The market
Chicago is one of the largest data center markets in North America and a primary market in CBRE's semiannual reports, with a dense cluster in the O'Hare-area suburbs such as Elk Grove Village and Franklin Park, newer campuses further west around Aurora, and carrier hotels downtown.
[1]Where we work
Elk Grove Village, Franklin Park and Itasca near O'Hare; Aurora and the western suburbs; downtown Chicago.
What Chicago builds need from a crew
- A clear labor answer up front. Union jurisdiction is common here. We ask about the site's labor agreement in the first call so nobody wastes a week.
- Cold weather. OSP and campus fiber work through the winter needs heated tents and warm splicing conditions; fusion splicers and cleavers do not work well in the cold without them.
- Carrier-dense interconnection. Downtown and near-O'Hare facilities carry heavy cross-connect and meet-me room work, which suits rack and stack and structured cabling crews used to live environments.
Crews we deploy here
- Fiber splicing
- OTDR testing and certification
- Structured cabling
- Rack and stack
- Outside plant
- Punch and QA/QC
Logistics
Crews fly into O'Hare, which sits beside the main suburban cluster. Standard rotation 21 on / 7 off, 12-hour day or night shifts.
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- Can you work on union sites in Chicago?
- Many Chicago-area data center sites are union. Our crews work on open-shop sites. Tell us the site's labor agreement status when you send the scope and we will tell you straight away whether we are a fit.
- How do crews handle Chicago winters?
- Inside the building, winter changes little once the shell is enclosed and heated. Outside plant and campus fiber need heated splice tents and cold-weather planning, which we include in the scope.
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