Center for the Built Environment

Building operations link the building, its performance, and end-users. When there is a mismatch between users’ comfort provision expectations and operations processes, complaints can arise and building performance can suffer. Adopting optimized complaint handling processes can help diagnose performance problems, and thus support improved building performance. There is little discussion in academic literature about this path to improved performance. Using two US Class A office buildings as cases, we describe the components that make up an enhanced complaint handling process, discuss the social dynamics of complaints in buildings and explain how the process potentially contributes to a type of “continuous commissioning.”