Building Commissioning Checklist Template

One run commissions the building services of one project, led by the commissioning manager. Enter the planned completion date first, because every due date counts from it, then the systems in scope and the five roles, so later tasks are assigned and each system’s tests appear.

• Name the project, the completion date and the people — the project and building, where it is, the planned practical or substantial completion date, the systems in scope, and the commissioning manager, contractor’s commissioning lead, building services designer, owner’s representative and facilities manager; later tasks are assigned from these fields
• Confirm who leads the commissioning and their competence — an independent commissioning authority appointed by the owner, or a commissioning manager in the contractor’s or design team, with experience of the systems in scope and the standing to stop a test that is not ready
• Write down the owner’s project requirements — what the owner needs the building and its systems to do, in terms that can be tested: how and when it is used, occupancy, comfort and air quality conditions, energy and water targets, the controls occupants will use, maintenance access and the training expected
• Get the basis of design for each commissioned system — the designers’ account of how each system meets the owner’s requirements: design conditions, system choices, capacities, sequences of operation, assumptions and the standards used
• Form the commissioning team and agree who does what — the owner, the commissioning manager, the designers, the main contractor, the mechanical, electrical and controls contractors, specialist installers and the facilities team, each with their commissioning duties

The plan says which systems are tested, which tests, when, by whom and what records each test leaves. In England a step to send it to building control appears; elsewhere a step to check the local rules.

• Write the commissioning plan — the systems to test, the tests to complete, the schedule of commissioning, roles and responsibilities, and the documents each test produces
• Choose the procedures and test forms for each system — the commissioning codes or guides each system follows, the maker’s instructions, and the installation and functional test forms the team will fill in
• Put the commissioning into the programme and the contracts — commissioning activities and their durations in the construction programme, and each contractor’s commissioning duties in its scope, so testing time is not squeezed at the end
• Send the commissioning plan to building control (England) — the commissioning plan and the design-stage energy calculations, so the building control body can check that commissioning is being done as the work proceeds
• Check what the local rules require for commissioning — the building regulations or energy code that apply where the building is, any notice or report they ask for, and when it is due
• Issue the plan and hold the commissioning kick-off meeting — the plan sent to the whole team, then a meeting to walk through the process, the schedule, the test forms, the issues log and who witnesses what

Problems are cheapest to fix on paper. The commissioning manager checks that the design meets the owner’s requirements and can be tested, and that the equipment submitted matches the design.

• Review the design against the owner’s requirements — the drawings and specification for each commissioned system checked against the owner’s requirements and the basis of design: capacities, zoning, controls, metering and the conditions promised
• Check each system can be tested and maintained — test points, balancing valves and dampers, access to sensors, valves and filters, isolation for testing, and a controls points list that covers every item to be proved
• Review the controls sequences of operation — how each system starts, runs, changes mode, responds to faults and works with other systems, written clearly enough to test
• Review the submittals for commissioned equipment — equipment data, controls submittals and wiring diagrams checked against the design and the owner’s requirements before the equipment is ordered
• Log the review comments and track the responses — each comment numbered with its system, the designer’s or contractor’s response and its status, until every comment is closed or accepted by the owner

Before anything is switched on, each item is checked as delivered and installed, pipework and ductwork are tested and cleaned, and every controls point is proved.

• Issue the installation checklists for each system — a pre-functional checklist for each item of equipment: delivered as specified, installed, connected, labelled, cleaned and ready for start-up
• Check equipment as it is delivered and installed — nameplates checked against the approved submittals, damage, supports, access for maintenance, connections and labels, with photos of anything wrong
• Witness pressure tests, flushing and ductwork leakage tests — pipework pressure tested, water systems cleaned and flushed before start-up, and ductwork leakage tested where the specification or the rules ask for it
• Prove every controls point — each sensor, actuator, meter and alarm connected, addressed, calibrated and showing the right value at the building management system, checked point to point
• Confirm each system is ready to start up — the installation checklists complete, any issue that would stop start-up closed, and the safety checks done, signed by the installer and checked by the commissioning manager

The installers bring each system from static completion to working order: started to the maker’s instructions, balanced to the design flows and set to the agreed sequences.

• Start up each system to the maker’s instructions — first run by the installer or the maker’s engineer, with a start-up report for each item of plant
• Balance the air and water systems — air and water flow rates set and measured against the design at every terminal, with the balancing reports
• Set up the controls and tune each loop — set points, time schedules, alarms and trend logs set up to the agreed sequences, and each control loop tuned so it holds its set point
• Review the start-up and balancing results — the commissioning manager checks that every report is complete and every result within tolerance before functional tests start

Each system ticked on the first task adds its tests. Every test has a script, a pass criterion and a witness, and every failure goes on the issues log. Tests that need another season or full occupancy are recorded as deferred.

• Agree the test scripts, pass criteria and witnesses — a script for each functional test, pass criteria taken from the owner’s requirements and the design, the conditions each test needs, and who witnesses it
• Test heating, ventilation and air conditioning — every mode under realistic conditions: heating, cooling, ventilation rates, changeover between modes, standby plant taking over, and the response to a failure
• Test the building management system — time schedules, set points, alarms, trend logs, graphics and metering, and what the system does when a sensor fails or power is lost and restored
• Test electrical systems and lighting controls — presence and daylight sensors, time schedules, scene settings and manual overrides, sub-metering and the readings it sends, and any standby power changeover in the scope
• Test domestic hot water systems — storage, outlet and return temperatures, recovery times, controls and time schedules, against the design and the site’s water safety risk assessment
• Test the interfaces with fire and life safety systems — what ventilation, smoke control, dampers, lifts, access control and door holders do when the fire alarm signals, tested with the fire alarm contractor and checked against the fire strategy
• Test on-site electricity generation — the generation system tested and adjusted so it produces as much electricity as is reasonable, with its metering and its connection to the building’s supply
• Record the results and raise issues for failed tests — a result for every test, each failure raised on the issues log with its owner, and the retest booked once it is fixed
• Record the tests that cannot be done yet — tests that need the opposite season, the building occupied or a load that is not there yet, each with the reason and a planned date

An issue is closed only when its fix has been retested. The people who will run the building are trained on the installed systems and given manuals that describe them as they were commissioned.

• Review the issues log with the team each week — each open issue with its system, owner and target date, chased until the fix is made and retested; the log runs from the design review to handover
• Retest fixed issues and close them — each fix retested with the same script, and the issue closed only when it passes, with the date and who witnessed it
• Train the facilities team on each system — the people who will run the building, trained on the installed systems: how they work, the controls and the building management system, routine maintenance and what to do when an alarm sounds
• Check the operation and maintenance manuals — complete, specific to the equipment installed, with the as-commissioned settings, maintenance schedules, spares and warranty details
• Compile the systems manual — the owner’s requirements, basis of design, sequences of operation, as-commissioned set points, test results and training records in one place for the facilities team

The owner’s representative accepting the commissioning is the gate: nothing after it can be completed until they record a decision. In England a step for the commissioning notice to building control appears.

• Write the commissioning report — what was tested and how, the results, the issues and how each was closed, the tests deferred with their dates, and a commentary on any system that does not perform as intended
• Give building control the commissioning notice (England) — a notice confirming that the fixed building services have been commissioned under the approved procedure, given by the person carrying out the work
• Owner’s representative accepts the commissioning — accepted, accepted with the deferred tests and open issues listed, or not accepted; nothing after this can be completed until they decide
• Put right what stopped acceptance — the reasons recorded on the acceptance fixed and retested, and the report updated, before the owner’s representative decides again
• Send the report and the systems manual to the owner and the facilities team — the commissioning report, the systems manual, the training records and the issues log, sent to the owner and the facilities manager and filed with the project records

Tests that could not be done before handover appear here when they were recorded as deferred. Every run ends with a review of the systems before the defects period ends and the lessons for the next project.

• Plan the deferred and seasonal tests with the facilities team — a date in the right season or occupancy for each deferred test, access in the occupied building, and who attends
• Run the deferred and seasonal tests — each deferred test run to its script under the conditions it needed, with the results recorded and any failure raised on the issues log
• Update the commissioning report and the systems manual — the seasonal results, the issues they raised and how each was closed, added to the report and the manual
• Review the systems before the defects period ends — how each system has run since handover: comfort complaints, alarms, energy use against the owner’s targets, and any fault for the contractor to fix under the contract before the period ends
• Record lessons for the next project — what went well and what did not: design issues found late, tests squeezed by the programme, issues that repeated; added to the owner’s requirements for the next project