Commissioning

Commissioning is the structured process of testing, verifying, and documenting that an installed system performs to its design specification before handover to the client. It applies across multiple trades and industries - electrical, audio-visual, HVAC, renewables, and building automation - and is a distinct phase separate from installation. Installation puts components in place; commissioning confirms they work correctly, individually and together, and that the documentation exists to prove it.

For project-based businesses, commissioning is significant not just as a technical step but as a payment milestone. Most stage payment schedules in AV, electrical, and renewables work tie a substantial final payment - often 20-35% of the contract value - to the completion and sign-off of commissioning.

What Commissioning Involves

The commissioning process follows a defined sequence regardless of the trade involved. Pre-commissioning checks confirm the physical installation is complete and ready for testing: connections are correct, terminations are made, and equipment is installed per the design drawings.

Functional testing then verifies each individual component or circuit performs correctly in isolation. For electrical installations, this includes insulation resistance testing, polarity checks, earth fault loop impedance measurement, and RCD operation testing. For AV systems, it covers signal flow verification, control system response, DSP parameter confirmation, and IP address allocation. For solar PV, it includes open-circuit voltage testing, string current measurement, and inverter commissioning against the design kWp.

Integrated testing confirms the complete system works as a whole - this is where cross-system issues appear that were invisible in individual component testing. The commissioning phase closes with documented sign-off: test certificates, as-built drawings, firmware versions, serial numbers, and a formal acceptance document signed by the client or their representative.

Commissioning as a Payment Milestone

For trades and project-based businesses, completed commissioning - not just physical installation - is the specific trigger for the final or near-final payment. Electrical contractors cannot issue an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) without completing formal testing and inspection; the EIC is required documentation before most clients will release the final invoice payment. AV integrators in most commercial contracts require a signed commissioning sign-off before the final 10-20% payment is released. Solar installers must complete an MCS commissioning report before the customer can apply for Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments, making the commissioning record directly tied to the customer's financial return on their installation.

The practical risk is commissioning delay. Projects that run late into installation without planning the commissioning phase face a documentation backlog - missing serial numbers, incomplete test records, firmware versions not noted at the time - that delays sign-off and holds the final invoice for days or weeks. Building commissioning checkpoints into the works order from the start, and using eForms to capture test results and sign-off in the field, eliminates that delay.