The Problem

Building automation systems are supposed to be the intelligence behind your HVAC. In practice, they’re often the most misunderstood component in the building.

The BAS was installed during construction, commissioned to some degree, and then handed off to a facility team that may or may not have received adequate training. Over time, overrides accumulate. Schedules stop reflecting actual occupancy. Setpoints get changed without documentation. The controls contractor who installed the system moves on to other projects. New staff inherit a system they didn’t set up and don’t fully understand.

The result is a building where the automation is technically running but not actually providing the control it was designed to deliver. Systems fight each other — heating and cooling simultaneously, fans running at full speed when the building is empty, economizers locked out, variable frequency drives operating at fixed speeds. The owner is paying for a sophisticated control system and getting thermostat-level performance.

And because the BAS is a black box to most building operators, these problems persist for years. The energy waste is invisible. The comfort complaints get blamed on the equipment rather than the controls. And when someone finally looks under the hood, they find a system that’s been quietly working against itself.

What We Provide

We bridge the gap between HVAC design intent and controls implementation:

Sequence of Operations Review & Development — The sequence of operations is the DNA of your HVAC controls. We review existing sequences for accuracy, completeness, and effectiveness — or develop new sequences for design projects. We write sequences from the perspective of an HVAC designer who understands what the system needs to do, not just a controls programmer describing what the points should do.

BAS Performance Assessment — For existing buildings, we evaluate how the building automation system is actually performing versus how it should be. We review trends, schedules, setpoints, alarm logs, and override history to identify where the controls have drifted from the design intent and where operational improvements can be made.

Controls Troubleshooting — When specific systems are underperforming and nobody can figure out why, we diagnose the problem. Often the issue isn’t the equipment — it’s how the controls are telling the equipment to operate. We trace the logic, identify the breakdown, and provide specific corrective actions.

Controls Integration Support for New Construction & Renovation — During construction, we support the integration of the BAS by reviewing point-to-point checkout results, observing controls startup, and verifying that the installed control logic matches the design intent. This is where the gap between “the points work” and “the system works” gets closed.

Owner Training & Documentation Support — We help ensure that the facility team actually understands their BAS — not just how to acknowledge alarms, but how the system is supposed to operate, what the key trends and indicators are, and when something isn’t right. A well-trained operator is the best long-term investment in building performance.

Why Our Background Matters

The problem with most controls consulting is that it comes from the controls side. Controls contractors and BAS integrators understand the hardware, the software, and the points. What they often lack is a deep understanding of the HVAC systems the controls are supposed to be managing.

We come at this from the design engineering side. We’ve spent over two decades designing the mechanical systems that building automation systems control. We understand the design intent — what the system is supposed to achieve under every operating condition — and we can evaluate whether the controls are actually delivering that intent. When a sequence of operations is technically functional but operationally wrong, we catch it because we know what right looks like from a system performance perspective, not just a controls logic perspective.

This also makes us effective at translating between the design engineer, the controls contractor, and the facility operator — three groups that often talk past each other because they’re looking at the same system from fundamentally different perspectives.

Who This Is For

• Building owners frustrated with system performance despite having a modern BAS
• Facility managers who inherited a control system they don’t fully understand
• Design engineers who need sequences of operations written or reviewed by someone who thinks about system performance, not just points
• Owners going through a BAS upgrade or migration and need independent guidance
• Any building where the controls are technically “working” but the building isn’t performing