One of the first questions on any nationwide data center project is whether to staff it locally, bring in a travel crew, or blend the two. There's no universal answer — it depends on the market, the timeline, and what the work actually requires.
When local labor makes sense
If the project is in a market with an established labor pool — a major metro with existing data center activity, for example — local sourcing is usually the fastest and most cost-efficient option. Local crews also mean no travel logistics to coordinate.
When travel crews make more sense
- The local market can't supply the headcount the project needs on the required timeline.
- The work requires crews with specific experience — data hall cleaning protocols, controlled-environment orientation, or construction final-clean at scale.
- The project is in a smaller or emerging data center market without an established local labor pool.
When a blended crew is the right call
Larger deployments often use both: a core travel team that's done this exact type of project before, supplemented with local labor for the additional headcount a large data hall or multi-building campus requires. This is common on hyperscale projects where scale outpaces what local sourcing alone can support on schedule.
What this means for planning
The workforce model should get decided before mobilization, not during it. That means sharing the project's location, timeline, headcount, and any specialized requirements early, so the right mix of local and travel labor is already lined up when the schedule calls for it. Read more on how this works on our nationwide labor deployment page.