PO-86-10-2 -- Building Commissioning: A Contractor's Viewpoint PDF

Building commissioning has been a by-product of the construction industry for years, but since our newer buildings have become so sophisticated, the commissioning process is now very important, and it is also a process that is not easy to perform. Since the mechanical portion, particularly the environmental portion, is so vital to a building, I feel we should take steps to address the problems faced today in the proper commissioning of the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system and look at some solutions to the problems.

In system start-up, we often suffer from lack of planning and from improper selection of personnel who are to perform the work. During the critical stages of the final commissioning process, which includes training of building personnel, we often do not have sufficient involvement on the part of the design engineer. In addition to this, it is often difficult to obtain the cooperation of the project owner in setting up training and instruction sessions for the operating personnel.

This paper outlines in some detail a suggested system for solving these problems that exist in the commissioning process.