# When data center trade packages are bought: a timeline for trade and equipment sellers

By Spezia. Published November 13, 2026. Updated November 13, 2026. Data as of November 9, 2026.
Canonical page: https://spezia.ai/blog/data-center-procurement-timeline

## The short answer

Data centers are bought in build order. Site work is let once the county approves. Electrical and mechanical subcontracts are let as the structures go up. Switchgear, transformers and generators are bought 12 to 24 months before the site is powered, often by the owner. Commissioning comes near the end. Of 408 approved or under-construction U.S. projects Spezia tracks, the evidence puts 262 in the buying window for electrical and 139 for power equipment.

- Packages are bought in build order: site work and long-lead power gear at approval, then structure, electrical and mechanical as site work runs, and commissioning last.
- Power equipment is bought early: 12 to 24 months before power-on, because the gear takes a year or more to make.
- 262 of 408 active projects are in the buying window for electrical, 260 for mechanical and 139 for power equipment.
- On 242 of the 262 buying electrical, no electrical contractor is named in any source, so the award is open or not yet public.
- Most of these stages rest on Spezia's reading of the reports, not on a public record: 204 of the 262 for electrical. Treat them as leads to confirm.

## In what order is a data center bought?

In the order it is built. A data center goes from bare land to live halls in a sequence most builders follow, and each trade package is bought a set distance ahead of its work. [Global Data Center Hub](https://www.globaldatacenterhub.com/p/from-permit-to-power-on-how-data) puts a clean run at 18 to 36 months from land purchase to power-on. [Opendock](https://blog.opendock.com/data-center-construction-timeline) puts hyperscale construction at 18 to 24 months from planning to deployment.

These are the six packages Spezia tracks on every project, and when each is bought.

| Package | What it covers | When it is bought |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Site and civil | Clearing, grading, earthwork, roads and underground utilities | Bought first: site work is let once the local approval is in hand, and runs until the buildings are up. |
| Structure and shell | Foundations, steel, precast or tilt-up walls and the roof | Let while the site work runs, and built before the buildings are enclosed. |
| Electrical | Feeders, busway, cable, grounding, lighting and low voltage | Electrical subcontracts are let around the time structures go up. The heavy install runs once buildings are enclosed, until the halls go live. |
| Mechanical and cooling | Chillers, cooling units, piping and air handling | Mechanical subcontracts are let around the time structures go up. Piping and cooling units go in once buildings are enclosed. |
| Power equipment | Switchgear, transformers, generators and UPS | This gear takes a year or more to make, so it is bought 12 to 24 months before the site is powered, often by the owner, and set once the buildings are enclosed. |
| Commissioning | Testing and startup of the power and cooling systems | The commissioning firm is picked during design or early construction. Testing runs at the end, as equipment is set and the first halls go live. |

## Which packages are bought at each point in the build?

Read across a row to see what is being bought, and what is already awarded and under way, while the site is at that point.

| Where the site is | Being bought now | Awarded, in progress |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Announced | Nothing new | Nothing new |
| Seeking permits | Nothing new | Nothing new |
| Approved, no work yet | Site and civil; power equipment | Nothing new |
| Site work and grading | Structure and shell; electrical; mechanical and cooling; power equipment | Site and civil |
| Structures going up | Electrical; mechanical and cooling | Site and civil; structure and shell; power equipment |
| Electrical and mechanical install | Commissioning | Electrical; mechanical and cooling; power equipment |
| Testing and startup | Nothing new | Electrical; mechanical and cooling; commissioning |
| Operating | Nothing new | Nothing new |

Three points matter most for sellers:

- **Power equipment is bought at approval.** Switchgear, transformers and generators take a year or more to make, so the order goes in before the ground is broken. The owner often buys them directly and hands them to the contractor to set.
- **Electrical and mechanical stay open for two stages.** Their subcontracts are bought from the start of site work until the structures are up.
- **Commissioning comes last.** The commissioning firm is picked during design or early construction. Testing runs at the end, as equipment is set and the first halls go live. In the table above, it is being bought as the electrical and mechanical install begins.

## How far ahead of power-on is each package bought?

When a public source gives the date a site goes live, Spezia reads each package back from it.

- **Electrical, mechanical and power equipment:** design and pricing more than 24 months out, buying 12 to 24 months out, installing in the last 12 months.
- **Structure and shell:** buying 18 to 30 months out, installing 6 to 18 months out.
- **Commissioning:** buying 6 to 18 months out, testing in the last 6 months.

A stated go-live date is one of the quickest ways to place a project you read about. Commissioning itself runs in levels, from factory checks (Level 1) to a test of the whole facility under simulated failures (Level 5), as [Archdesk](https://archdesk.com/blog/data-center-commissioning-levels) describes.

## How many projects are buying each package now?

Here is where the 408 approved or under-construction U.S. projects in Spezia's tracker stand, package by package, as of November 13, 2026.

| Package | Design and pricing | Buying now | Installing |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Site and civil | 101 | under 25 | 250 |
| Structure and shell | 100 | 137 | 109 |
| Electrical | 103 | 262 | 38 |
| Mechanical and cooling | 103 | 260 | 40 |
| Power equipment | 98 | 139 | 138 |
| Commissioning | 246 | 43 | under 25 |

Counts under 25 are shown as "under 25", because a stage partly rests on a model's reading and Spezia publishes those only for groups of 25 or more. The rest of each row is projects past the package, on hold, too early or without enough evidence.

**Active projects buying each package now**

| | Value | Note |
| --- | ---: | --- |
| Electrical | 262 | 64% of active projects |
| Mechanical and cooling | 260 | 64% of active projects |
| Power equipment | 139 | 34% of active projects |
| Structure and shell | 137 | 34% of active projects |
| Commissioning | 43 | 11% of active projects |

*Approved or under-construction U.S. projects. Source: Spezia tracker.*

Site and civil shows few projects buying now for a simple reason: on most active projects the ground work is already let. 250 are installing it.

## What does a "buying now" stage rest on?

Mostly on a reading of the reports, so it is a lead to confirm, not a fact. For each package, here is what the buying-now stage rests on most:

| Package buying now | Spezia's reading of the reports | A report or named contractor |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Electrical | 204 | 37 |
| Mechanical and cooling | 206 | 33 |
| Power equipment | 99 | 35 |
| Structure and shell | 101 | 30 |

A public record (an FAA crane date, an EPA permit) is the main evidence for fewer than 25 projects in each package. That reflects the public record: most projects have no FAA or EPA filing yet, so the build phase has to be read from what the news says. [Is that data center really being built?](https://spezia.ai/blog/is-the-data-center-being-built) shows how few projects have a record, and how to check one.

## Who holds the packages being bought?

Usually nobody in public. Of the 262 projects buying electrical now, 242 have no electrical contractor named in any source or record. For mechanical it is 254 of 260, and for power equipment 136 of 139.

An unnamed holder means one of two things. The package is still being bid, or it was awarded without an announcement. Either way, the general contractor or the owner knows, and [Who builds U.S. data centers](https://spezia.ai/blog/who-builds-data-centers) counts the builders named on each kind of job.

## Where are packages being bought?

By region, counting approved or under-construction projects.

| Region | Active projects | Electrical now | Mechanical now | Power equipment now |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Texas | 84 | 68 | 67 | 36 |
| The South, outside Texas | 132 | 77 | 77 | 46 |
| The Midwest | 92 | 49 | 49 | under 25 |
| The West | 81 | 57 | 56 | 27 |
| The Northeast | 19 | under 25 | under 25 | under 25 |

[Texas](https://spezia.ai/data-centers/texas) alone has 68 projects buying electrical now. Inside Spezia, a member sets a territory by state or by distance from home and sees every project there ranked, buying their trade now first.

It also pays to watch the projects behind the announcements. 32 of the 343 projects still reported only as announced already read as buying electrical now. The evidence on these is often thin, but it is where a window can open before any groundbreaking is announced.

## When should you call, by what you sell?

- **Switchgear, transformers, generators and UPS.** Call at approval, 12 to 24 months before power-on, and call the owner as well as the contractor. If a project is already setting gear, ask about the next phase: campuses are built in phases, and each phase buys again.
- **Electrical distribution, cable and busway.** Follow the electrical subcontract. It is let around the time the structures go up, and the contractor buys materials from then until the halls go live.
- **Chillers, cooling units and piping.** The same window as electrical. For the largest units, ask at approval whether the owner is buying them early.
- **Commissioning and testing.** Get on the shortlist during design, and expect the package to be let as the install begins.
- **Site, civil and structure trades.** Watch for the county's approval and the first stormwater permit. That is when grading can start, and the structure package follows while it runs.

The figures come from Spezia's research run that finished November 9, 2026, with the FAA and EPA records read on November 13, 2026. The tracker re-researches every project each week and merges records of one project as it finds them, so later counts on the live tracker will differ.

Spezia shows every tracked project's stage for all six packages, the dated evidence behind each, who holds each package and the people to call. Set your states or your radius and the projects buying your trade come first. [See who is buying in your territory](https://spezia.ai/tools/buildout)

## How this was made

Each project's stage per trade package comes from the rules behind the Projects list in Spezia (buying-stage rules, tested in code): dated evidence places the site in the build, construction sequencing turns that into a stage per package, evidence about one package votes on it directly, and evidence is weighted by strength and age on November 13, 2026. The evidence is the project's reported status and the build phase Spezia's model reads from its reports, FAA crane dates, EPA stormwater and air records, named contractors, and schedule dates in public filings. Too little evidence gives "unknown". Counts cover the 408 project records approved or under construction in the research run that finished November 9, 2026, and are shown only for groups of 25 projects or more.

## Frequently asked questions

### When are electrical contractors hired on a data center project?

Electrical subcontracts are let around the time structures go up. The heavy install runs once buildings are enclosed, until the halls go live. In Spezia's tracker, 262 of 408 approved or under-construction U.S. projects are in that window as of November 13, 2026.

### How far ahead are switchgear and transformers ordered for a data center?

This gear takes a year or more to make, so it is bought 12 to 24 months before the site is powered, often by the owner, and set once the buildings are enclosed. In practice that means the order goes in around approval, before the ground is broken.

### What is the construction sequence of a data center?

Approval, then site work and grading, then foundations, steel and shell, then the electrical and mechanical install once the buildings are enclosed, then testing and startup. Long-lead power equipment is ordered at approval so it arrives for the install. Large campuses repeat the sequence for each phase.

### How do I find data center projects buying electrical work now?

Look for projects with structures going up: a crane filed with the FAA for current dates, a recent stormwater permit, or a named general contractor with no electrical contractor yet. Spezia's Projects list filters to projects buying each package now, in your states, with the evidence behind each stage.

### Who buys the generators and switchgear on a data center, the owner or the contractor?

Often the owner. Because the gear takes a year or more to make, owners and developers frequently order it themselves, and the electrical contractor sets it once the buildings are enclosed. Ask both, and ask the owner about the next phase.

## Sources

1. [Spezia U.S. data center project tracker, research run of November 9, 2026](https://spezia.ai/tools/buildout), Spezia
2. [From Permit to Power-On: How Data Centers Actually Get Built](https://www.globaldatacenterhub.com/p/from-permit-to-power-on-how-data), Global Data Center Hub
3. [Data center construction timeline](https://blog.opendock.com/data-center-construction-timeline), Opendock
4. [Master Data Center Commissioning: L1–L5 Explained](https://archdesk.com/blog/data-center-commissioning-levels), Archdesk
5. [Obstruction Evaluation / Airport Airspace Analysis (OE/AAA): notices of proposed construction (Form 7460-1)](https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/portal.jsp), Federal Aviation Administration
6. [Stormwater discharges from construction activities](https://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater-discharges-construction-activities), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

## Cite this

Spezia. "When data center trade packages are bought: a timeline for trade and equipment sellers" Spezia, November 13, 2026. https://spezia.ai/blog/data-center-procurement-timeline