Firm Background & Approach to Commissioning

A History of Success:

Welsh Commissioning Group, Inc. (WCG) draws on extensive commissioning experience with more than 450 projects on a wide range of facility and system types. Leading WCG is Bryan Welsh, who has developed and implemented the commissioning processes, protocols and training used by WCG staff since 1999.

We specialize in commissioning services, which accounts for nearly all of the work we perform. We have served over 175 clients in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Hawaii, and Alaska. We have performed commissioning on facilities ranging from a few thousand to nearly one million square feet.

Our commissioning team members have successfully designed and completed commissioning procedures on a variety of buildings including university facilities, K-12 schools, office buildings, healthcare facilities, laboratories, and correctional institutions.

A Strong and Diverse Background:

Our commissioning team members have a strong background in facility engineering, management and design which gives them a practical hands-on understanding of building systems which is critical to successful commissioning. We have a full staff of project managers and technical support specialists as well as an assortment of associates providing support in specialized fields.

A Team Philosophy:

WCG personnel understand and appreciate the experience and expertise of all construction professionals. Our goal is to work as a team with the Owner, Architect, Engineers, Sub-Consultants and Contractors in a collaborative fashion to deliver a high quality, effective and efficient facility to the Building Owner.

A Commitment to High Standards:

At WCG, providing the highest quality commissioning services available is our top priority. We employ a rigid internal quality control process that includes verification of deliverables along each step of the commissioning process.

WCG is a member of the Building Commissioning Association (BCA) and we conduct our work in accordance with the BCA Essential Attributes of Building Commissioning. Team leader, Bryan Welsh, is a BCA Certified Commissioning Professional. WCG is also a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, and we are qualified to perform commissioning under the LEED Green Building Rating System™ with our LEED Accredited Professionals.

Our Approach:

Our approach to the building systems commissioning process is structured, comprehensive, proactive and collaborative.

The first step in our approach is to fully understand the needs of the Owner because the commissioning process should verify that the Owner’s needs are being met. This is accomplished by participating in the development of, or reviewing, the Owner’s Project Requirement or Design Guideline documents. We also interface with the facilities/maintenance departments to fully understand their needs and goals for the project. The commissioning plan and specifications are developed based on a full understanding of the Owner’s needs.

Our approach is to be proactive. We accomplish this by performing reviews of the project documents prior to bid and reviewing contractor submittal information to identify conflicts and avoid costly change orders in the field. We also conduct site observations during construction to identify non-compliant installation details before they are repeated or complicated by subsequent work. Our experience with facility operation, facility maintenance, design and commissioning enables us to be very affective in this area.

Our commissioning process is structured and follows recognized industry standards. We witness contractor start-up of all major equipment to assure that recommended manufacturer’s procedures were followed and documented. We conduct hands-on installation verification of all commissioned systems to assure that the units are installed per project documents and are serviceable. During functional testing we are very hands-on and our goal is to simulate all possible operational modes and system scenarios. During project closeout we document and verify that all training is complete, O&M Manuals are complete and all warranty and spares are received by the Owner.

All commissioning activities are thoroughly documented and included in the final commissioning report. Throughout the process, we maintain a collaborative and professional relationship with all parties including the design team, contractor, special consultants, Owner’s representatives, occupants of the building and the maintenance staff. At the conclusion of a project we will conduct a lessons learned meeting to evaluate the project. This feedback is used to improve our commissioning process and the overall building delivery process for the Owner.