Optimal Start Graphics
This lesson explains why optimal start control strategies are often misunderstood, poorly tuned, and undervalued, not because the logic is wrong, but because there’s no clear way to visualise and prove performance. In many BMS projects, optimal start is only checked to see if it works, not whether spaces are reaching setpoint on time or how much energy is being used to achieve it.
The key takeaway is that a dedicated optimal start graphic is critical. It allows you to tune performance properly, balance comfort and energy efficiency, and clearly demonstrate value to the building owner. Without proper graphics, trends, alarms, and reporting, optimisation becomes a “trust us” exercise. Strong visualisation turns optimisation into something measurable, defensible, and commercially valuable, supporting better outcomes and stronger long-term maintenance contracts.
Optimal Start Introduction (extract from the Graphics Design course)
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Bryce Anderson
For the first 15 years of my career (1998-2013), I worked for BMS companies (2 years in South Africa, 9 years in London, and 4 years in Australia). For the next +10 years (from 2014 onwards), I have worked as a BMS specialist consultant. I originally studied process instrumentation and controls.
In my consulting business (which accounts for 80% of my working week), I design (write specifications) and review BMS contractor technical submissions, witnessing and signing off on BMS projects from all major BMS systems and a wide range of different BMS companies, including global tier-1 manufacturers and smaller system integrators.
This puts me in a unique situation where I have visibility into what everyone is doing. The experience I share in the membership is comprised of my own 15 years of designing BMS systems, writing software code, commissioning, service, and project management (across three different regions), over 10 years of BMS specialist consulting, as well as the best aspects of what the industry has to offer.
This exposure to the wider industry allows me to provide customised training courses that not only teach the technical side of the BMS, but also address current real-life issues and constraints in the Building Management System industry.
I am not just teaching you what I learnt, but the best of what everyone else is doing.
