5 years ago we founded Smart Buildings Academy with the hopes of gaining 1,000 students by 2025. Today we are the largest vendor-agnostic provider of building automation training programs.
In the beginning of this journey it was just me and my co-founder, who happens to be my wife.
Along the way we've created 30+ training programs with over 2,000 hours of training lessons, 370+ Podcast episodes, thousands of blog articles, and we proved that online delivery is an effective delivery model for BAS training.
It wasn't an easy journey, along the way we've made mistakes, had people blatantly copy our training programs, and we've had to develop processes from scratch for delivering training.
In today's episode I am sharing the lessons learned from running a rapidly growing training business. In our traditional style, I'll share the good, the bad, and the ugly.
My hopes is that you all can learn from us and take away processes and strategies you can bring into your business.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we will be discussing troubleshooting BACnet MS/TP.
You will learn:
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to discuss how to properly select inputs and outputs for your BAS projects.
You will learn:
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we discuss server virtualization.
You will learn:
The different types of servers
How servers work
How server virtualization works
Why you would want to use a virtualized server
Security Certificates can protect your communications, ensure that rogue devices are not on your network, and verify the authenticity of the devices that do connect to your network.
But do you know what certificates are, how they work, and how to deploy them?
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to do a deep dive on security certificates.
Your backlog is full. You find yourself taking calls from GC's asking where your technicians are every, single, day!
You're expected to execute 10,000 man hours of labor with only 5,000 manhours of techs.
Welcome to the world of BAS project management, and the bad news is it's only getting more intense. Material shortages, labor challenges, and inflationary cost pressures make effective project management seem impossible.
The good news is there is a way to succeed as a project manager.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we discuss 10 tips to increase your project management effectiveness right now!
Things tend to fall apart after they are built, buildings are no exception.
Yet every day I'm seeing new construction projects completed with NO post occupancy maintenance strategy.
Do customers need agreements for planned service? If so what should these agreements include?
And most importantly how can you convince your customers to buy a planned service agreement.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to explore the scoping, selling, and execution of planned service agreements.
What is one of the biggest costs in a retrofit project.. wiring!
I remember back when wireless first hit the market. It was clunky, unreliable, and quite frankly a headache!
Not anymore!
Wireless systems are robust, fast, and effective.
But how do we use them? How do they work?
And how do we fix them when something goes wrong?
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we will explore the fundamentals of wireless systems!
Did you know that having a meter in the wrong place is sometimes worse than not having a meter at all?
In order to meet the increased demand for net-zero and energy efficiency we first must understand our energy use profile. In order to accomplish this we need to have meters!
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we discuss the different types of meters, where to place meters, how to tie meters into your BAS, and how to interpret metering data.
Did you know that the Inflation Reduction Act changes 179D to allow for a tax deduction of up to $5/sq foot for energy efficiency retrofits?
But this is dependent on your energy baseline!
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to look at how to perform a energy audit so that we can establish a baseline and identify potential retrofit solutions.
KNX is a protocol that is seeing increasing adoption across the United States.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we will research KNX together. Throughout the episode we will explore what the protocol is, how the protocol works, and what the protocol does.
In today's Smart Buildings Academy Podcast Episode we discuss 9 energy management strategies that you can implement right now to reduce your energy consumption and demand.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we lay out 7 tips for performing effective site audits for your building automation customers.
Building owners need to understand their current building systems to manage the increasingly aggressive energy standards and goals rolling out.
This episode will help you tackle this topic with actionable tips that work right now.
As one of the largest providers of training in the building automation industry we see employers investing millions to train their employees each year.
Yet our industry has a belief that employers do not want to train their people. This makes no logical sense on the surface. Trained employees stay longer, produce more profit, and deliver better customer satisfaction. Outside of those benefits, we have seen firsthand how many organizations now have strategic initiatives around talent development and retention.
Which begs the question do employers really avoid training their employees? Or do employees not know how to ask for training?
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to layout an ROI based approach to training requests. You will learn how to analyze your role and the impact prospective training will have on your role. You will then learn how to communicate the results of that training in such a way as to align with your employers strategic objectives.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we continue our deep dive on how to design IP controls layouts including ring, bus, and star topologies as well as how to deploy IP controls on both existing and new projects.
We will be using the whiteboard and exploring the three IP architecture types and how to design them
How do you design and deploy IP BAS controls for your BAS projects?
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to do a deep dive on how to design IP controls layouts including ring, bus, and star topologies as well as how to deploy IP controls on both existing and new projects.
If you've been wondering how to use IP controls on your new and existing buildings this is the episode for you!
Lately we've been seeing a lot of talk about "openness". This topic tends to pop up every couple years.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to discuss the four types of "openness", how to evaluate the openness of a building automation system, and specific specification language to clarify what open means to your project and organization.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we discuss how to transition from HVAC field work to Building Automation Work.
Lately we've received a lot of questions on how to transition from HVAC to BAS. In this episode we are going to tackle the financial and the technical side of changing careers.
Additionally we are going to discuss why you would want to switch from HVAC to BAS in the first place.
Chicago Public Schools is one of the largest School Districts in the United States.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast, Paul Valente with CPS takes us through how they have used technology and processes to deliver the optimal learning environment for their students.
In this episode we discuss integrating legacy assets, the importance of engaging IT in your capital projects, how to effectively deploy and utilize analytics, and much more.
It's that time of the year! All of that wonderful summer construction work is complete, and those warranty calls are coming in.
What was a profitable project is now slowly dying, death by 1,000 warranty calls. But what if it didn't have to be like this?
What if there was a way to avoid these warranty calls in the first place?
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast, we'll discuss 7 ways you can avoid non-billable warranty calls on your projects.
If you like having profitable BAS projects, then you'll want to tune in to this episode!
Installation makes up large portion of the labor costs on a building automation project.
So naturally if you can improve the efficiency of your installation work you'll see a good return on most BAS projects.
But how? What are the areas you should focus on as a BAS installer or as the manager/leader of installers?
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we will be discuss the key tips and tricks that will improve your installation efficiency.
Energy, comfort, sustainability.
What do these three words have in common?
These three, are just a few of the areas directly affected by building automation. Every day millions upon millions of square footage of buildings is being operated.
But, are these buildings being operated efficiently?
We've all seen the BAS computer from the 1970's sitting in the closet. That bright green text on the black screen beckoning us to setup a schedule or change a setpoint.
Why does it seem that some owners just don't use the system they spent thousands and maybe even millions of dollars on?
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we are going to unpack this topic and explore how to effectively engage owners in utilizing their building automation system.
Are you looking to grow your building automation business?
If so you're in the right place. In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we will be discussing how to scale the revenue of your business.
There's an old saying that the systems that got you where you are won't get you where you're going. I've seen this play out time and time again.
We are going to explore the foundational structures and systems needed to scale your building automation business.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast I discuss the upcoming Facilities and Campus Energy Summit with Monica Mckenzie.
We tackle the importance of policy, regulations, and training to achieve energy management and sustainability goals.
We also dive into the purpose of the summit and why I believe it is a valuable summit to attend.
Mechanical plans and specifications dictate a lot of what we do as building automation professionals but have you ever stopped to think about your approach to reading them?
In my experience a project's plan's and spec's can be your greatest ally or your greatest enemy.
In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we will be discussing how to read through plans and specs, what information you should look for, how to handle conflicting information, and much more.
I hope to see you there.