The Problem

Buildings don’t stay calibrated. From the day a building is occupied, its mechanical systems begin to drift from the original design intent. Sensors lose calibration. Control sequences get overridden and never reset. Occupancy patterns change. Equipment is replaced piecemeal. Maintenance teams turn over, and institutional knowledge walks out the door.

None of this shows up as a catastrophic failure. The building still runs. But it runs harder than it should, costs more than it should, and delivers less comfort than it should. Energy bills creep up. Tenant complaints become routine. Equipment wears out faster than its expected life. And nobody can point to a single cause, because there isn’t one — it’s the accumulation of hundreds of small deviations compounding over years.

Most existing commercial buildings were never formally commissioned during original construction. And even the ones that were have drifted significantly over 5 to 15 years of operation.

What Retrocommissioning Is

Retrocommissioning is the systematic process of evaluating an existing building’s mechanical systems — primarily HVAC, controls, and related equipment — to identify where performance has drifted from design intent and where operational improvements can be made. The focus is on optimizing what’s already installed, not replacing it.

This isn’t a maintenance inspection and it’s not an energy audit. Maintenance addresses individual equipment. Energy audits identify capital upgrades. Retrocommissioning looks at how systems interact, how controls are sequenced, how schedules and setpoints have drifted, and where the building is working against itself. It’s diagnostic work that requires a deep understanding of how HVAC systems are designed to operate — not just whether individual components are functional.

A well-executed RCx engagement typically yields 10 to 30 percent reductions in energy costs, often through low- or no-cost operational corrections. It also resolves chronic comfort complaints, reduces unnecessary wear on equipment, and gives facility teams a clear understanding of how their building should be running.

Our Approach

We don’t treat retrocommissioning as a standardized checklist. Every building is different — different vintage, different systems, different history of modifications, different operational demands. Our process is tailored to each facility, but generally follows this path:

Initial Assessment & Planning — We start by reviewing utility data, available documentation, and the building automation system to develop a picture of current performance. We sit down with facility staff to understand the building’s operational history, known issues, and pain points. This conversation often reveals more than the data alone.

On-Site Investigation — We walk the building systematically, inspecting HVAC equipment, controls, and distribution systems. We’re looking for the things that don’t show up in a maintenance log: simultaneous heating and cooling, overridden dampers, sensors that have drifted, schedules that no longer match occupancy, and sequences of operation that were never implemented correctly in the first place.

Data Collection & Diagnostics — We use trend data from the BAS, short-term data logging, and spot measurements to quantify how systems are actually performing versus how they should be. This is where the engineering judgment matters — understanding what the data is telling you requires knowing what correct operation looks like.

Findings & Recommendations — We deliver a prioritized list of operational improvements, each with estimated cost and projected savings. The emphasis is on high-impact, low-cost measures that can be implemented quickly. We also identify any underlying issues that may require capital investment and provide honest guidance on whether those investments make sense.

Implementation Support — We can support implementation by working with your facility team or controls contractor to execute the recommended measures and verify that they’re performing as expected.

Why Our Background Matters

Most retrocommissioning providers come from either the energy auditing side or the controls/TAB side of the industry. We come from the design engineering side — over two decades of designing the kinds of HVAC systems we’re now evaluating. That means we don’t just know how to measure performance; we understand the design intent behind the systems we’re looking at, why they were configured the way they were, and what correct operation should look like for that specific type of system and building.

This makes a material difference in the quality of the investigation and the practicality of the recommendations.

Who This Is For

• Building owners and facility managers dealing with rising energy costs, persistent comfort complaints, or aging mechanical systems that seem to underperform
• Property management firms responsible for portfolios of commercial buildings
• Institutional owners — universities, healthcare systems, government facilities — looking to optimize existing building performance
• Building owners preparing for utility incentive programs that subsidize RCx investigations

Utility Incentive Programs

Many utility companies offer incentive programs that significantly offset the cost of retrocommissioning investigations and implementation. These programs typically cover a substantial portion of the engineering investigation and provide additional incentives tied to verified energy savings. We can help you determine whether your building qualifies and navigate the program requirements.