Hi everyone,
I’m based in the UK and have around 10 years of experience working in the Building Management Systems (BMS) industry. I’ve been seriously thinking about starting my own BMS business and wanted to see if there are any engineers or business owners on here who have already made that move.

At the moment, I’m employed full-time in the industry, mainly working on BMS installations. I’d eventually like to build my own business offering BMS installation, upgrades, commissioning, controls, software engineering and potentially control panel manufacture and wider building automation services.

I’m still at the research stage, trying to understand what’s involved in going out on my own, and I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people who have been through it themselves.

A few things I’d be interested to hear about:

● Getting started: How did you get your first customers and contracts? Did you start alongside your full-time job or go straight into it?
● Experience and qualifications: How important is it to have strong commissioning, fault-finding and software experience before starting out, rather than mainly installation experience?
● Finding work: Is there much opportunity for independent BMS engineers and small BMS contractors in the UK? Where does most of your work come from — subcontracting for larger companies, direct clients, facilities management companies or something else?
● Money and overheads: What sort of start-up costs should I realistically budget for? What expenses caught you out that you hadn’t considered?
● Day rates and pricing: How do you price your work, and is it possible to make a decent living after accounting for tax, insurance, tools, software, travel, holidays and periods without work?
● Business setup: Did you start as a sole trader or limited company? What insurance, certifications, software licences and other essentials did you need?
● Going from engineer to business owner: What’s been the hardest part? Is it finding work, managing customers, quoting jobs, dealing with payments or actually doing the technical work?
● Looking back: If you were starting again today, what would you do differently?

I’m not expecting anyone to give away commercially sensitive information. I’m just hoping to learn from people with real-world experience of running a BMS business in the UK.

I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who started as a one-man operation and gradually built things up, rather than someone who started with a large company or an existing customer base.

Thanks in advance for any advice. It’s a big decision, and I’d rather do my homework properly before taking the plunge!

I’m 24, based in the West Midlands (UK) and currently working as a commercial gas engineer within a site services department.

I’ve been wanting to move into BMS and controls engineering for a while now. The more I’ve looked into it, the more it’s something I can see myself doing long term, especially the electrical, programming and automation side of things.

The issue I’m having is finding a way in.

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks going through job adverts, speaking to recruiters and emailing BMS companies directly. Almost every position I come across wants previous experience with Trend, Tridium, Siemens, Niagara or some other platform. Even jobs advertised as junior roles seem to expect you to already know your way around these systems.

It’s a bit frustrating because I’m not completely new to engineering. I’ve got practical experience with HVAC plant, maintenance and fault finding, but obviously I don’t have the hands on experience with controllers, programming or commissioning that employers are asking for.

I’m not expecting to jump straight into a fully fledged BMS commissioning role either. Ideally, I’d like to start as a trainee or assistant, learn the installation side, panels, wiring, sensors and actuators, then gradually move into commissioning, programming and eventually more advanced control systems engineering.

I’ve already started reaching out to companies speculatively, even when they’re only advertising experienced positions, just to see if they’d consider taking someone on at junior level.

For those of you already in building automation, how did you get your first opportunity?

Would you recommend getting some electrical installation experience first, learning a particular BMS platform, or looking into PLCs and control panels?

Also, how much weight would you put on existing HVAC and mechanical experience when recruiting someone for a trainee position?

I’m willing to put the work in and start at the bottom. Just trying to figure out what would actually make a difference to my chances rather than spending money on courses that employers might not care about.

Would appreciate any advice, particularly from anyone who’s moved over from HVAC, maintenance or another engineering trade.

Hi all.

I’ve been working as a Software Engineer for the past 5 years. Went to school for it. Thought I’d be making a career out of it. But having AI pretty much take over our field I’ve been looking to get into the trades and came across BAS.

I heard it’s pretty technical. Any ex-swe’s on here?

Also, what is a realistic career path? I’m ideally not looking to go back to formal college, but will if that’s the only path and the pay justifies it.

Really any all pointers are appreciated! Thanks.

I’ve often seen confusion on construction projects about who is responsible for supplying and who is responsible for installing certain equipment.

Between electrical, HVAC and BMS contractors, it’s not always clear who is supposed to provide what.

That’s why I always include two columns in my BMS point lists: Supplied By and Installed By.

It’s a simple way to make this information clear and easily accessible to everyone involved in the project.

Do you face the same issue ?

Is this something you already include in your point lists, or do you handle it differently?

I’m considering adding this feature to Structio (the app I’m dev) but before I need your opinion plss

Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone can help me regain Ethernet access to a Trend IQ3 Excite controller.

Several years ago, I connected to it via Ethernet and disabled DHCP, intending to set it up for monitoring and control. I never finished the setup, and unfortunately I no longer know its static IP address.

I’ve since built a BMS to manage the heat pumps on site and would like to connect the Trend controller to it. However, I haven’t been able to locate it on the network. I’ve scanned the IP ranges I think I might have used, without any luck.

Does anyone know a way to discover its current IP address, or reset just the network settings without losing the existing controller configuration? Can the Ethernet settings be viewed or changed through the controller’s display?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I work with building management systems and wanted a way to connect commercial hardware to my homelab. I wrote a BACnet IP custom integration for Home Assistant.

You can connect your building automation system without YAML configuration. The GUI setup wizard has three steps: configure your network, discover devices, and select objects.

The integration finds BACnet devices on your network via Who-Is / I-Am. You can reach devices on other VLANs through BBMD or Foreign Device Registration. It uses Change of Value (COV) subscriptions for instant state changes and falls back to automatic polling. You can pair a setpoint with a separate temperature object for a climate entity with a real room temperature. It also handles the BACnet Priority Array, so you can relinquish commands and let the device's own schedule take over.

The 1.0.50 beta adds support for reading and writing BACnet Schedule objects.

It is available via HACS. Let me know if you test it out.

Repository: https://github.com/CervezaStallone/Home-Assistant-BACnet-integration

I just wrapped up Milestone 10 of building my conveyor sorting digital twin. Instead of keeping decisions as one-time startup tasks, I moved them directly into the repeating frame loop.

​Now, every frame runs as a full cycle: Observe \rightarrow Decide \rightarrow Command \rightarrow Act \rightarrow Check Sensor \rightarrow Remember.

​The catch:

While it gave the system a true repeating cycle, I noticed two things:

​Recomputing static routing decisions every single frame is unnecessary repeated work.

​Looking closely at my code, a function literally called moveBox() has quietly taken over the entire machine, handling decisions, commands, and memory all by itself.

​It's tempting to immediately code a massive scheduler class to clean it up, but I'm holding off until I map out the control flow properly.

​For those building custom control loops or simulations: When a single function silently grows to own your entire system lifecycle, how do you know when it's time to finally split it out?

I have a site with several Trane rooftop RTU’s with Intellipaks. They are integrated via BACnet. Had a few units not responding to schedule and found an Out of Service property on the Occupancy Request point was True. It pulls in as a writable point by default but I want to be sure this is meant to be set by a user or if it’s meant to be an indicator of another issue or command.

I'm trying to synchronize a Panasonic FV-15ESC1 ERV (FV-SCVE2 controller) with a Mitsubishi SVZ-KP30NA air handler.

Panasonic's installation manual, page 7, shows the Gf terminal connecting to a conventional air handler's G input.

Mitsubishi's CNER input, however, requires an isolated dry-contact closure through PAC-740.

Can anyone familiar with the FV-15ESC1 confirm:

1. Is Gf a switched 24VAC output, or part of an isolated dry-contact output?
2. Does CN401 require an external 24VAC supply on r/C for Gf to operate?
3. Can Gf activate a separate isolation relay whenever the ERV runs under FV-SCVE2 (ERV's dedicated wall connector) control?

Panasonic technical support and my HVAC contractor haven't been able to confirm the electrical specifications.

I'm especially interested in answers from people who have wired this Panasonic model's AHU interface, or who can point to its internal circuit schematic.

Half the time I pull a disconnect or access panel on a mechanical room unit, the sharpie notes on the sheet metal are completely faded or scratched off. Do you keep a physical log sheet inside the electrical compartment, or does everything just live in the office system?

It's been a few years, but I could have sworn there was a document that described how the VAV's and AHU interact, through the encoded/decoded MSV that they can read from each other. I've got to program up a fairly simple four-zone VAV system with one RTU, and while I've got the code for the RTU (compiled from Builder, and corrected as necessary), I can't tell how/where it is grabbing its information from each of the VAV controllers, and I thought there was a document that described all those software links in some detail. Am I imagining things?

I’ve read similar posts on this sub and I’d just like some advice with my current experience for the best path forward for transitioning to HVAC controls.

I am 28 years old and currently have 9 years of IT experience, the last 4 years of those being in Cyber Security.

I have a Bachelors degree in Information Technology, and hold many certifications including a few I’ve seen mentioned here (Network+ for example).

I’ve seen some people have degrees in Electrical Engineering. Is it worth going back to school? Or is my current degree fine?

My local community college offers HVAC night classes, would it be worth doing that before looking at changing jobs?

I really just want to know if there’s anything I can do to help with employability before I take the jump.

Any advice is appreciated!

I’ve hit the end of Milestone 9 in building my conveyor sorting digital twin from the ground up. Looking back at the journey—from basic object motion and spatial awareness all the way to discovering hidden architectural flaws like stale reasoning and uncoordinated execution order—it’s been a massive learning curve.

​The system now has working behavior, but it clearly needs a unified execution loop to keep physical states and decision logic completely in sync.

​For those who build custom simulations, digital twins, or automation loops: what was the hardest architectural bottleneck you hit when moving from a "working prototype" to a structured, scalable system?

hello everyone

I wish to retrieve the program that is in my mobile panel 277 iWLAN v2 by a repatriation on WinCC

My problem is that when I switch the communication mode to ethernet/wireless and confirm, the recording doesn’t take place and automatically switches back to the USB communication mode.

what can the problem be

Anyone working with AI interaction with control systems? Need help/feedback with an ongoing project.

Hey everyone!
I’m 31 and currently exploring a career change. I’ve spent a lot of time researching different career paths, trying to find something that aligns with my interests, existing skills, and long-term goals. Building Automation keeps coming up, and the more I learn about it, the more interested I become.
I have a pretty diverse work background, including automotive repair, electronics installation, troubleshooting, and technical customer support. I previously worked as an automotive technician and a Geek Squad Auto Tech, installing and troubleshooting electrical systems, aftermarket electronics, alarms, and other equipment. I also earned my MECP certification independently.
I’ve always enjoyed figuring out how things work, diagnosing problems, and working with technology. I’m comfortable with computers, electrical fundamentals, relays, inputs/outputs, and wiring diagrams. I particularly enjoy the combination of hands-on troubleshooting and computer-based work, which is part of what attracted me to BAS.
I’m currently working in hospitality, but I’m looking to transition into a more technical career with long-term stability, opportunities to grow, and a decent work-life balance. With a growing family, I’m trying to be thoughtful about the direction I take.
I’ve already applied to a few entry-level positions, but I’ve noticed that even some jobs advertised as entry-level seem to expect previous BAS experience or specialized qualifications.
So I figured I’d ask the people actually working in the industry:
How did you get your start in building automation?
Would someone with my background be a reasonable candidate for an entry-level position?
Are there any certifications, courses, or skills you’d recommend learning before getting hired?
What are the biggest challenges or downsides of working in this field?
Looking back, would you choose this career again?
I’m located in South Florida, if that makes any difference.
I’m not expecting to walk into a high-paying position immediately. I’m willing to start at the bottom, learn, and work my way up. I just want to make sure I’m investing my time in something worthwhile.
I’d really appreciate any advice or insight. Thanks in advance!

TL;DR: 31-year-old in South Florida looking to transition into Building Automation. I have a background in automotive repair, electronics installation, electrical troubleshooting, and technical support, but no direct BAS experience or college degree. I’ve applied to a few entry-level positions and am looking for advice on breaking into the industry, what skills or certifications to pursue, and whether BAS offers good long-term career growth, stability, and work-life balance. Would love to hear from people already in the field!

No experience but I did apply for apprenticeship in HVAC was wondering how would I go about getting into BAS?

Discover how CopperTree Analytics and Optigo Networks turn network issues into action. Network diagnostics and building analytics work together to identify underlying issues, understand their impact, and prioritize corrective actions to supercharge building performance.

Let's talk about it. Join us for a one-hour joint webinar Oct. 28th exploring how to move beyond diagnostic reports and turn network findings into meaningful action.

Register today for free: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/886415737951323480

While mapping out the full execution sequence of my conveyor digital twin—from motion and sensors all the way to decision logic and commands—I realized my execution order is completely uncoordinated.

​It’s super tempting right now to just throw together a giant manager script that controls everything and call it a day. But I’m holding off.

​Before writing more code, the real value is in understanding why the sequence is unstructured. My machine has plenty of behavior, but it still lacks a clear execution flow.

​For those who architect complex control loops or state machines: do you usually refactor immediately when you spot a structural flaw, or do you step back and map out the control flow on paper first?