New Stratus Report Finds Data Center Work Is Reshaping Competitive Advantage Among MEP Contractors

Stratus just released its 2026 State of MEP Report: Data Center Edition alongside new features built to help contractors coordinate fabrication at scale. The report is designed to give preconstruction teams, VDC managers, fabrication directors and executives a clear view of where the MEP data center market stands today and what it takes to compete in the years ahead. 

The findings point to a high-demand market where the ability to scale increasingly depends on fabrication capacity and execution. 82% of data center contractors surveyed expect their revenue share from this work to keep growing over the next two years. With an 88% average prefabrication rate on data center work, and shop space as the top constraint on expanding prefabrication, ahead of even skilled labor, many contractors are already investing in the visibility and technology needed to meet the demand. 

“Data centers have become one of the fastest-growing and most operationally demanding sectors in construction,” said Jake Olsen, CEO of Stratus. “The differentiator is no longer simply who has the most people, it's who has the best system. Contractors who build around manufacturing principles, expand fabrication capacity, and connect production data from the model through the shop and field are better positioned to scale while protecting margin.” 

Key findings from the report include: 

• Data center work is a growing revenue source: 82% of firms doing data center work expect their revenue share to increase. 
• Scale and fabrication volume set data center projects apart.  Large physical scale is the top differentiator of data center projects compared to other project work. They also carry the highest prefabrication rate of any project type, driven by their sheer scale and repetitive systems, with 88% of data center work now involving fabrication in some form. 
• Shop capacity is the real bottleneck, but contractors are responding. 68% cite shop space as their top constraint on scaling prefabrication, and 82% have recently or plan to add shop space in the next 2 years. 
• Winning and delivering require different skills. Track record and GC/owner relationships win the work; prefabrication capability and connected BIM-shop-field workflows are what deliver it. 77% now consider real-time production visibility very important or critical to success. 
• Technology, not headcount, drives the next efficiency gains. 63% point to technology and automation and 56% to prefab expansion and modular fabrication as the top drivers of efficiency over the next five years. 

To help contractors keep up with data center demand, Stratus recently introduced two new features to manage fabrication at scale: 

Modules brings expanded package grouping and multi-model integration capabilities for multi-trade racks, skids, and corridor assemblies to the shop floor, creating a single trackable unit for modular builds in Stratus. 68% of data center contractors already do this kind of modular work today. 

Enhanced Divisions simplifies cross-shop package routing and assignments for contractors managing multiple shops, increasingly common as data center work goes national. 

Jason Steele, Senior VDC Manager at Cerris Systems, a national mechanical contracting giant that has completed more than 100 data center projects to date, is seeing that shift firsthand. “Everything is at a rapid speed right now, and we're being challenged by our clients to build faster than we’ve ever built before,” Steele said. “Stratus has allowed us to fabricate at scale. We can track our fabrication from the model through installation and commissioning.” 

The 2026 State of MEP: Data Center Edition provides additional findings on data center revenue growth, fabrication models, capacity constraints, workforce strategies, technology adoption, and the operational capabilities contractors see shaping competitiveness over the next five years. 

The full report is available at www.stratus.build/reports/data-center-edition.