Recommissioning (RCx) Guide for Building Owners and Managers

Chapter 3 - Project Basis

Involving Facility Staff

While some building owners or managers may be tempted to undertake recommissioning in-house, others may find it just as enticing to bring in an outside provider to carry the entire burden of the project. If the facility staff is excluded from the process, however, owners may miss an opportunity that can lower the project budget, increase in-house expertise and job satisfaction, and extend the impact of the improvements.

Facility staff can complete many supporting tasks without specialized training in this process. Gathering and analysing utility bills, benchmarking the building's performance, and performing a maintenance tune-up are generally straightforward and can be addressed with guidance from a recommissioning provider. Implementing improvements may also be accomplished by in-house staff, depending on their expertise. As indicated in Chapter 2, owners can use in house staff as a cost-saving strategy.

Participating in the recommissioning process can provide facility staff with a better understanding of the building's systems and their interactions. To capture this benefit, building owners need to allocate adequate staff time and budget for recommissioning work in addition to regular job duties.

Outsourced O&M Services 

Some owners do not have full or part-time building operators, while others may employ building operators with minimal skills or time. These owners often use service contracts to cover the O&M of HVAC, controls, and electrical systems. In these cases, the service contractor may take on recommissioning tasks that building operators would usually perform. The contractor may be asked to perform certain scheduled preventive maintenance tasks to prepare a building for recommissioning, as well as to assist in data gathering, performing hands-on testing, and adjusting and calibrating equipment.