Proactive Strategies for Commissioning in Construction Projects
- Mar 30
- 5 min read
Commissioning time is minimal and lacks standardization
One of the biggest challenges at the start of a construction project is allocating enough time for testing and verification at the end. This is crucial to ensure the project achieves the right quality, on time, and within budget. Scheduling during the programming phase is necessary. If not, it becomes almost impossible to have sufficient time for testing later.
As a former project manager for electrical systems, I wonder why testing time is minimal and lacks standardization. Throughout my career, I have been involved in various stages of projects and taken part in multiple interest groups to integrate and optimize interdisciplinary processes. This experience has made me wiser, and I wish to share my insights with you.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” Albert Einstein
In the initial stages of a project, the builder has a vision for the building. They know its intended use and the requirements it must meet. During the conceptual phase, funding is typically based on parallels with comparable projects.
Next comes the programming phase, typically led by an architect to identify the needs of the owner and users. Workshops help define room types and their proximities. Each technical system specifies quality, capacity, and functionality.
During the schematic design phase, the building's layout begins to take shape, and spaces are allocated for technical rooms and main pathways. Up to this point, projects are quite similar, with no specific assumptions made for technical systems.
All disciplines are creating detailed drawings during the construction design phase to show system components. Often, this is when we start defining the setup of systems, as specialists like automation, access control, fire alarms, electrical, and HVAC are involved. By now, the project's initial stages may have stretched over time without adjusting the final deadline. The responsibility for testing time allocation shifts from the builder to the main contractor.
Each discipline begins designing their technical system, forming a structure based on known or cost-effective products. Time is tight, and resources work hard to balance schedules. The focus is on quick design to start construction, with little thought for a testing phase—planning for it can wait.
As you might guess, this is becoming Albert Einsteins definitions of Insanity. Is it not the same we did in the last project?
“We tend to avoid tasks and systems when we don’t understand the how and why” Ove Kjærgård
Yes, I did quote myself. I really do believe that the reason very highly competent people do not do parts of their work is because they do not understand how to make this plan or why they need to do it this early.
I will share with you my thoughts, which I keep in mind when you plan for technical systems.
Handover
First, to make clear, does the owner require the building(s) to be handed over at the same time?
It is also necessary to inquire about the sections and floors of the building.
This outlines the main milestones of our pull plan.
Resources
Even though the owner only has one handover date, it can still be beneficial to divide, due to the amount of available key resources within each discipline and we already know that there are less resources for programming building automation systems than the electrician can provide to connect the components.
System buildup
How you divide the systems within the buildings, floors, and sections will impact your plan. For a 6-story building with one air handling unit, all construction work by different disciplines needs to be completed and the building cleaned before balancing the air distribution system. This can significantly influence the building's timeline. Alternatively, if there is one unit on each floor, then each floor can plan independently.
Do you put all your automation gear for room and light control on the same switch panel board as the power outlets? Then the requirement will in different countries require you to complete the verification of the installation connected to this switchboard before power goes on. This way the project must wait unnecessary for the electrician. If you build a separate switchboard for room control and light control, the electrician can prioritize this first and the power outlets next. In this way programming and testing of room and light control can start earlier.
All technical risers must have dampers, valves, heat exchangers, bus gateways, switchboard on each floor for example to do this work.
Certain technical systems allow for programming to be completed prior to field deployment, whereas others require connection and calibration in the field before programming can commence.
For critical systems and government building owners it is also widespread practice to make functional performance testing at the factory before shipping to the site.
How you build up your systems affects various aspects of how soon you can start with the testing.
Sample testing
Certain owners mandate that all discipline formally commission their delivery of technical systems. While other owners simply stipulate that everything must function properly upon completion, entrusting the contractor with responsibility. And there is a thing in between, called sample testing.
All components in a 10% sample group must meet the acceptance criteria. If any fails, a new 10% sample excluding the first group of components must be assessed by the contractor. If the second sample fails, all components within the system must be evaluated.
As you understand, verifying 100% takes more time than verifying 10%. Only requiring 10% might reduce time but I also include a risk for quality and handover date.
Order of tasks
1. Technical rooms and boundary connections to district supply. Program and verify components before connecting to the first floor.
2. Routings between technical rooms. Must be in place before each technical room has requirements for supply. This includes the riser for heating to be ready with water to connect one floor by the other.
3. Technical distributions to the overall areas on each floor. Prioritize the elements that need programing over passive components.
Doing this in a different order will result in less time for testing or delayed handover.
Milestones
Without strong motivation and consequences, milestones will not be achieved on time. All dates but handovers will slide, the time left for testing will almost disappear.
Time, quality, and cost will be equal only at the start of the project. Later than this you will always have to choose. If you choose time, it costs more and reduces quality.
Standardization impossible?
We should allocate ample time for testing early in the project. Although estimating the exact time needed can be challenging, making bold estimates during the programming phase can be based on similar projects. A Commissioning Provider, also known as ITB in Norway, can provide invaluable insights.
Decisions made throughout the project will continually adjust this time allocation, considering new solutions or budget constraints. Management will face a critical decision: invest more in system construction or accept an extra month with increased risk to save money.
Standardizing time is impossible if we don't standardize system buildup.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. How do you estimate testing time early in your projects? What are the biggest challenges you face? Share your comments below and let's start a great discussion!
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