At the same time, though, feedback has been suggesting that sometimes owners do have experiences soliciting and coordinating commissioning and TAB services that leave them feeling like unwilling stars in a movie calledCommissioning: Impossible. So how do you shop intelligently for commissioning services? And what about getting what you should from your TAB investment?
Those are the issues that will lead us - and hopefully you, too - to Sturbridge, MA on October 13 for our "Need To Know: Owners' Commissioning & TAB Seminar." In this concise, one-day seminar, the sole goal of McKew's team will be to explore the answers to these questions. From the design phase to assuming occupancy, attendees will learn how to work with - and organize - the commissioning and TAB personnel through the project to achieve the system performance that owners expect. (Go to our main website at www.esmagazine.comand follow the link to the seminar's webpage for info and registration.)
As with our current series of Building Automation Conferences, attendees will receive a few things to take home in addition to the knowledge they pick up from McKew and crew. Specific to this topic, everyone will wrap up with a generic third-party RFP's for commissioning and TAB.
Commissioning specifications ... corrective action log ... deferred FPT demonstration ... commissioning in the warranty phase ... these phrases and many more are shaping up in the agenda, along with other critical phrases like, "Lunch." In addition to joining other readers for an especially instructive day in spending project budgets wisely, you might also stay a little longer and make a weekend of it during what should be peak foliage season in New England.
Our legal department does not allow me to make any guarantees about the leaves that weekend, just like they won't allow me to use theMission:Impossibletheme as a backdrop for any of the day's PowerPoint presentations. But I'm certain we'll make obtaining effective commissioning and testing seem a little more like carefully following a successful script, and a little less like risky business.
ELLIS LAUNCHES FIRM
Speaking of commissioning, our own columnist on the subject, Rebecca Ellis, officially made the entrepreneurial leap a couple of months ago, founding Questions & Solutions Engineering, Inc. Her new company will focus on services including building systems commissioning, existing building troubleshooting and energy conservation, and serving as a project technical representative for the owner.We know this new endeavor (website atwww.qseng.com) will give her all the more interesting experiences and material to share with you in future columns, and we wish her the best of luck.
