Including commissioning during design phase benefits new construction: A qualitative case study

While building commissioning is a common practice, buildings continue to have system integration issues and multiple change orders. This study sought to help identify if building commissioning, when implemented during the design phase of the project, would decrease the amount of system integration issues and reduce the amount of change orders. These issues and change orders negatively impact project budgets and completion timelines. The study sought to provide information to building owners, design teams, project managers, and general contractors in reducing issues from these concerns. The purpose of this study was to examine and identify how the inclusion of a commissioning firm during the design of a new construction project may reduce whole building system integration issues and the number of change orders. A comparative qualitative case study helped to identify if the perception of the owners, design teams, project managers, and general contractors favorably changed with the inclusion of a CxA during the design phase of a project and if they perceived this reduced whole building systems integration issues. Personal interviews with stakeholders from the different groups demonstrated the perception that change orders are reduced and there were fewer system integration issues when commissioning was involved during design. The results of this study bring value to the industry in understanding the benefits of building projects when including building commissioning during design. Future research is recommended to quantify budget savings that result from these reductions and may provide a holistic assessment for stakeholders.