Port Washington, Wisconsin

Five thousand workers, in a town of twelve thousand

Port Washington had 12,353 people at the 2020 census. Vantage said the workforce would reach about 5,000 this summer. That’s a crew the size of 40% of the town, on a lakeshore town’s roads, 27 miles north of Milwaukee.

Everything else in this guide follows from that.

Who’s building it

Vantage Data Centers builds and runs it for OpenAI and Oracle’s Stargate. Four buildings on 672 acres, west of I‑43. Ground broke in December 2025; the second building topped out in June.

Turner and McCarthy, as a joint venture, build the second phase: Buildings 13 and 14. Whiting‑Turner and Weitz are on the job too.

Union work by pledge. Vantage promised the Wisconsin Building Trades Council local union labor “to the fullest extent possible.” That’s a pledge, not a project labor agreement.

Your employer is the company doing your trade’s work — not OpenAI, not Oracle. Get its name before you agree to anything.

Weekday rooms go to the job

Workers fill the town’s weekday hotel rooms and stay through the week. At the Harborview, one of two hotels downtown, rates are up nearly 5%. On the Fish Days weekend in July, rates topped $300 a night.

Milwaukee has more rooms, 27 miles south. But the per diem follows the job site, not your bed. The job is in Ozaukee County, so the rate is $181 a day wherever you sleep.

Rents, RV parks and any camp: we’re still sourcing this. No camp or RV park for this job has been reported. Check back, or get an email when it’s in.

Shift change at the interchange

“I’ve been there at shift change and yes, it’s crazy,” the city engineer said in August. The jams are at the I‑43 interchange with Highways 32 and H, and on Highway LL.

• Temporary signals went in at the interchange in August, so police don’t have to direct traffic.
• Vantage pays for the police traffic control and the lane widening.
• Rocks off the trucks have cracked windshields, residents say.

The hours the town set

Since 18 April, outdoor work and deliveries run 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday work needs the city engineer’s approval, one Sunday a month. Once a building is closed in, indoor work can run 24 hours on weekdays. Before that, the site ran around the clock.

That shapes your week. Outdoor crews get few night shifts here. Indoor trades may still run two.

Traffic counts and crash numbers: we’re still sourcing this. Check back, or get an email when it’s in.

Who holds Ozaukee County

• IBEW Local 494 lists Ozaukee County in its jurisdiction.
• Steamfitters Local 601 lists Ozaukee County in its jurisdiction.

Other trades: we’re still sourcing this. Check back, or get an email when it’s in.

Ask whether your package is union, merit shop, or both. With a pledge instead of an agreement, it’s worth asking.

How the one-year rule works

What counts is how long the job was expected to run. Not how long it actually runs.

• Expected to run a year or less, and it does. Per diem stays out of your wages.
• Expected to run longer than a year. Wages from your first day, however long it actually runs.
• Expected short, then extended past a year. Wages from the day a year or less stopped being realistic — not your 365th day, and not when the paperwork catches up.

It doesn’t reach back. Expect nine months, get extended at month eight, and the first eight months stand. That’s the IRS’s own example. The day you were told matters more than anything else here.

Keep three things: what you were told at the start (offer letter, requisition, the recruiter’s text), the day the extension came down and who it came from, and proof of a home you pay for while you’re away. Without that last one, none of the per diem was tax‑free to begin with.