Southern Independent Testing Agency

Southern Independent Testing Agency HVAC & Building Performance Specialists
Test & Balance | Commissioning | Blower Door Testing
Improving comfort & energy efficiency

09/09/2026

Most building owners assume cutting energy costs means replacing equipment. It usually does not. 💰

Re-commissioning an existing building typically cuts energy use by 15 to 20 percent without a single piece of new equipment. Here is why that number is real.

Most buildings drift out of balance over time. Dampers stick. Valves slowly close. Sensors read wrong. Control sequences run inefficiently. The building still works, but it is working at 70 to 80 percent of its design efficiency. You are paying for the waste every month.

Re-commissioning fixes that. We measure current airflow and water flow, adjust dampers and balancing valves back to design intent, recalibrate sensors and controls, and optimize chiller and boiler staging. No capital project. No new equipment.

Cost is typically between $5,000 and $30,000 depending on building size. At 15 to 20 percent energy savings, most buildings recover that in one to three years. After that it is straight savings every month.

If your building is more than five years old and has never been re-commissioned, you are almost certainly leaving money on the table.

Want to know what your building could save? Reach out at [email protected] or call 813.949.1999.

09/08/2026

A system that's running isn't always a system that's balanced. 🔧

We measure every point across that duct, so we know exactly how much air is moving and whether it matches the design.

Want to know what your building is actually delivering?

Happy Labor Day to everyone in the trades who keeps buildings comfortable, efficient, and safe. The work matters, and so...
09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day to everyone in the trades who keeps buildings comfortable, efficient, and safe.

The work matters, and so do the people who do it.

09/05/2026

Most builders wait until closeout to commission. By then, walls are closed, equipment is locked in, and fixing anything means cutting into finished work. 🏗️

If we're hired while the building is still open, we catch control conflicts, sequencing issues, and installation errors while they're still cheap to fix.

Wait until closeout and you're cutting walls, rewiring controls, and pushing handover. Owners start asking questions. Budgets blow. Fingers get pointed.

09/04/2026

TAB gets cut from budgets more than almost any other line item on a commercial build. It is seen as optional. It is not. 🔧

Here is what actually happens when it gets skipped.

The building opens. Occupants start moving in. Within weeks the comfort complaints begin. One side of the floor is too hot. Conference rooms are freezing. The bathrooms smell because exhaust is not pulling correctly. The owner calls the GC. The GC calls the mechanical contractor. The mechanical contractor adjusts a few things. Nothing changes because the real problem is airflow distribution and nobody has measured it.

Now somebody has to hire a TAB firm after the fact to come in, measure everything, and figure out what is wrong. That costs more than if TAB had been included from the start, because now the building is occupied, scheduling is harder, and any fixes require disrupting tenants.

On top of that, an unbalanced system runs inefficiently from day one. Higher energy bills. More wear on motors and equipment. Shorter equipment life. Those costs compound every month the building operates without being properly balanced.

TAB on a commercial building typically costs a fraction of one percent of the total construction budget. What it prevents is worth many times that.

If you are building or managing a commercial project and TAB is not in the scope, it needs to be. Reach out at [email protected] or call 813.949.1999.

09/03/2026

Most people have never seen this tool used on site.

It's how we prove a building performs exactly as designed, not just how it looks on paper.

Follow for more from the field.



The Tool Nobody Notices

09/03/2026

Here is a mistake we see on commercial builds that costs owners tens of thousands in wasted energy and early equipment failure. 💨

It comes down to static pressure. The resistance your HVAC system pushes against every time it moves air through ducts, filters, and equipment.

When the ductwork is undersized for the volume of air being pushed through, the system works twice as hard to deliver what the space needs. That means higher amp draw, faster motor wear, rising energy bills, and spaces that never quite reach comfort.

The worst part? The mistake is usually on the drawings. Signed off. Built to spec. Nobody catches it until the owner is six months in and the utility bill makes no sense.

This is exactly what commissioning and TAB catch. We measure actual static pressure in the field, compare it against design assumptions, and flag undersizing before the building is handed over.

Static pressure is invisible. But it is not optional.

Not sure if your system was sized correctly? Reach out at 813.949.1999.

08/27/2026

Anyone can hand you a number. Not everyone can tell you what it means.

Certification and accuracy get you accurate readings. What makes the difference is a team invested in what happens after the report is filed.

That's the partner you're choosing when you choose SITA.

Our team shows up every day ready to do the job right. That's what sets us apart.
08/26/2026

Our team shows up every day ready to do the job right. That's what sets us apart.

Most building owners do not think about re-commissioning until something is obviously wrong.By then, the energy waste ha...
08/25/2026

Most building owners do not think about re-commissioning until something is obviously wrong.

By then, the energy waste has been running for years, the comfort complaints have been piling up, and the systems are significantly further from design intent than anyone realized.

Here are 3 signs your building is telling you it needs retro-commissioning, and what it costs to keep ignoring them.

Save this if you manage a commercial or institutional facility.

Address

140 Whitaker Road Suite A
Lutz, FL
33549

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+18139491999

Website

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