Steps to Commissioning Success

Published in HPAC Magazine, Dec 2006

 

Commissioning Authority Certification helps Owners get what they pay for

                                     

                                               By – James H. Shoop, CCP

 

Increasing, building owners and managers are commissioning their buildings. Building Commissioning is one of the prerequisites for obtaining a USGBC LEED certified building.

But contracting commissioning services alone does not ensure a job will be done well.  The quality of the commissioning authority and the scope of the contracted services are essential to ensuring that a commissioning investment pays off.

The basic purpose of building commissioning is to provide documented confirmation that building systems are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained in compliance with the owner’s project requirements.  In other words, commissioning helps an owner get what he or she is paying for.  But, as with everything else, “You get what you pay for,” applies to commissioning.  Here is a look at the economics of investments in commissioning and advice on how to ensure that these investments have a greater likelihood for maximum return.

Currently, the cost of commissioning new buildings averages about $1 to $3 per square foot (scope driven), with payback periods averaging 4.8 years (2005 dollars).  Costs, which should be viewed as investments, vary widely with the scope and supply/demand of commissioning providers.

Payback and return on investment also vary, depending on the aforementioned factors and, among other things, the quality of the commissioning provider. Direct and indirect benefits of commissioning buildings that factor into payback periods and returns on investment include:

• Savings in energy cost and improved building performance.
• Improved indoor-air quality and comfort and increased productivity on the part of building users.
• Early detection of potential problems (the sooner problems are resolved, the less expensive they are to fix).
• Fewer change orders during construction.
• Precise tuneup and operation of systems and applicable controls.
• Better building documentation.
• Trained building operators and maintenance workers.
• Shortened occupancy-transition period.
• Reduced maintenance, operation, and equipment-replaced costs.

An aspect of commissioning that has to be considered is that while the industry is growing, the field of providers is struggling to keep up. Between 2002 and 2006, the commissioning field is estimated to have grown 600 percent, with the scope of services ranging from testing and balancing to full-scale independent third-party commissioning starting with pre-design and extending to one year after occupancy. During that time, independent commissioning firms sprouted wings, many engineering firms opened commissioning divisions, and many folks called themselves commissioning authorities. As with any other situation in which one party contracts the services of another, it is “buyer beware.”

What steps can an owner take to ensure that a commissioning provider will do a quality job?

In addition to the visual vetting of documentation called for in requests for qualifications, such as company information, staff resumes, and references from past projects, owners can require that commissioning authorities be members of the Building Commissioning Association (BCA), a non-profit professional society for commissioning providers, building owners, and allied professionals. A second step is to require that commissioning authorities hold credible certification.

The BCA, which has more than 540 member firms and individuals nationwide, maintains a list of 13 “essential attributes of building commissioning,” which all members agree in writing to adhere to whenever they serve as a commissioning authority.  The attributes cover everything from knowledge and skill requirements to the way to conduct business.  The attributes are listed on the BCA’s website (www.bcxa.org, in the “About BCA” section)

Holding credible certification is another step to ensuring that commissioning authorities qualifying for a request for proposal have met explicit benchmarks for knowledge and experience.  Currently, there are five or six institutions providing commissioning certification.  The most stringent certifications are those of the BCA, the National Environmental Balancing Bureau, the American Air Balance Council, and the University of Wisconsin—Madison.

A solid certification process tests an applicant’s knowledge and establishes and enforces reasonable criteria for experience.  Still, there are significant differences among certification programs.  Owners wanting to compare the criteria of different certification programs can do so by visiting the online library of the California Commissioning Collaborative at www.cacx.org/resources/provider_cert.html

Requiring that commissioning providers hold credible commissioning certification raises the bar two notches in today’s environment of rapid growth of commissioning projects and providers.