Fiber and low-voltage crews in Atlanta

In CBRE's H1 2026 report, Atlanta passed Northern Virginia as the North American market with the most data center capacity under construction: about 2,882 MW, up more than 50% year over year.

Construction at that pace outruns the local skilled-trades pool, and cabling is one of the first scopes to slip because it falls late in the sequence, after the building shell and power infrastructure are in place.

Atlanta now has more under construction than anywhere else

When CBRE published its H1 2026 report, Atlanta's 2,882 MW under construction was the highest figure in North America and represented a year-over-year increase of more than 50%. Multiple large cabling phases run simultaneously across the metro, all competing for the same regional low-voltage workforce. The local supply of skilled cabling labor has not scaled at the same rate as the project pipeline, so large phases bring in traveling crews as standard practice, not as a last resort. Mobilization is typically 7 to 10 days from a signed scope, with travel, per diem and lodging included in the rate.

Backbone and data halls at the same time

Multi-building campuses here run backbone and data hall cabling on overlapping schedules. Waiting for the backbone to finish before starting the halls can add weeks the schedule will not absorb. We staff fiber splicing crews and structured cabling crews in parallel under a single foreman structure, so backbone splicing and hall trunk placement move forward together. OTDR testing and certification clears behind splicing as spans finish, rather than waiting until all cable is placed. Rack and stack crews follow the halls as each zone certifies out.

Working through a Georgia summer

Shells without permanent cooling are hot in July and August, and Georgia humidity adds to it. Every shift follows a heat illness prevention plan: water at the work face, scheduled rest breaks, shade during breaks, acclimatization schedules for crew members in their first days on site, and buddy checks throughout the shift. Where the site schedule allows, start times move earlier to front-load work in the cooler morning hours. This is part of the mobilization plan before the crew lands, not an adjustment made after the first bad day on site.

West side, south side, east corridor

Lodging options and proximity vary across these four areas. We confirm how far each site sits from lodging before booking and adjust shift structure around drive time where needed. OSP and campus fiber crews handling duct bank and vault work between buildings, and punch-list and QA/QC crews closing out each hall, travel to all four areas on the same rates and terms as the splicing and cabling teams.