“It’s like computers sold for different uses,” he said, noting that “the combination of the two with, obviously, cloud computing becoming much easier to access and the cost of it being more viable, the inception of BACnet, and then the ability for all of these different controllers and PLCs to communicate with different pieces of equipment… that adoption has created companies that have allowed us to use tools to drive more efficiencies and do more automation.”

What’s changed recently is that automation isn’t just possible – it’s becoming the way buildings operate.

Jay Fiske, president of Powerhouse Dynamics, knows how this matters on the front lines for HVAC contractors managing hundreds or thousands of locations.

“Managing your HVAC equipment, lighting, and other heavy energy loads is really, really difficult,” he said. “When you can add automation, controls, and sensors to that equipment across locations, now you’ve got a fighting chance to manage those systems effectively. In some ways, you can think about Open Kitchen’s energy management like Nest – but on steroids.”

Pilgrim and Fiske both describe the same shift: technology has stopped being boxes and wires and started becoming software-driven automation that uses real-time data and cloud connectivity to drive efficiency.

“Automation has long been possible, but what we’ve capitalized on is making it practical by combining cloud computing and BACnet,” Pilgrim said. “The ability to do automation in the cloud and communicate through BACnet and different protocols is driving efficiency in buildings.”

That means instead of ripping out equipment or spending millions on retrofits, you can work with what a building already has, upgrading control systems with software. The result? Energy savings often hitting 30 to 40 percent – without irritating tenants or shutting things down.

Smart sequencing of rooftop units is a great example. Fiske explains how staggering HVAC system operation avoids big spikes in utility demand charges – sometimes up to half a site’s energy bill – cutting costs by as much as 20 percent.

“You get this subset of units that are really struggling or underperforming, that need maintenance now,” Fiske said. “Before it’s 7 p.m. on a Friday and you get the comfort complaints, let’s get out ahead of that issue, because those reactive service calls tend to happen at the worst possible time when your facility is busy... Now you’re paying time and a half, it’s disruptive, maybe you have an uncomfortable environment, and guests are starting to leave.”

Part of that automation is allowing contractors and building staff to see what’s happening remotely in real time, turning what was traditionally a reactive scramble into preventive maintenance based on data.

Parity sees buildings doing more than just saving energy – they’re working with the grid. Pilgrim calls it “turning the building into a battery” by reducing consumption so that energy can flow where it’s most needed.

Demand response events are happening more often, driven by rising energy consumption and extreme weather.

“This grid interactivity is emerging as a critical piece of the decarbonization puzzle,” Pilgrim said.

The Boots on the Ground

None of this happens without contractors. Their boots-on-the-ground knowledge of equipment, regional climates, and tenant needs remains vital. But now they need fluency in cloud platforms, BACnet, and automated control strategies. The hardware will always need repair and replacement, of course. But the real game is mastering software-driven building performance.

Bryan Conklin, PE, CBCP and Application Engineering Manager at BrainBox AI by Trane, adds a crucial perspective on the limits and strengths of modern AI-driven automation.

“This is not a fix for your traditional mechanical system issues,” Conklin explained. “We can’t fix your stuck damper or a failed fan – that still absolutely needs a person on site.” Instead, these advanced controls act as a supervisory layer, continuously extracting and analyzing data every five minutes, writing back new setpoints, and – crucially – recognizing when something’s not working as expected.

“If we are writing to a supply temperature setpoint and the air handler can’t maintain it, our system will try to auto-determine what’s going wrong and flag it for attention,” he said. This creates a feedback loop where the AI can alert staff to priority issues and even help pinpoint likely mechanical culprits – streamlining troubleshooting, but not replacing skilled maintenance.

Conklin’s key message: autonomous optimization is “not an analytics platform in the sense that it’s providing lots of reporting back to you.” Instead, it’s about freeing up local teams from constant monitoring, letting AI coordinate routine adjustments, and surfacing actionable issues faster. “If we can take that whole aspect and put it in autopilot, we can now let [maintenance teams] spend their time where it’s better served.”

It’s worth noting that while companies like Parity, BrainBox AI, and Powerhouse Dynamics all leverage cloud, automation, and open protocols, each takes a slightly different approach. Parity is focused on holistic, cloud-based automation for multifamily buildings, optimizing energy use and enabling participation in demand response programs directly from the cloud. Powerhouse Dynamics, with its Open Kitchen platform, specializes in multisite commercial and retail environments, offering remote equipment control, forecasting, and early warnings – all designed to make facility management scalable across hundreds or thousands of disparate sites. BrainBox AI, meanwhile, is pushing the frontier on autonomous, AI-driven building control: layering predictive analytics and machine learning onto real-time data to proactively optimize comfort and performance, while escalating only true mechanical problems to on-site teams.

What unites them is a move away from the “firefighting” model of facility management and toward platforms that allow for smarter, strategic, and often predictive building operations – but their underlying architectures and strengths reflect the unique demands of the sectors they serve.

While the system can’t “self-heal” equipment, it helps contractors work smarter, surfacing real problems sooner so techs can focus effort where humans matter most.

“HVAC today is about autonomously controlling buildings remotely, using cloud and BACnet to meet both efficiency goals and grid demands,” Pilgrim said. It’s a new kind of HVAC work – more strategic, data-driven, tied tightly to cost savings and sustainability.

For contractors ready to adapt, this is a call to learn these new tools, speak grid-interactive building language, and deliver outcomes beyond traditional equipment fixes. HVAC’s future isn’t coming – it’s here. Those who get ahead will build smarter businesses and more resilient buildings.