New Building Commissioning is the Smart Start to a High-Performing Future

New building commissioning can help pave the way for a healthy and cost-effective future for all new residential and commercial builds. As a critical step in the process of creating a new building, commissioning should never be skipped. In fact, this upfront investment clears the way for the building owner – residential or commercial – to get the exact building they want according to owner’s project requirements (OPR), while operating at the highest possible performance levels and at the lowest possible cost.

DMA Engineering offers expertise across all types of building commissioning:  new building commissioning, recommissioning, retro-commissioning and continuous commissioning. In this article, we offer a deep dive into our passion for the proactivity of new building commissioning.
We clearly demonstrate the value of investing in new building commissioning, highlighting how it prevents future costly and frustrating issues for owners.

The Purpose of New Building Commissioning and Why It Matters

The easiest way to understand new building commissioning is to think of it as quality assurance for new builds. New building commissioning represents a systematic and documented process of ensuring the owner’s operational needs are met, building systems perform efficiently, and building operators are properly trained. New building commissioning starts early in the design phase and typically continues for at least 12 months after building occupancy. This allows owners the time to adjust and optimize the systems to ensure satisfactory operation.

Commissioning a new building calls for a collaborative style and a cross-disciplinary approach. The process brings together designers, contractors, owners, and other stakeholders to conduct a wide range of activities from documenting system details to performing tests and inspections. Having an objective, independent, and experienced commissioning professional is key to a successful outcome. Choose an engineering firm with a reputation and background to deliver proven results.

TIP: Discover how new building commissioning ensures top performance, energy efficiency, and long-term cost savings. Go to DMA Construction Commissioning for New Buildings.

What Are the Benefits of New Building Commissioning?

Modern building systems are complex and require a high level of oversight to ensure your clients’ full satisfaction with the finished result and performance. DMA Engineering recommends and leads new construction commissioning plans to maintain accountability, prioritize efficiency, save money, and minimize risks for the best possible outcome. Below are some of the ways that new building commissioning reduces risk and increases value for owners.

Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings

Commissioning identifies and rectifies inefficiencies in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, leading to reduced energy consumption and lower operational costs. 

Longer Lifespan and Sustainable Buildings

Extend the lifespan of your system design to ensure decades of utility and value. New building commissioning ensures optimal performance, aligning with sustainability goals and owner requirements.

Occupant Comfort

Create a healthy, safe, and welcoming atmosphere for the building’s occupants. By ensuring proper operations of lighting, plumbing and HVAC systems, commissioning helps maintain comfortable temperature, healthy ventilation and pleasant humidity levels throughout the building.

Regulatory Compliance

Stay within compliance standards, meet building codes, and avoid expensive delays and fines during your project.

The Bottom Line 

The goal of building commissioning is to make sure every aspect of the building’s new systems will meet or exceed the owner’s performance standards. If problems arise, solutions are quickly implemented to prevent further issues. Thus, new building commissioning uncovers issues, institutes solutions, and creates a roadmap to success for owners. 

Reducing Operational Expenses: The Financial Advantage of Commissioning

U.S. Department of Energy figures show the operating costs of a commissioned building can be up to 20% lower than those of a non-commissioned building. Plus, a properly commissioned building provides decades of maximum occupant comfort. The investment in new commissioning generates excellent ROI, as the savings resulting from commissioning offset the cost of the process and prevent expensive issues down the line.

Commissioning ensures that even a small deficiency in one building system component doesn’t lead to a lifetime of sub-optimal performance across multiple systems. Furthermore, commissioned buildings experience less downtime throughout their lifespan, ultimately saving building owners significant money.

At DMA Engineering, we understand that a building must be viewed holistically, where the performance of each system can directly impact the efficiency and functionality of other areas. Our expert team is dedicated to delivering comprehensive commissioning services for new buildings, ensuring optimal performance from day one and minimizing costly issues down the road. When you choose DMA Engineering, you’re partnering with a team committed to enhancing your building’s efficiency, comfort, and savings over its lifetime.

The Critical Role of Commissioning: Avoiding Costly Mistakes

The best practice is simple: commissioning should begin before the design phase, as recommended by ASHRAE and other industry standards. While this principle is easy to state, it requires discipline to implement. Misunderstandings and omissions in building projects are far more common than they should be, making early commissioning critical.

Commissioning is especially important for buildings with Direct Digital Control (DDC) and Building Automation Systems (BAS). These complex systems regulate HVAC, lighting, power, and other essential functions. Without proper commissioning, these automated controls may not operate as intended, leading to inefficiencies and costly issues down the road.

Neglecting commissioning at the startup phase of an HVAC project can lead to significant operational inefficiencies and long-term performance issues. Buildings that are not properly commissioned often experience discrepancies between design intent and actual system performance. Common problems include:

• Incorrect sequences of operation
• Misunderstood or misconfigured control systems
• Unresolved deficiencies that persist long after occupancy

Instead of proactively commissioning a building, many builders try to push through the warranty phase and leave problem-solving to the maintenance personnel once the building is operational. However, building engineers today are overworked, understaffed, and managing increasingly complex systems with tighter budgets. If a building isn’t set up correctly from the start, it can take years for the maintenance team to identify the issues. By then, costly workarounds or abandoning existing equipment in favor of alternative solutions may become the only options —both of which can lead to even higher costs and long-term inefficiencies.

Failing to commission a building properly can lead to:

• Higher energy consumption and inefficient system operation
• Frequent equipment failures, increasing maintenance costs
• Reduced system lifespan, requiring premature replacements
• Uncomfortable indoor environments, frustrating occupants, and affecting productivity

Ultimately, commissioning is an upfront investment that pays off in long-term savings and optimal building performance. By ensuring systems operate as designed from the very beginning, owners can avoid costly inefficiencies, reduce maintenance burdens, and maximize occupant comfort for decades to come.

Why DMA Engineering Stands Out in New Building Commissioning Projects

DMA Engineering is one of the pioneering firms to focus exclusively on energy-efficient designs, renewable building energy systems, and ongoing commissioning client satisfaction. With over 15 years and 100+ buildings of commissioning work, we have consistently surpassed minimum requirements to provide outstanding comfort and efficiency. We not only help you ensure you’re getting the most out of your energy-efficient systems but also guide the process of optimizing each system to benefit the people inside and the planet outside.

You’ll find that we not only have broad skills across the spectrum of commissioning needs, but we also offer specialization in certain skill sets: building automation, HVAC/R systems design, LEED certification, energy consulting services, retro-commissioning, and more. Our teams have the knowledge and collaborative style it takes to accomplish successful commissioning projects for our clients.

From working proactively planning your project to enhancing your results with our expertise in energy planning and consumption, we’ll show you why we’re among the most respected commissioning experts in the industry:

• Simplifying Complex Systems. We make complicated building systems uncomplicated.
• Oversight and Problem-Solving. We direct smooth interconnectivity to maximize the efficiency of your building at all levels.
• Mechanical Systems Care. The care and maintenance of your mechanical systems can make or break your building’s long-term efficiency.
• Building Automated Systems. DMA Engineering is a leader in commissioning automated systems in buildings and facilities.
• Navigating Permits in Construction Commissioning. Strict building codes mean every part of the building must work in harmony with applicable regulations.
• End-to-End Solutions. We’re your partner throughout the construction phase and for 12 months after construction.

DMA Engineering: Achieve a Smoother Build and Better Results

DMA Engineering is an industry leader with a proven commitment to making newly built structures more cost-conscious and energy efficient. Utilizing leading-edge technology, we strive to create functional, practical designs that treat every building – whether commercial or residential – as a holistic system.

Our expertise in building commissioning comes from our long history, deep skill sets and diverse backgrounds of our on-staff experts. From project analysis and problem-solving to unbiased quality assurance and post-construction testing, we provide end-to-end commissioning services. Our goal is your satisfaction with our outstanding services and the superior performance of your new building.

We’ve completed more than 100 successful projects using our proven approach to end-to-end quality assurance in automation and mechanical systems for new buildings. Here are the key steps we’ll follow in your project’s commissioning process for buildings and systems.

• Early Planning and Coordination
• Integrated Design Process
• Innovative and Practical Design Strategies
• Comprehensive Documentation
• Verification and Testing
• Training
• Ongoing Commissioning
• Certification