Building Assessments Provide a Prosperous Path for Contractors

The stock of commercial buildings in the U.S. is vast and aging.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) estimates that 5.9 million commercial buildings exist in the U.S., occupying a total of 97 billion square feet.

Of those, approximately half were constructed before 1980. In 2022, the median age of all U.S. buildings was 53-years-old.

Over time, building performance falters as technologies and infrastructure become antiquated. Owners are often pushed to make upgrades through government regulations. When improving their facilities, many pursue building verification programs, which provide a road map for controls, IAQ, lighting, sound, and HVAC equipment upgrades.

Building verifications serve as environmental and sustainability badges of honor, demonstrating excellence not only for the facilities but the contractors twisting the wrenches as well.

The WELL Building Standard is a vehicle for buildings and organizations to assess health and wellbeing within a structure.

The 10 concepts of the WELL Building Standard include air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind, and community.

These concepts offer numerous opportunities for HVAC contractors. For example, through the air category, the WELL standard measures and identifies discrepancies across numerous aspects of IAQ, including ventilation, filtration, volatile organic compound (VOC) reduction, microbe and mold control, and more.

“Many of the WELL projects we’ve worked on have benefited from the addition of DOAS [dedicated outdoor air system] units,” said Jennifer Taranto, LEED AP ID+C, BD+C, USGBC Faculty, WELL APTM, WELL Faculty, Fitwel Ambassador, vice president of sustainability, STO Building Group, which boasts a global portfolio of WELL-certified projects. The company relocated its headquarters within New York City and pursued WELL certification for the building. “WELL projects often require heavier filtration than what may be used on traditional job sites. When it comes to indoor air, it's not only about protecting people from respiratory disease, but it's about the cognitive improvements that people get in situations when they have better indoor air.”

WELL certification offers facility managers a definitive path to compliance. In pursuit of a specific benchmark, contractors are subcontracted to make the necessary improvements to achieve these goals.

“HVAC contractors are service providers, and their goal is to meet the needs of their clients,” said Taranto. “The same way a client may say, ‘I have a budget of X and a schedule of Y,’ they also say, I have a goal of WELL Gold or Platinum. The work that follows is all part of the variables necessary to meet a client’s needs. And many clients are willing to spend more to achieve that goal.”

UL Solutions’ SPIRE assessment program is a comprehensive and objective smart building assessment tool. The five-star rating program assess the effectiveness of a facility’s smart building features, functions, and technologies.

“SPIRE provides building owners, managers, and operators with actionable data and insights that can help lower costs, mitigate risks, address tenant concerns, and enhance overall asset value,” said Ryan Piaskowski, senior business development manager, UL Solutions.

The SPIRE program consists of a curated, holistic framework across six major criteria: power and energy, health and well-being, life and property safety, connectivity, cybersecurity, and sustainability.

“Once the assessment is complete, building owners, managers, and operators can go through and see results from the objective assessment of over 180 factors within the building,” said Piaskowski. “Assessors collect evidence directly from equipment, facilities teams, information technology staff, and many other building systems, such as building management or energy management systems. This could mean opening up an air handler and looking at the filtration, examining the MERV rating on the filters, and determining how clean they are, or testing a building management system and assessing things like demand ventilation are in place and working properly.”

The report includes photos, providing building owners, managers and operators with visual evidence of the equipment’s state.

“Building owners, managers, and operators can view the assessment results and immediately recognize areas for improvement without physically accessing the equipment themselves,” Piaskowski said. “They’ll know right away that better sensors are needed for IAQ or that the connected assets must be managed and monitored with better cybersecurity systems. The SPIRE assessment exists to help building owners, managers and operators specify the proper technology upgrades.”

The program has existed for less than two years. In that time, 130 buildings have completed the assessment while only 14 facilities have achieved the UL Verified Mark to date.

ASHRAE’s Building EQ Portal is an energy analysis and benchmarking tool designed to identify a building's energy performance.

Two different evaluations can be used independently to compare a candidate building to similar buildings in the same climate zone. Additionally, facility managers can compare a building’s existing performance versus how it was expected to perform during the design phase. An “In Operation” evaluation compares actual building energy use based on metered energy information, while an “As Designed” evaluation compares potential energy use based on the building's physical characteristics and systems with standardized energy use simulation.

“Building EQ is a very powerful tool to use alongside an energy audit,” said Esteban Baccini, BEAP, OPMP, an HVAC consultant and Building EQ committee member. “It is a great way to benchmark an existing building and provides an opportunity for a building’s energy potential to be expressed.”

For contractors, the responsibility to bring an energy-wasting building to its design efficiency falls squarely on them.

“A Building EQ assessment is a wonderful selling tool for contractors,” said Baccini. “It provides a road map to the improvements that need to be done. Contractors can now say to an owner, ‘This piece of equipment is not operating properly, here’s the work I can do for you, and here’s the savings you’ll receive over a specific time period.’”

While every building verification tool differs in its approach, each offers contractors an opportunity to pursue guaranteed revenue.

“Buildings around the globe need to be held accountable for the energy they’re consuming,” said Piaskowski. “Building assessments offer a way to evaluate a building’s operations and provide a path toward achieving better performance. This gives incredibly valuable insight to building owners, managers, operators, and contractors who will be responsible for completing the work.”