Commissioning, you complete me!

Key Takeaways

Commissioning is the systematic process for ensuring that a project’s operational components are functioning as they should.

–> Commissioners review the project during planning, design, construction, implementation, and installation.

–> They work to ensure that the project meets the owner’s requirements and expectations. This may include making sure a building complies with codes related to energy and safety. It may also include improving energy efficiency and comfort in existing buildings.

There is no one-track pathway into commissioning.

–> Professionals may seek to become a commissioning agent if they are passionate about knowing how systems work and improving project efficiency. An engineering degree is a great place to start, but not necessary to go into commissioning.

Q&A

Ellen Honigstock: Can you tell us your story? How did you get to be the commissioning whiz that you are? 

Kelly Westby: I like to start with high school. I was going to double major theater and math. And then I realized that had very unrealistic job expectations. I realized I was pretty good at math and science. So, I went into engineering. I read this book about how the way humans view the world is inherently destroying it and we need to change our approach to how we view the world in order to live more sustainably with the environment. And that’s why I chose to go into environmental engineering. I ended up in biomass gasification. Studying biomass gasification was all about reusing the Earth’s resources that were naturally occurring and so it was within the waste-to-energy department at Columbia. And that really got me excited about focusing on energy. 

I started working a little bit in commissioning and the thing that I really liked about that is particularly 10 years ago, but even now, a lot of the work that we do gets put on the shelf. It’s a report and nothing happens. With commissioning, the building will get built and we can make it a little bit better. And that’s what I find exciting about commissioning is these projects are happening all over the world and if we can make them a little bit better, then they start out from day one operating in pretty good condition. And we can save a lot of energy that way and make people more comfortable in their environments. 

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Ellen Honigstock: Our audience ranges from the entire spectrum of the real estate industry and not everyone knows what commissioning is. So, can you give us a definition of what is it and what is it not?

Kelly Westby: Absolutely. Good old ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers, has a standard for just about anything in our industry. They have one for commissioning too. And there’s a bit of a wordy definition, but it’s the process of designing, constructing, turning over and operating the building as originally intended.

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Ellen Honigstock: Okay, so what does that mean in real life? 

Kelly Westby: It’s a process. This isn’t a one slice in time and then you’re done. A lot of people, I think, equate commissioning with that time when the manufacturer’s representative comes out and then they turn on the boiler and they go, yep, it actually turns on. That is not commissioning. 

Commissioning is the entire process from schematic early pre-design phase where you’re developing the requirements for the project and usually it’s the owner’s project requirements we refer to. That’s the idea for what the building will be ultimately. And then we need to make sure that the design adheres to that and the actual submittals are reviewed in accordance with that. The building is constructed in accordance. It’s this process through the entire life of construction or in an existing building.

The other thing that’s important is it is really in accordance with the owner’s intent. Now, the owner’s intent could be to just comply with code, all of the codes. There’s a lot of codes out there. So what are you looking at in that sense? Commissioning often falls under the energy code or falls under the energy and atmosphere section in LEED. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be just related to energy. It could be related to safety. It could be related to comfort. It could be related to indoor environmental quality. And so we really have to think about what parameters are we considering within the scope of commissioning for this project. 

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Ellen Honigstock: What would you tell young folks who want to do what you do? 

Kelly Westby: I think I’ve changed my mind on probably just about everything over the course of my career. But one thing I would say is, if you are in high school, an engineering degree is a really good place to start. I don’t think it’s necessary. There’s a lot of folks out there that do commissioning that aren’t engineers. But I think it’s a really good baseline. 

Other things could be construction management or experience around that. I think the key with the engineering is that it teaches you how to be curious about different systems. Some people are naturally that way. Maybe those types of people are attracted to engineering, so maybe there’s a relationship there. But there’s a bunch of industry nerds that don’t have to have that degree. So if you’re anywhere in your career and you’re really curious about why things work the way they do and how they work, and you’re really stubborn about trying to figure it out, then you’d probably be a good commissioning agent. 

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Ellen Honigstock: If you’re like, that sounds like an awesome job. How do you find that job? 

Kelly Westby: There are a couple of different locations where you might find a commissioning agent. They might be in a firm like ours. Steve and Winter Associates is pretty focused on energy efficiency [and] sustainability. We also do a lot of accessibility work, which is a separate topic.

Energy efficiency sustainability firms often will have commissioning agents. There’s also a lot of MEP engineering design firms that also have commissioning departments. So, you might find something there. Those will almost always be engineering background-type folks. And then there’s large national commissioning firms that are almost completely commissioning.

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Ellen Honigstock: Who typically needs to be involved in the commissioning process and how does that all work? Because I feel like people don’t see their role. But one of the reasons we’re having this conversation is that we’ve talked about this and you’re like “No, everybody needs to be involved.” Tell me how. 

Kelly Westby: It’s funny because it reminds me of the other day when we were speaking about building operator training at the 32BJ. And I said, I’m a filler. And you were like, don’t say that about yourself. And I was like, no, I actually think it’s a good thing. I think all commissioning agents are fillers.

Construction has an architect and an engineer and a construction manager and a mechanical contractor and a sheet metal contractor and a pipe fitter. And there’s these little gaps in between all those people and that’s where we live. We live in the filler gray space in between. And our job is to connect the whole team together. And I think you never know where those gaps are going to come and they’re going to be different on every project.

So we have to move a little, like water, and connect the dots. But the entire team really needs to be involved, literally everyone from the pipe fitter all the way up. Because if the pipe fitter isn’t doing their job properly, then the entire project isn’t going to work properly. I think we had a project where they forgot to install the expansion for the pipe. That’s a huge issue on a large project that has to like, we have to then go back in time, back into the walls, depending on where the project is, and address that. 

And same with the ductwork. The mastic guy, that’s a job on some job sites. It’s like there’s someone who installs the actual sheet metal ductwork, and then there’s a guy that goes around with a bucket and a paintbrush and paints the mastic on all the duct. And if that guy misses any little section, that’s CFM of air that’s not coming from your bathroom. That’s not exhausting your bathroom. It’s exhausting the wall cavity. And that does nobody any good. And so that guy is important to the process. 

And so when I say everyone, I literally mean everyone, and especially all of the trades, and the architect and engineer who may have only been inside their offices and designing on paper. They need to be brought in through the whole process. And the construction managers who might only be in the field, they need to be brought in early on. 

And the especially important part is that value engineering process, where we all come together and then we try to negotiate what’s important. We all need to be at the table, because the pipe fitter knows things that the design engineer does not. 

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Ellen Honigstock: But you need to be an expert on systems or do you just become an expert on that building’s particular systems based on how they’re designed? 

Kelly Westby: We become an expert on particular building systems based on how they’re designed. That’s how I would say it. I think different commissioning agents would actually answer that question differently, and probably reasonable people could disagree. I feel like the commissioning agents seem like they know everything, but they can’t. Nobody can.