| Commissioning is a quality control process that
ensures that a building owner gets the fully operating building
that he paid for. In its most effective form, Building Commissioning
starts at the conceptual design stage, and ends when the 12-month
warranty period expires. It is also most effective when performed
by a Commissioning (Cx) Agent who is independent of the Architect,
Engineer, and Contractor, under contract directly to the Owner.
It is most commonly applied to the mechanical systems, but also
may include the electrical and life safety systems. These are
the dynamic systems of the building with all the moving parts
and complex interactions that provide the safety and comfort
that the building occupants and owners expect.
 These
systems are well hidden within the building, like the many
parts under the hood of your car, or inside the case of your
computer. The building HVAC systems consist of hundreds of
component parts that are working together to make sure that
the temperature is just right, in every room in the building,
and that the air is clean and healthy. Meanwhile, the climatic
conditions outside vary from bone dry and below zero in the
winter to hot and as humid as a sauna in the summer.
Your car and your computer also consist of hundreds of parts,
obtained from hundreds of suppliers, and assembled by dozens
of robots, or even people. To make sure that their products
are reliable, those manufacturers have learned that they needed
to create quality control departments. The building construction
industry is now learning that it needs a quality control department,
too, that has come to be known as Commissioning. After-the-fact
problem solving in non-Commissioned buildings goes by the
name of Retro-Commissioning.
Next
- Why Should I Pay Extra for Commissioning?
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