Data center schedules don't slip because of one big failure. They slip because 40 electricians were requested and 28 showed up, half the timesheets came in on paper, and nobody can say which agency's workers cleared site orientation. That's the temp labor problem on mission-critical work, and it's what Smart Labor Management will be in Atlanta to talk about at Advancing Data Center Construction East 2026, December 1-3 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.
Danny Parrott, VP of Growth, and Felicia Hawn, Business Development Manager, will be on site all three days, meeting with general contractors, MEP and specialty contractors, and owners who are running or about to run temp labor on data center projects.
Who Smart Labor Management is
Smart Labor Management (SLM) is your command center for your temp labor program. We bring industry technology and personalized support to your labor program. We're not a staffing agency, and we're not generic HR software.
Specialty contractors use SLM to run their temp labor program across every jobsite and every staffing supplier they use. Instead of each project team managing its own agencies, timesheets, and invoices, the contractor gets one program, one set of rules, and one view of who is on site, what they're costing, and whether they're compliant.
We work with electrical, mechanical, energy, and mission-critical contractors the trades carrying the heaviest temp labor load on data center work.
About the event
Advancing Data Center Construction is produced by Advancing Construction, part of the Hanson Wade Group. It's built for the people who deliver data centers: owners, hyperscalers, developers, general contractors, trade partners, and utility and municipal leaders. The East edition is co-located with Advancing Data Center Retrofits, so the conversation covers new builds and upgrades to existing facilities.
At a glance:
When: December 1–3, 2026
Where: Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Who's there: 1,200+ expected attendees and 55+ speakers, including AWS, Google, Microsoft, CoreWeave, Digital Realty, QTS, Holder Construction, Brasfield & Gorrie, M.C. Dean, Southland Industries, and utility and municipal leaders
Program: Five tracks following the data center lifecycle: planning and development, contracting and procurement, preconstruction, site development and foundations, and MEP integration and installation
Find us: Booth 16
Registration: here
Why we're going: labor is the constraint nobody can order ahead
Power and long-lead equipment get the headlines, but on the jobsite, labor is just as hard a constraint. Roughly 3,000 data centers are under construction or planned across the U.S., according to a December 2025 report from the American Edge Project and the Technology Councils of North America, as reported by Axios. At the same time, the construction industry needs to add an estimated 349,000 workers heading into 2026, concentrated in skilled trades like electricians and pipefitters, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors.
To fill those gaps, contractors lean on temp labor, often from five, ten, or more staffing suppliers on a single program. That's where control breaks down:
Every agency works differently. They use different request processes, timesheet formats, markups, and invoice layouts.
Readiness is hard to confirm. Superintendents can't easily tell whether a worker's certifications, safety training, and site requirements are current before they badge in.
Time and cost data lag the work. Hours get chased at the end of the week, and invoices don't tie back to cost codes until long after the money is spent.
Supplier performance is anecdotal. Without consistent data, it's hard to know which agencies fill orders on time with qualified workers and which don't.
Nobody owns the program. Temp labor ends up managed project by project, with superintendents and PMs carrying the admin.
On a hyperscale schedule, every one of those gaps turns into schedule risk or a budget surprise.
What SLM solves for
SLM puts one program around all of it:
One process across every supplier. Keep the agencies you trust. SLM standardizes how labor is requested, approved, tracked, and billed across all of them.
Compliance tracked before workers show up. Track certifications and site-specific requirements for electricians, HVAC techs, and other MEP trades so readiness is clear before day one.
Timekeeping and cost visibility by job. Capture hours consistently and report labor spend by project and cost code, so you see costs while you can still act on them.
Invoice reconciliation. Invoices are checked against approved time before they're paid, cutting errors and back-and-forth with agencies.
Supplier accountability. Fill rates, quality, and responsiveness measured across suppliers, so decisions are based on data.
Less admin on your field teams. Superintendents get time back to run the work instead of chasing timesheets and agency paperwork.
Find us
If you're managing temp labor on a data center or mission-critical project or about to break ground on one, find us in Atlanta. We'll talk through how specialty contractors are handling multi-supplier temp labor, compliance, and cost tracking on fast-moving builds. Bring your questions; we'll bring straight answers.
Can't make it? Reach out anyway, and we'll set up time to talk.
CONNECT WITH SMART LABOR MANAGEMENT
Danny Parrott | dparrott@smarterlabor.com | (972) 415-8227