AI data center construction boom creates acute shortage of skilled tradespeople in construction and electrical trades.

If you were planning a home renovation or an upgrade to your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system this summer, there's a chance you could have a harder time finding someone to do the work. It's yet another way the data center boom is affecting Americans.

Data centers require huge amounts of power and water once they're up and running, but the demand for manpower to construct them is also massive. It's a boom that those in the construction industry are calling a paradigm shift, and the effects are rippling across the country.

The start of 2026 marked a new high for data centers, with construction starts hitting $25.2 billion. In January, 20 data center projects broke ground in the U.S., according to ConstructConnect News. U.S. Census Bureau figures show that data centers now make up 2.3% of all U.S. construction spending, with spending passing $50 billion for the first time in April.

According to workforce management platform Rivet, data center construction differs from typical commercial construction for two reasons: it's happening away from city centers where local labor pools exist, and electrical needs represent a far greater share of the work. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reports that "between 45% and 70% of the entire budget for data center construction goes to the electrical subcontractor."

Jay Bowman, a partner with consulting and investment firm FMI, told Snips News that a shortage of skilled labor is "the number one delivery challenge where big data center and infrastructure projects are active, and it's even more pronounced in remote areas like west Texas." Bowman noted a "clear shift" in how other construction projects compete with data centers for labor. "We've seen contractors almost accidentally become data-center-only companies," Bowman said, adding that "for many firms that started chasing data center projects just two or three years ago, those jobs can now make up over half their revenue and backlog."

In Abilene, Texas, home to a massive AI data center campus backed by Oracle and OpenAI, homebuilder Gene Lantrip is experiencing the impacts firsthand. Lantrip described the data center campus as a "double-edged sword." While the campus has brought new workers to the area and increased demand for housing, it has also created longer timelines for building and repairs, as many subcontractors have lost workers to higher-paying data center jobs. Workers can earn 25% to 30% more on data center projects, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Lantrip noted that 14,000 temporary workers in the area need housing, and he's building more houses than he did "during the COVID boom." However, because there isn't enough skilled labor, projects take two months longer to complete. "You have all these houses, and my electricians and plumbers and HVAC guys can't keep their crews," Lantrip explained. "My electrician hired 18-year-old kids, some in high school, and trained them. But it takes time to train those kids."

Ladd Schuiling, vice president of sales at Skilledtrades.com, noted that while data center construction requires electricians with industrial and commercial experience, residential electricians could also be employed "to do things like pull wire, which almost every electrician, no matter industry or experience, knows how to do."

Scott Schwandt, president of Texas-based pipe company Gajeske, said data center jobs don't hire crews for weeks but months, impacting the homebuilding industry. "It exerts a quantifiable long-term pressure on the project timelines of residential and commercial builds, as the already undersupplied labor market absorbs higher numbers of skilled tradespeople," Schwandt explained.

In Arizona, which ranks seventh nationally in planned and operating data centers, residents may face longer wait times for air conditioning repairs. Danny Niemela, vice president and CFO of ArDan Construction, a licensed contractor and home remodeler in Scottsdale, Arizona, is seeing the impacts of data centers on the local workforce. "If your AC went out in June, you may have previously waited two days for a qualified tech to show up," Niemela said. "Now you could be looking at five or six days, or more if you need a specialty part delivered."

Niemela has also seen the cost of skilled labor increase. "That $3,500 panel upgrade you had done two years ago will run you $4,200 this year," he noted. "Don't get me wrong, material costs have risen, too. But often, when you're fighting a corporation for manpower, you lose every time."