This past August, I wrote in this column about the opportunity to invest in a niche business providing temporary HVAC design and construction administration. Well, here is another niche business that can differentiate your consulting firm from the competition: 3rd-party testing, adjusting, and balancing (TAB).

For several years, I’ve been able to convince building owners to hire me to provide 3rd-party TAB in addition to 3rd-party commissioning. On several occasions, I received the contract for both because I was the only consulting engineer offering this service when the owner was initially looking only for a commissioning agent. I would tell others, “If I can get the commissioning contract, it will take less than 30 minutes to convince the owner that 3rd-party TAB in sync with the commissioning was the way to go.” It was that simple when working with an educated owner who seldom, if ever, was satisfied with the traditional TAB services being provided as a subcontractor by the builder.