A building is not finished when the last inspector signs. It is finished when each system performs to the basis of design and the people who will operate it can prove that. Commissioning is how we get there, and we treat it as a scheduled scope with its own staff, test scripts, and completion criteria, not as the final week of the job. For plant managers, it is the difference between a building that opens on schedule and one that opens with open items.
We write the commissioning plan during design, when the cost of changing a system is lowest. The plan lists each system, its design intent, its performance criteria, the tests that will prove it, the person who witnesses the test and the record that results. Electrical distribution, fire protection, HVAC and refrigeration, compressed air, process utilities, dock equipment, lighting controls and building automation each get a script.
Turnover follows commissioning. We assemble the package as the work proceeds: as-built drawings, equipment submittals, operation and maintenance manuals, test and balance reports, warranty letters, spare parts lists, and the training schedule. When operations takes the keys, they receive a building with documentation they can use at three in the morning when something stops.
Life safety and fire acceptance
Fire protection acceptance is a gate. Sprinkler systems are flushed and hydrostatically tested, fire pumps are flow tested, alarm and detection devices are tested point by point, and the fire district or building department witnesses the acceptance tests. For buildings with high-piled storage, the sprinkler design and the commodity classification have to match what the operator intends to store, so we confirm that before the test, not after. Fire water loops and hydrant systems are tested and documented as part of the same sequence.
Egress, emergency lighting, smoke control and emergency power transfer are tested under simulated outage. We do not rely on a design-stage statement that a generator will pick up the load. We pull the utility feed and record the transfer time, the loads that start, and the voltage response.
Functional testing by system
Functional testing proves sequences, not just parts. For an HVAC system, we run the unit through its modes, test economizer operation, confirm setpoints and alarms, and compare measured airflow to design. For refrigeration, we verify pulldown time, defrost sequences, and safeties. For electrical systems, we perform insulation resistance, protective device settings, thermographic scanning under load and arc flash label verification.
Altitude gets an explicit check. Denver sits at an official elevation of 5,280 feet, and combustion equipment and air-cooled condensers perform differently there than their sea-level ratings suggest. We confirm that the installed capacity is the capacity the data sheet states for the actual elevation, and we document it. Items that fail go onto a deficiency log with a responsible party and a due date.
Code compliance and energy verification
Colorado's HB22-1362 requires any county or municipality that updates its building code on or after July 1, 2023 to adopt an energy code at least equal to the 2021 IECC, with the state model low energy and carbon code becoming the benchmark from July 1, 2026. Energy-related commissioning of lighting controls, HVAC and envelope is part of showing compliance in many jurisdictions. We verify the local requirement for each project and prepare the documentation the building department requests.
Certificate of occupancy requirements vary by jurisdiction. We keep a checklist for each project listing the inspections, approvals, fire district signoffs and utility releases required. Our team walks the building with the inspectors before the formal request. That walk keeps surprises out of the final week, including on pharmaceutical manufacturing suites where documentation is part of the product.
Training and turnover that operations can use
Training is scheduled before turnover, not after. Equipment vendors train your maintenance staff on the installed systems, and we record the sessions where the owner allows it. We deliver a turnover binder in both paper and electronic form, with equipment tagged consistently so that a maintenance work order can find the record.
We hold a turnover walk with operations, engineering and maintenance leads. Each system has a signoff sheet that states what was tested, what was observed, and what open items remain. Open items carry dates. We stay responsive after turnover through the warranty period, so a call about a failed damper or a drifting setpoint reaches someone who knows the building. Warranty start dates are recorded per system, which matters because a chiller that was energized in March and turned over in June does not share a start date with the roof.
Special-use facilities
Some facilities have stricter commissioning needs. Life science buildings need qualification-ready documentation: cleanroom classification testing, pressure cascade verification and calibration records. Redtail Ridge, a 389 acre, 2.6 million square foot life sciences campus planned along U.S. 36, gives a sense of the floor area that qualification-ready documentation can cover on a single campus. Pharmaceutical and life sciences owners often want commissioning agents independent of the builder, and we work with them directly.
Medical campuses are another example. The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora covers 256 acres, and a healthcare hospital or clinical building brings infection-control and emergency power requirements that make commissioning part of patient safety. Data centers, in turn, depend on integrated systems tests of power and cooling at load, which we coordinate with the owner's own test team, and the equipment records come straight from the long-lead procurement register.
Plan commissioning with the design
Tell us the systems your facility depends on. We will outline a commissioning plan and the records you will receive at turnover.
Common Questions
Do you provide third-party commissioning?
We perform contractor commissioning and coordinate with an owner-appointed commissioning agent when one is hired. Many owners of regulated facilities prefer an independent agent, and we integrate with that agent's scripts and schedule.
What is included in a turnover package?
As-built drawings, equipment submittals and manuals, test and balance reports, commissioning records, fire acceptance documents, warranty letters with start dates, spare parts lists and training records. We assemble it as the work proceeds so it is ready when you take occupancy.
How long does commissioning take?
It depends on the building and the complexity of the systems. We schedule it as a block that overlaps the final installation, starting with energization of each system, and we show the block in the baseline schedule so no one expects it to disappear if the construction runs late.
Who owns warranty after turnover?
Warranty periods start on stated dates for each system, and manufacturers hold equipment warranties. We coordinate callbacks during our own warranty period and provide a contact for each trade.
Can you commission an existing building?
Yes. Retro-commissioning identifies sequences that no longer match the operation, sensors that drifted and controls that were overridden. We document findings and recommend corrections with estimated costs.