ASHRAE Journal - June 2020 - 24

TECHNICAL FEATURE

contractor, a subcontractor, or a vendor/material provider for violation of the specified terms and conditions
of commissioning-related work.
The owner, including their assigned project managers, employees, engineer/architect, contractor,
vendors, etc., should consistently communicate with,
respect and support the CxA/CxP during the project.
Likewise, the CxA/CxP should always act professionally and perform their job as prescribed in the contract
documents. Mutual respect and consideration for
all are paramount. Certainly, there may be disagreements between the CxA/CxP and the owner/engineer
or architect, but they should be handled discreetly and
professionally.
If any member of the commissioning team ignores
or disrespects the commissioning protocols or rules,
the owner should support the CxA/CxP's proposed
actions for disciplinary procedures against the parties
involved.
Without protection and support, the CxA/CxP can
be put at a disadvantage, which may allow unchecked
disruption of the commissioning process. It can cost the
CxA/CxP extra time to repeat visits to the job site and
retest protocols (in some cases multiple times), with no
risk of penalty or disciplinary actions to the involved
party(s). The root cause of all disturbances should be
thoroughly investigated, identified and solved. These
unsatisfactory situations and conditions must be
minimized.
This may also cause the costs of future commissioning
services to rise; if prices do rise disproportionately to
normal practice, it can have ill effects on future relationships with that client and the commissioning industry
itself. CxA/CxPs that cannot maintain the confidence
and support from their owners should resign their continued participation or their future projects within their
influence and control.
The project schedule should be maintained as closely
as possible to keep everyone's costs within their estimates. If large discrepancies or delays start to occur, the
CxA/CxP should swiftly enter into talks and discussions
with the affected commissioning team members to solve
this. Similarly, if too many functional performance
tests are forced to be retested due to deficiencies and
failures, the commissioning provider needs to discuss/
resolve these impacts with the parties involved as soon
as possible.
24

ASHRAE JOURNAL

ashrae.org

J U N E 2020

National, State and Local Codes Drive Costs

National, state and local codes also drive costs for
building commissioning. For example, the 2015 Florida
energy code prescribes that a preliminary commissioning report be completed and certified by a registered
design professional or approved agency and be provided
to the building owner.
The preliminary commissioning report requires a general overview and the status of the project as well as the
following:
* An itemized list of deficiencies found during functional performance testing that have not been corrected
at the time of report preparation;
* Inherently, a copy of the testing, adjusting and
balancing (TAB) preliminary report already required by
Florida code;
* Deferred tests that cannot be performed at the time
of report preparation; and
* Climatic conditions required for the performance of
deferred tests.
Buildings, or portions thereof, may not pass the
mechanical acceptance inspection (certificate of occupancy) until the code official or authority having jurisdiction has received a letter of transmittal from the
building owner acknowledging that the building owner
has received the preliminary commissioning report
from the special inspector or commissioning provider.
The amount of commissioning work is increased on
projects following building codes because of the extra
rigor and reporting constraints. This extra cost may
be multiplied if the owner is trying to occupy multiple
buildings one at a time in a phased project completion
schedule.
To complete this preliminary commissioning report
in a timely fashion, the commissioning provider
(CxA/ CxP) may need to start the commissioning work
on the project earlier than if this requirement did not
exist. This may conflict with normal protocols for commissioning work since it typically does not begin until
all checklists and major equipment start-up reports are
received and completed, as well as testing, adjusting and
balancing (TAB) work being substantially complete. The
CxA/CxP can help this process run smoothly by understanding the owner's desires early and communicating
that to the commissioning team.
For example, during the normal construction commissioning process, the CxA/CxP performs the kickoff

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ASHRAE Journal - June 2020

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