Most commercial energy audits underperform for a reason that has nothing to do with the auditor. They underperform because the building arrives at the site visit without the records that make analysis possible, and the audit ends up describing what is visible rather than quantifying what is happening. A good energy audit checklist for commercial buildings therefore starts weeks before anyone walks the property.
This guide splits the checklist into the two halves that matter: preparation and inspection. It covers what to gather, what gets examined system by system, which items can be confirmed by observation and which cannot, and how the picture changes for buildings in British Columbia. If you are deciding which depth of audit your building needs, our commercial energy audit service page sets out the ASHRAE levels and what each one delivers.
Before the Auditor Arrives: Your Preparation Checklist
This is the half most articles skip, and it is the half that decides how useful the audit turns out to be. Assemble the following before the site visit is scheduled.
- Utility data, two to three years, every fuel source. Electricity and natural gas at minimum, plus district energy, propane or oil if applicable. Include every meter and every account. A building with a separately metered retail podium that only submits the residential account produces an incomplete picture from the first calculation onward.
- Sub-meter data if it exists. Where sub-metering is installed, this is the difference between knowing the building uses too much energy and knowing which end use is responsible.
- As-built architectural and mechanical drawings. Not the permit set. If the building was renovated, the drawings that reflect what is actually there.
- Equipment schedule with age and capacity. Boilers, chillers, rooftop units, pumps, fans, domestic hot water plant. Nameplate data, installation year and any replacements.
- Building automation system schedules and setpoints. Occupied and unoccupied schedules, setpoints, deadbands, and any overrides currently in place. Standing overrides are one of the most common findings in commercial audits and the cheapest to correct.
- Operating hours by space type. Not the posted hours. The hours the mechanical systems actually run, which are frequently longer.
- Maintenance records and recent capital work. Two years is usually sufficient. Recent work matters because it may already have addressed a measure the audit would otherwise recommend.
- Tenant mix and occupancy changes. This one is easy to overlook and it invalidates comparisons when missed. If tenant mix, operating hours or plug load density have shifted, historical utility averages no longer describe the building you have now.
- Comfort complaint log. Occupant complaints cluster geographically, and those clusters usually mark a real defect. A tenant who reports a cold office every January is providing free diagnostic data.
- Planned capital projects. If the roof is being replaced in eighteen months, envelope measures tied to that roof should be evaluated together rather than as standalone recommendations.
One practical note on sequencing: gather the utility data first and share it before the site visit. An auditor who has seen the consumption profile in advance arrives with specific questions rather than general ones, and the site visit becomes an investigation instead of an inventory.
Take this checklist with you
The preparation list above and the full on-site inspection categories below, formatted as a two-page printable checklist with tick boxes. No email required.
Download the Commercial Energy Audit Checklist (PDF)
Two pages · Printable · Prepared by Shahin Arvandi, Monolith Housing Solutions
Benchmarking the Building Before the Audit
Energy use intensity, expressed in energy per unit of floor area per year, converts consumption into a figure that can be compared against similar buildings. Calculating it before the audit is worthwhile because it tells you whether you have a performance problem at all, and if so, roughly how large.
Two cautions apply. First, EUI is sensitive to floor area definition; gross versus conditioned area produces materially different results, so state which you used. Second, a building can sit near the median for its type and still contain substantial recoverable waste, because medians describe a population that includes plenty of inefficient buildings.
Benchmarking sets scope. A building well above median for its type justifies a deeper audit level. A building near median may be better served by a targeted investigation of one or two systems.
The On-Site Inspection Checklist
What follows is organized by system. The depth applied to each depends on the audit level, but the categories stay the same.
Building Envelope
Envelope deficiencies are among the most persistent sources of heating and cooling load in commercial buildings, and they are frequently underweighted in audits. The reason is structural rather than negligent: most envelope items have no number attached to them, so they lose to measures that do.
Items to cover:
- Air barrier continuity. Where the air barrier transitions between wall and roof, wall and foundation, and around window openings. Continuity at these junctions matters more than the performance of any single material.
- Thermal bridging. Balcony slabs, shelf angles, parapets, structural penetrations and window framing. In older concrete construction these can account for a significant share of enclosure heat loss.
- Glazing condition. Seal failure, condensation between panes, frame and perimeter sealant condition, and the ratio of glazing to opaque wall.
- Penetrations. Mechanical and electrical penetrations, exhaust and intake louvers, and abandoned openings that were never sealed after equipment was removed.
- Below-grade and parkade interfaces. The boundary between a heated parkade and conditioned space is frequently undefined in practice, and air moves freely across it.
- Roof assembly. Insulation continuity, drainage, and the roof-to-wall transition.
Here is the point that separates a checklist item from an audit finding. A visual inspection produces statements like “insulation appears adequate” or “no obvious gaps observed.” Those are observations, not measurements. Air leakage is invisible; it cannot be confirmed or ruled out by looking at a wall, because the leakage paths that matter are inside the assembly.
Producing an actual number requires pressurizing or depressurizing the building and measuring the airflow needed to hold that pressure. That is what large building airtightness testing does, and it is why an envelope finding backed by a measured leakage rate carries weight in a capital plan while a visual note does not.
Locating the leakage is a separate step from quantifying it. A pressure test gives a whole-building figure; pairing it with infrared thermal imaging under pressure shows which junctions are producing that figure, which is what turns a number into a scope of work.
HVAC Systems
Usually the largest single end use, and usually where the fastest paybacks are found.
- Equipment age against expected service life, and current condition
- Control sequences, schedules, setpoints and any standing overrides
- Economizer operation, which fails silently and often
- Simultaneous heating and cooling, a common and expensive fault in older VAV systems
- Ventilation rates against occupancy, including whether the building is over-ventilating unoccupied zones
- Distribution losses, duct leakage and pipe insulation condition
- Filter condition and maintenance interval
Lighting and Controls
- Lamp and fixture types by area, with any remaining legacy technology flagged
- Occupancy sensors and daylight harvesting, including whether installed controls are commissioned and functioning
- Exterior and parkade lighting, which frequently runs continuously
- Lighting power density by space type against current code
Domestic Hot Water
- Plant type, age and efficiency
- Storage and supply temperatures, and recirculation loop control
- Pipe insulation, particularly on recirculation loops
- Fixture flow rates
Plug Loads and Process Equipment
- Tenant equipment density and any process loads unique to the occupancy
- Server and IT rooms, including whether they are cooled independently or through the main system
- Commercial kitchen equipment and exhaust, where present
- Elevators, pumps and other base building loads
What Separates a Checklist from an Audit
A checklist tells you what to look at. It is genuinely useful and you can work through much of it yourself. What it cannot do is tell you what any finding is worth.
An audit adds three things a checklist does not carry:
| Element | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Quantification | Each measure expressed in energy and cost terms rather than as a condition note |
| Financial analysis | Estimated cost, savings, payback period and life cycle value, so measures can be ranked against each other |
| Engineering verification | Measurement and modelling that confirm the savings estimate rather than assuming it |
The depth of that analysis is what the ASHRAE audit levels describe, from a walk-through assessment through to an investment-grade study. Which level a building needs depends on its complexity and on what the results have to support: an operating budget conversation needs less rigour than a financing application. The ASHRAE energy audit levels are set out on our service page.
The British Columbia Context
ASHRAE governs method, and that part transfers cleanly across borders. What does not transfer is the surrounding context, and it changes which measures move to the top of the list.
- Incentives are provincial: BC Hydro and FortisBC programs shape the economics of specific measures. A recommendation that carries a seven-year payback on paper may carry a four-year payback once an available incentive is applied, which is often the difference between a measure being approved and being deferred.
- Existing buildings and new construction follow different rules: The BC Energy Step Code governs new construction and major additions. It does not impose retroactive requirements on an existing building, so an audit of an operating property is driven by economics and by owner policy rather than by code compliance. Teams working on new buildings should look at BC Energy Step Code requirements instead, where the airtightness target is a condition of occupancy rather than an optional measure.
- Emissions reporting is becoming a parallel driver: Where a building is subject to carbon reporting obligations, the audit is producing inputs for two purposes at once, and measures should be evaluated on both energy and emissions terms rather than energy alone.
After the Audit: Turning Findings into Work
An audit report that sits unimplemented has cost money and saved none. Three things separate reports that get acted on from reports that do not.
- Sequence by disruption, not only by payback.
The highest-return measure is not always the one to do first if it requires taking a system offline during heating season. A sensible sequence groups work by access and by season. - Tie envelope measures to planned capital work.
Envelope improvements are expensive as standalone projects and comparatively cheap when a roof or cladding assembly is already open. An audit that identifies an envelope defect three years before a scheduled re-roof has delivered more value than one that identifies it three months after. - Verify that recommended controls work as designed.
A substantial share of audit findings in commercial buildings are control failures rather than equipment failures. Confirming that sequences operate as intended is the domain of building commissioning, and on an existing building this frequently returns more than any equipment replacement on the list.
Getting an Audit That Produces Numbers
The difference between an audit that changes how a building operates and one that produces a filed report is whether the findings carry measured values. Monolith Housing Solutions performs ASHRAE-framework energy audits for commercial, multi-unit and mixed-use properties across Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, with in-house airtightness testing and thermographic capability, which means envelope findings arrive quantified rather than described.
Frequently Asked Questions
What documents do I need for a commercial energy audit?
Two to three years of utility data for every fuel source and every meter, as-built architectural and mechanical drawings, an equipment schedule with ages and capacities, building automation schedules and setpoints, actual operating hours, maintenance records, and details of any recent change in tenant mix or occupancy. Sub-meter data and a comfort complaint log add significant value where they exist.
How long does a commercial energy audit take?
The site visit ranges from part of a day for a walk-through on a simple building to several days for a detailed investigation of a complex property. Analysis and reporting typically take longer than the site work. The larger scheduling variable is usually how long it takes to assemble the utility data and drawings.
What is EUI and how is it calculated?
Energy use intensity expresses total annual energy consumption across all fuel sources per unit of floor area. It allows buildings of different sizes to be compared against each other and against typical values for the building type. Because results depend on whether gross or conditioned floor area is used, the basis should always be stated alongside the figure.
Is airtightness testing part of an energy audit?
Not automatically. A standard audit inspects the envelope visually and notes what is observable, which cannot confirm or rule out air leakage because the leakage paths are inside the assembly. Where envelope performance matters to the outcome, a whole-building pressure test is added to produce a measured leakage rate that can be modelled and costed.
What is the difference between an energy audit and building commissioning?
An audit identifies where energy is being wasted and what it would cost to fix. Commissioning verifies that systems operate as designed and corrects them where they do not. They overlap, and on an existing building the two are often run together, because a meaningful share of audit findings turn out to be control problems that commissioning resolves without capital spending.
Do I need an ASHRAE Level 2 or Level 3 audit?
It depends on what the result has to support. A Level 2 survey and analysis is sufficient for most operating decisions and retrofit planning. A Level 3 investigation is warranted where a major capital project or external financing depends on the accuracy of the savings estimate, since the additional engineering rigour is what makes those figures defensible.
