If you’re building data centers right now, you already know the pressure: faster timelines, bigger crews, tighter expectations. And yet—I still walk onto jobsites where teams are relying on the same old mix of rented trailers and portable toilets. It works… until it doesn’t. Because over time, those “temporary” solutions start to create very real problems—cost creep, inefficiency, and a jobsite that just isn’t set up to perform. There’s a better way to think about it.

We haven’t failed, not yet. But we are stuck. And it’s time to ask why. After more than 30 years in and around the construction industry, much of it focused on offsite and industrialized construction, I keep coming back to a question that makes many uncomfortable but is long overdue: What have we actually gotten wrong? Because if offsite construction is as obvious, as proven, and as inevitable as we keep claiming, we wouldn’t still be having the exact same conversations we’ve been hav

Industrialized construction has transformed how buildings are delivered across many parts of the world. Countries like Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have embraced offsite methodologies to address housing shortages, improve quality, and increase productivity. Meanwhile, the United States—despite its innovation in nearly every other sector—continues to lag behind in fully adopting these systems.