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The commissioning process can be an important element in the success of a building program, especially one that involves complicated mechanical and electrical systems such as those found in laboratories, hospitals and pharmaceutical facilities. The movers, shakers and rainmakers of firms that provide commissioning services will spend a great deal of time and energy targeting the decision makers that operate these types of facilities.
But even if they get these individuals interested in commissioning, there is a possibility that the client may look to someone such as a consulting engineer for an opinion before moving forward with incorporating commissioning as a project requirement. In a perfect world, the commissioning agent would have had the time to make it around to the engineering community in an effort to sell these professionals on the benefits of third-party commissioning. In doing so, the engineer might then be more likely to affirm the owner's gut feeling that commissioning might be beneficial for its project. Of course opinions will vary in the engineering community on commissioning value, depending on the individual experiences that these engineers have had with professionals in this line of work.
There was a time not too long ago when the word "commissioning" conjured up visions of the Navy, battleships and broken champagne bottles. Now that the practice has established itself in the construction industry, it can be viewed negatively by the consulting engineer as being another "issue" that needs to be dealt with.
I know an engineer who doesn't recommend commissioning to his clients because of the perceived hassle. I'm certain that this fellow had a bad experience at one time and consequently sees a third-party commissioning agent as a potential "fly in the ointment." This same person may also see the entire process as something that will delay completion of the project and consequently final payment from the owner.
Now I am sure that there are individuals out there performing commissioning who do not have the requisite soft skills to do the job effectively. Perhaps they are good technically, but they may not possess the tact to deal with difficult situations in an appropriate manner. Instead of putting clients at ease, they might have the tendency to rub them the wrong way. The engineer that...