Sequences of Operation: The Document That Decides Whether Your Building Performs

Most owners think they’re errecting a building: envelope, HVAC, controls, finishes.

In reality, you’re buying a set of operating decisions that will play out every hour for the next 30–40 years.

If those decisions are not written down—clearly, completely, and early—you don’t get “high performance.” You get expensive equipment doing whatever the last person to touch the controls thought was reasonable.

That gap between design intent and real operation is where budgets and energy targets quietly die.

A Sequence of Operations (SOO) is how you close that gap. It’s not paperwork. It’s the building’s operating playbook.

1) Owners don’t lose money because equipment is “bad”

They lose money because systems are under-specified, then interpreted in the field.

A vague SOO forces the controls contractor to guess. And when contractors guess, they guess toward:

·       fewer service callbacks

·       fewer coordination headaches

·       simpler logic, even if it wastes energy

·       manual overrides when something gets unstable

That’s not malice. It’s what happens when the owner’s outcome isn’t written into the operating logic.

A strong SOO prevents the most common (and expensive) result: a technically “complete” project that never operates as intended.

2) What an SOO actually does

Think of the SOO as the building’s decision tree:

·       What is the system trying to maintain? (temperature, humidity, pressure, IAQ, demand limits)

·       What is the preferred strategy? (recover energy first, then generate)

·       What happens as conditions change? (seasons, occupancy, weather extremes, utility signals)

·       What’s the fallback when something fails? (alarms, safeties, reset behavior, operator handoffs)

If this isn’t defined, the building can’t “operate to plan,” because the plan doesn’t exist.

3) “Modern” buildings make this risk worse, not better

High-performance projects often include more interdependent systems:heat pumps, DOAS, energy recovery, heat recovery chillers, demand control ventilation, advanced lighting controls, submetering, dashboards.

That complexity isn’t the problem. Undefined coordination is the problem.

A capable SOO goes beyond on/off commands. It defines:

·       priority logic (what runs first and why)

·       reset strategies (supply air temp, static pressure, hot water, chilled water, ventilation rates)

·       staging and load sharing (how systems cooperate instead of fighting)

·       alarm thresholds and response (what matters, what doesn’t, and what to do about it)

·       trend points and sequences to verify (so commissioning and monitoring can prove performance)

This is how you stop “high performance” from turning into “high complexity with high bills.”

4) Where most projects go wrong

Owners should recognize these as early warning signs:

The SOO shows up late.If the SOO is treated as a late deliverable, the project is effectively building hardware first and “writing the software” after.

Generic sequences get pasted in.Manufacturer boilerplate is not an operating strategy. It’s a starting point at best.

No one ties the SOO to owner outcomes.If the SOO doesn’t reference what the owner is protecting—comfort, resilience, operating cost stability, tenant experience—it won’t deliver it.

Poor trade coordination.Mechanical, electrical, and BAS scope gaps don’t look dramatic in meetings. They look dramatic in year one operations.

These issues don’t just cost energy. They create change orders, finger-pointing, and permanent loss of controllability.

5) Commissioning is only as strong as the SOO

Commissioning isn’t “checking boxes.” It’s proving that the building behaves as promised.

A clear SOO allows a commissioning agent to:

·       test each sequence objectively

·       document pass/fail

·       leave the owner with a baseline they can trust

When the SOO is vague, commissioning becomes negotiation. And negotiation is not a substitute for proof.

A well-written SOO also sets you up for monitoring-based commissioning later. Analytics only works if you’ve defined what “normal” is.

6) What owners get when they demand a real SOO

This is the owner-value case, in plain terms:

·      Lower operating cost volatilitySystems cooperate. Resets reduce waste. Overrides become exceptions—not the default.

·      Fewer “mystery problems”When logic is defined and trended, you can diagnose. Without it, you guess.

·      Stronger operations staff performanceOperators don’t need tribal knowledge to run the building. They have a playbook.

·      Cleaner accountabilityWhen something underperforms, you can point to the sequence and the trend data—without opinions.

If you care about NOI stability, this is what “controls” actually means.

7) Treat the SOO as risk management, not documentation

In a building, risk is uncertainty:

·       uncertainty about operating cost

·       uncertainty about comfort and tenant complaints

·       uncertainty about whether savings will persist after turnover

·       uncertainty about how systems behave under stress conditions

A strong SOO reduces uncertainty by putting operating intent into enforceable logic.

That’s why owners who operate serious assets treat the SOO like insurance: it’s cheap compared to the cost of a building that can’t be proven.

8) What capable owners do next

If you’re developing, retrofitting, or re-controling a building, these steps prevent the usual outcome:

1.     Require the SOO early (before final design and equipment selection and before controls pricing is locked)

2.     Make it owner-specific (your comfort targets, your risk tolerance, your operating philosophy)

3.     Review it with the full delivery chain (engineer, controls contractro, commissioning agent, operator rep)

4.     Tie it to functional testing (the SOO is the test plan backbone)

5.     Update it to “as-built” after commissioning (owners deserve the truth, not the design draft)

6.     Demand trend points that prove performance (so optimization isn’t guesswork)

Takeaway

Design creates potential. A Sequence of Operations determines whether you ever realize it.

If you don’t control the operating logic, you don’t control the building’s performance—no matter what you paid for the equipment.