Why Off-Site Construction is the Antidote to MEP Shortages
The warning signs are all around us – skilled trades positions are harder to fill than ever before, and the problem is only getting worse as growth outpaces hiring abilities. According to Travelers Insurance, “In the years ahead, [commercial] contractors will need an estimated 300,000 to 546,000 new workers annually – on top of normal hiring – to meet the demand for labor.”
The impacts show up in project delays and missed opportunity costs when constructors turn away new work. The Travelers article shared that 66 percent of construction firms report project delays due to labor shortages, and “45 percent say they’ve been forced to turn down work due to skilled labor shortages.”
Mitigating labor shortage risks is one of the key Off-Site Construction (OSC) benefits cited by the Epsilon team when presenting at industry conferences and talking with prospective clients. When it comes to megasite construction, there are cascading benefits originating from the OSC approach:
- The Historic Labor Deficit: According to Databank, data center projects that historically required 750 workers are now Mega-campuses, demanding up to 5,000 personnel simultaneously. Such projects completely exhaust local labor pools for specialized mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) trades.
- Relocating the Complexity: Off-site manufacturing shifts the complex, skilled-labor-dense Central Utility Plant (CUP) MEP work into a controlled factory setting with a stable, highly trained, and experienced workforce, completely bypassing any geographical constraints found in the local site’s labor market. This approach also reduces the need for temporary relocated labor and the associated costs.
- Site De-congestion and Safety: Delivering a completed CUP significantly reduces the number of specialized laborers needed on site, as well as space for storing and preassembling components. This lowers site congestion, reduces vehicular traffic, improves overall job site safety, and frees up valuable laydown space.
These are well-known OSC benefits that are amplified in megasite data center projects where immense cooling requires significantly more CUP resources, compared to more traditional campus-like utility plant environments. While OSC cannot alleviate every impact of labor shortages, constructors are searching for every possible advantage, and Epsilon continues to lead the way in providing quality modular components that can be assembled on site in a fraction of the time – a win-win for all involved.
If you’re planning a megasite build, now is the time to engage the Epsilon team and discuss how Off-Site Construction can help address MEP trade shortages, among other benefits.