America Is Building Data Centers, Not Offices — and Inflation Just Hit 3.7%
Data-center and power construction is surging while offices and homebuilding stall, September inflation worsened to 3.7%, and for cleaning contractors the opportunity is real — but narrower and more specialized than “construction is up.”
- 3.7% U.S. inflation in September, weeks before the midterms
- $85B Annual rate of U.S. data-center construction spending in August
- 12+ Hospital projects of $1 billion or more now underway
National
Inflation Worsens to 3.7%, and Tariffs Are Part of the Story
Inflation worsened to 3.7% in September, weeks before the midterm elections, with higher costs landing on supplies, equipment and wages. The New York Fed said inflation on many everyday goods was entirely due to tariffs, and Federal Reserve officials are focused on taming prices without signaling their next move. Contractors are feeling it too: an Associated Builders and Contractors survey found backlog at 8.7 months, but more than 1 in 4 contractors expect smaller profit margins, the highest share since November 2025.
State Spotlight
The Big Projects Are Landing in the South and Midwest
North Carolina leads year-to-date data-center construction starts at $10.4 billion, followed by Texas at $9.9 billion, with Indiana, Illinois and Michigan also large. About 71% of the planned data-center pipeline is in the South, led by Texas, Virginia, Arkansas and Georgia, and Ohio leads the Midwest. Health care follows a similar map: at least a dozen $1 billion-plus hospital projects are underway, including a $5 billion pediatric campus in Dallas and projects in Fort Worth, Boston, Columbus, Charleston, Winston-Salem and Sarasota, with half in the South and openings from 2028 to 2031.
Industry
Cleaning’s Opportunity Is Real — but Narrower and More Specialized
Opening-day and post-construction cleaning in data centers and hospitals is its own specialty, calling for site-access, work-at-height and construction-site training and tight scheduling alongside other trades. Hospitals run around the clock and need infection-control-grade cleaning, and with projects opening 2028 to 2031, contractors can start building health care cleaning teams and relationships now. Offices are not a new-build story: the office construction pipeline is about 50 million square feet, matching its 2011 low, so growth there will come from tenant buildouts and conversions. Our read, not the sources’: data centers are huge but lightly staffed, so they may generate less recurring janitorial work per dollar built than hospitals.
Construction & Economy
Data Centers and Power Surge While Offices and Homes Stall
Census data for August shows data-center construction at an $85 billion annual rate and power plants and distribution at $186 billion. ConstructConnect counted about $84.1 billion of data-center starts through July, roughly three times last year, with the average project at 701,000 square feet and over $1 billion. Warehouses are the steady grower, with more than 305 million square feet under construction, up 18% in a year, and vacancy at 6.9%. Offices sit near 14% vacancy, and homebuilding is stuck: mortgage rates around 7.4% and costly materials have homebuilder confidence at its lowest since June 2012. Several of these figures are older than a week and are dated.
Alert
Tariffs and 3.7% inflation are raising supply and equipment costs — check whether your contracts let you pass cost increases through before your next renewal.
The Takeaway
A building boom doesn’t clean itself. The facilities going up fastest need trained, reliable crews in specific states, at the very moment those same labor markets are tightening. That’s the gap Manobra exists to help close: helping contractors understand and develop the workforce behind each new space, and helping workers find their place in this industry.