on the project?
You may know mission-critical electrical work exceptionally well.
Maybe your preconstruction team catches coordination problems before they hit the field.
Maybe you have procurement relationships that matter when switchgear lead times become dangerous.
Maybe you can mobilize qualified crews in markets where labor is scarce.
Maybe you understand live environments.
Maybe you have cooling expertise that becomes increasingly valuable as rack densities rise.
Maybe your real strength is schedule management, commissioning, controls integration, prefabrication, safety, utility coordination, or highly repeatable campus delivery.
All of those strengths are positions, while “we build data centers” is a category statement.
The Market Is Going to Get More Competitive
As a business owner, I'd pay the most attention to the increased market competition. The volume of work is enormous, but the opportunity is not evenly distributed. AGC reported on September 2 that construction employment grew in fewer than half of U.S. metro areas over the previous year. At the same time, contractors working on data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities were still struggling to find enough qualified workers. The association described labor demand as “very unbalanced.”
PwC is seeing a similar concentration of capital. Average engineering and construction deal value rose 63% in the first half of 2026 compared with the second half of 2025, even as transaction volume declined. PwC attributes that divergence partly to large bets around AI infrastructure, power, grid modernization, and reshoring.
Money and talent are concentrating, so, naturally, contractors will follow. Your differentiation has to get tight before the bid environment gets noisier.
I Would Build the Proof Before I Built the Campaign
If data centers are a serious growth priority for your company, I wouldn't start with advertising. I would begin with proof:
Define exactly what you sell into the project. Do not say “mission critical solutions” if the buyer has to keep reading to discover what you actually do.
Identify the problems you are unusually good at solving. Tie your capabilities to schedule, quality, cost, uptime, procurement, safety, labor, coordination, or another business-critical project risk.
Document relevant work. A technically credible project profile is more useful than five paragraphs claiming expertise. Show scope, complexity, constraints, your role, decisions you made, and results.
Equip your sales and pursuit teams. Your website, capability statement, qualification materials, presentation deck, trade-show materials, and proposal language should tell the same story.
Put your technical experts in the market. Your project executives, engineers, estimators, operations leaders, and technical specialists know things your customers care about. Use them to talk about power constraints, long-lead equipment, or commissioning.
Now your marketing will show you are a leader in the data center space.
Hot Markets Make Positioning More Important
When demand enters a market quickly, marketing tends to get worse. It follows the same pattern:
Everyone spots the same opportunity.
Everyone adopts the same terminology.
Everyone adds the same industry page.
Eventually, twenty competitors are standing in front of the buyer saying roughly the same thing.
So specificity is extremely valuable. At Borrowed Pen, we help technical, industrial, and construction companies articulate what they actually bring to complex markets. We can help with positioning, technical case studies, project profiles, website messaging, sales decks, pursuit content, executive thought leadership, and the materials your business-development team needs to make a credible case.
If data centers are part of your growth plan in 2026, getting into the market is only the first problem. You also have to give buyers a reason to choose you once you get there.
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