hips at sea have something in common with military officers and sales representatives: they all earn commissions. Same goes for buildings. Commissioning ensures all the structural elements and complex systems of an inhabited space work as intended. That type of work entails a specialized analysis done by building commissioning engineers.

Dave Shumway earned his dolphins in the US Navy submarine service, and now he’s a certified building commissioning professional at AMC Engineers in Anchorage. Drawing upon his nautical experience, he notes that each ship commences a “commission log” the moment the vessel formally enters service. When something breaks, Shumway says it’s logged as “out of commission” until the error is fixed.

With buildings, commissioning more often occurs during design and construction. “It allows you the time to go out into the field and actually, you know, operate the systems and make some recommendations and adjustments to the system… so they operate at their peak potential,” Shumway says.

Unlike something produced on an assembly line, with a building, “there is no prototype, there is no testing. There it is,” says Mark Frischkorn, vice president and principal mechanical engineer at RSA Engineering in Anchorage. “When you build a building, it’s a one-off, and it’s gotta work the first time.”

Building commissioning verifies that all the systems work together as expected, both during ordinary operations and when something goes wrong. If a boiler fails, do the right alarms go off? Do all the rooms and systems in a hospital operate as designed? Does air flow properly, and does a building have sufficient sensors to efficiently troubleshoot problems?

Commissioning can also involve labeling and documenting everything for repairs and changes. It can even ensure that maintenance staff have the access space and training they need. “People look at it as an insurance policy for energy efficiency, occupant comfort… and reducing system failures,” says Joseph Buckley, a certified building commissioning professional and a vice president at the Virginia office of WSP, a global engineering firm with a branch in Anchorage.

As a committee member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Buckley helped develop materials for its building commissioning certification, a program that began in 2010. According to Buckley, the society released its first guideline for HVAC commissioning in 1988, nearly a century into its existence and after a decade of innovation in desktop computing. Computers didn’t directly cause the rise in building commissioning, but they contributed to the need for it.

Increased use of building automation systems or direct digital controls has contributed to the growing need for commissioning. ASHRAE released its Guideline 0 for the commissioning process in 2005 and has updated it every few years since. The guideline was last updated in 2019.

ASHRAE has also developed two commissioning standards: one for new buildings and one for existing buildings. The commissioning, as it were, of the commissioning certification created a credential known as BCxP, which stands for “building commissioning professional.”

A few other organizations also offer commissioning certifications: the Building Commissioning Association, the Association of Energy Engineers, National Environmental Balancing Bureau, and ACG: the Associated Air Balance Control Commissioning Group.

When building commissioning involves new structures, engineers agree: it’s best to start during the design phase. Commissioners (who are often, though not aways, engineers) work with the building owner to develop the “owner’s project requirements” document.

“We try to get the design more aligned with what the owner is asking for,” says Ezra Gutschow, senior commissioning engineer with the Coffman Engineers office in Anchorage. This can include things like reviewing equipment choices for the spare parts and maintenance required. They might also check whether a maintenance person could actually reach equipment at the height a contractor proposes to place it.

The scope of commissioning varies, but Buckley says it ideally involves all a building’s systems: mechanical, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, fire alarm, elevators, and so on. Commissioning also means verifying these systems work together as expected. Gutschow says that some pieces of equipment fit into the work of multiple contractors. Even if each one does their part correctly, the device still might not have the right “handshakes” with other systems.

According to Shumway, who’s also the vice president and principal mechanical engineer for AMC Engineers in Anchorage, his firm recommends testing “every single thing” the first time. “It might be the only time that every system component will get checked,” he says.

Once everything’s running optimally, the commissioning team documents all the details, including all the control settings that ensure this. “You have to be able to recreate it,” Shumway says of the optimal state. After AMC Engineers gets everything running as desired, staff download a computer program with all the set points. This enables something like a factory reset for the building, in case someone adjusts something in error or if other parts of the building get out of whack. Having the saved settings makes it easier to get the building back to commission.

After the building has been in use for a year, a final step of commissioning can involve verifying that occupants and maintenance staff haven’t noticed unexpected issues. Gutschow says this phase involves talking to the owner and facility staff and trying to help resolve any issues.

Shumway says in some cases, especially in Alaska, a building may require seasonal or phased commissioning. For example, a building finished in January, when indoor heating is at maximum, might need certain adjustments specific to the season. The cooling system, by contrast, might be commissioned later in the year.

Building owners can commission a structure later in its life, too, or do similar evaluation and optimization on the exterior. They might even control how the building interfaces with the surrounding land.

Envelope commissioning involves a building’s exterior and its surrounding land. Gutschow says this can range from looking at how much and where a building leaks heat to reviewing issues of water egress. “A little bit of moisture can cause lots of damage,” he says.

Retro commissioning occurs before starting work to renovate an older building, Frischkorn says. “Before you change anything, you go into an old building and see if it’s working.” This might include identifying hot or cold spots, systems that unnecessarily run at the same time, or gaps in information. “A lot of building owners don’t keep the documentation” and then regret it when they learn the cost to recreate it, Frischkorn says.

Recommissioning involves going back to a previously commissioned room or structure that’s being used differently than at the time of initial evaluation. Shumway says experienced owners might do this in five- to seven-year intervals throughout the building’s useful lifetime. For example, a room initially commissioned to have two people use two computers in it might need to get recommissioned if occupancy increases to eight people and eight computers. Heating and cooling needs and indoor air quality would look quite different in those two scenarios. Shumway says this type of commissioning occurs every few years or as part of major adjustments to a space and its use.

At this point, the State of Alaska only requires building commissioning for schools. The engineers interviewed say some clients—particularly federal government entities—also require it. Federal clients such as the Indian Health Service might have standard commissioning guidelines for certain types of projects.

Qualifying for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building status can also require commissioning. The amount involved depends on what program level the client seeks. LEED certifies buildings at four different levels based on the owner’s work in areas like energy, water and materials use, sustainability, and so on.

Some clients also stipulate that a third party must conduct the assessment. Shumway says AMC Engineers prefers to commission its own buildings because the process helps staff learn and grow. They also know the assumptions they’ve made in designing the building, so they can better anticipate how certain changes will affect other parts of the structure.

Frischkorn echoes the learning value of commissioning. He says RSA Engineering sometimes commissions other firms’ designs, and sometimes those engineers commission RSA designs. Third-party commissioners can bring a fresh set of eyes to a project. Frischkorn says building commissioning professionals don’t have any financial motivation to make something look right even if it’s not, which could be why federal clients often require a third-party review.

Even when it’s not required, engineers say building commissioning can pay long-term dividends. “Some of these buildings we do are $800 to $1,200 a square foot,” Shumway says. “To commission it is like maybe $3 a square foot. So you’re adding on like a $3 premium for something that’s already orders of magnitude higher than that. It seems like you’d want to pay the extra money to make sure it works.”

In remote locations where it’s harder and more expensive to get the contractor back for future repairs, commissioning provides an extra check while they’re still onsite. “Once the contractor is off site, it’s really hard to get him back,” Frischkorn says. Commissioning a building can reduce the need for that.

“When you’re out, like, in the Bush and you’re doing a project, you don’t do fancy stuff,” Shumway says. “You do bulletproof, tried-and-true, highly reliable systems with lots of backups. You… make the layout of the systems very intuitive so they’re easy to understand, operate, and maintain.” He says it’s especially important to leave free space around equipment to make maintenance convenient. Designs and systems should also avoid any parts that require specialty tools or unusual spare parts.

Commissioning can also reduce operating costs, which is particularly critical in locations where heating oil must be flown in. Thorough commissioning can also reduce equipment wear by ensuring devices cycle properly and don’t run unnecessarily.

“If commissioning is done well, most owners are usually pretty happy with the money they’ve spent,” Frischkorn says. While general contractors were more resistant at first, the reduced call-backs for later adjustments has tended to win them over.

Once something’s been built or installed, it typically goes through final commissioning and project acceptance while the contractor is onsite. This allows for adjustments in real time, resolving issues as they go.

The time involved for building commissioning depends on the structure. Shumway estimates he can do a typical office room in less than an hour. A different room might take all morning, however. A complex, Biological Safety Level 3 laboratory suite he recently commissioned took several people more than a week to go through 1,100 square feet. “It all depends on the complexity of the systems,” he says.

Third-party commissioners don’t have the authority to change the original engineer’s design; they can only raise issues and suggest fixes. The contractor or engineer then directs the contractor to make the changes.

If commissioning reveals bigger issues, the engineer communicates those to all parties involved. In some cases, resolution might require discussion of who will pay for the needed changes.

“You don’t get what you expect; you get what you inspect,” Shumway says.