Three new firms enter the Commissioning Giants list this year

The Consulting-Specifying Engineer 2024 Commissioning Giants provides information on the top 25 firms based on self-reporting for this year’s rankings.

Total commissioning revenue for these firms was $913.4 million, an increase from $831.7 million last year. Three new firms entered the list this year: Bernhard, CMTA and Sindoni Consulting & Management Services.

Figure 1 shows a complete ranking for 2024, including the three new firms in the top 25.

Figure 1: 25 firms are responsible for $913.4 million in commissioning revenue. Courtesy: WTWH Media

On average, commissioning revenue represented 33% of a firm’s total gross revenue. This represents an average of $36.5 million, with the top three firms earning $80 million or more. While the percentage of commissioning revenue varied, 64% of firms reported it to be 20% or less of their total gross revenue for the last fiscal year.

The top building types for commissioning revenue included:

• Data centers (31%).

• Hospitals and health care facilities (15%).

• Government or military facilities (11%).

• Colleges and university buildings (8%).

• Industrial or manufacturing facilities/warehouses (7%).

• Office buildings (6%).

• K-12 schools (5%).

• Utilities, public works, transportation (5%).

• Research laboratories (5%).

• Engineered multi-dwelling buildings, retail complexes, restaurants (2%).

• Mission critical facilities, not including data centers or hospitals (2%).

Most projects (87%) were based in the United States. This data reflects commissioning at all levels: new buildings (48%), whole building (12%), existing building (8%), retro-commissioning (8%), emergency power systems (7%), monitoring based (6%), envelope (5%), fire protection systems (3%), recommissioning (2%) and communications systems (1%).

Figure 2: Data centers and hospitals/health care facilities were the top building types for commissioning revenue last year. Courtesy: WTWH Media

Commissioning Giants firms are predominantly consulting engineering firms (52%). New York has the most firms on the list with four, followed by California with three. Roughly two-thirds (76%) of firms acquired another company in the last fiscal year. On average, 50% of these firms’ staff were 40 years old or younger and 12% of the staff were female.

Firms reported that the top reasons for commissioning requests were sustainability, resiliency, savings and mandates. Anticipated future challenges with commissioning include not enough commissioning authorities or agents, lack of funding or buy-in, lack of knowledge about commissioning’s worth and changing codes and standards. Top corporate challenges included quality of younger staff, the economic impact on the construction market and increasing costs in construction.

Figure 3: Over half of the Commissioning Giants firms are consulting engineering firms. Courtesy: WTWH Media

Commissioning Giants firms reported an average of 37 certified commissioning authorities or agents or certified commissioning professionals on their staff. Prominent organizations these commissioning professionals belong to include ASHRAE, the Building Commissioning Association, the AABC Commissioning Group and the Association of Energy Engineers.

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