Of the thirteen Canadian commercial audit firms we reviewed in October 2026, one published budget bands and twelve published nothing at all. Price opacity is the main reason building owners do not enquire. So: here is what drives the fee, what the schedule really looks like, and what we need from you before the clock starts.
An honest answer to "what does an audit cost" is a range, because the work genuinely varies by an order of magnitude between a 15,000 square foot retail unit and a 400,000 square foot hospital with a central plant. Firms resolve that by publishing nothing. We would rather publish the drivers, so you can place your own building inside them before you pick up the phone.
We quote a fixed fee, in writing, after a scoping conversation. Not an hourly rate, not a fee range that firms up later. If the scope changes, we tell you before the work changes.
| Driver | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1. ASHRAE level | The largest single factor. Level 2 is typically several times a Level 1; Level 3 adds field measurement, logging and a calibrated model on top of a Level 2. |
| 2. Systems complexity | A single rooftop unit and a central chiller plant with a building automation system are not comparable work. Process load, steam, refrigeration and multiple air systems each add scope. |
| 3. Data availability | The driver owners consistently underestimate. Complete utility data, a floor area schedule, drawings and an equipment list can take a meaningful share off the fee. Reconstructing utility history across tenant accounts adds to it. |
| 4. Floor area and number of buildings | Not linear. A portfolio of similar buildings costs much less per building than one-offs, because the method and the baseline approach are reused. |
| 5. Programme documentation | Writing to a specific programme's required outline and preparing the application is real work. Tell us the programme up front and it is cheaper than retrofitting the report later. |
Ask for the fee net of funding. Enbridge Gas funds up to 50% of a commercial energy study, to $10,000 commercial or $20,000 institutional, where the building burns at least 100,000 m³ of gas a year. IESO's XLerate cost-shares project feasibility studies at 50%. On an eligible building, the net cost of a study can be half the quoted fee or less — and that is a different capital conversation. Both require pre-approval before the work starts. How that works.
Two firms in this market publish timelines, and they are measuring completely different things — one quotes 9 to 13 weeks end to end, another quotes a three-business-day assessment. Both can be true; they are not the same scope. Here is ours, with the part most schedules forget included.
| Stage | Typical duration | Who holds it |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping and fixed-fee proposal | 2–5 business days | Us |
| Incentive pre-approval, where required | 4–6 weeks | The programme administrator |
| Data collection and utility history | 1–3 weeks | You, mostly — this is the usual bottleneck |
| Site survey | 1–3 days on site | Us |
| Logging, where the level requires it | 2–4 weeks running in background | Us |
| Analysis and reporting | 2–4 weeks | Us |
| Review meeting and final issue | 1 week | Both |
Level 1: roughly 2 to 4 weeks from data availability. Level 2: 4 to 8 weeks. Level 3: 8 to 16 weeks. Add the pre-approval stage in front of all three where a programme requires it.
The two stages we do not control — programme pre-approval and your utility's data turnaround — sit at the front. An owner who starts eight weeks before a filing deadline has usually already lost the incentive route, even though the audit itself would have fitted.
Having these ready is the cheapest thing you can do to reduce both the fee and the duration.
We will give you a bracket on the phone once we know the level, the floor area, the systems and the data position — and a fixed figure in writing shortly after. What we will not do is quote before knowing those four things, because the number would be meaningless.
Sometimes, and you should know how it is paid for. Utilities fund some walk-through assessments directly, which is genuinely free to you. A contractor offering a free audit is recovering the cost on the work it recommends — see why we sell no equipment.
Yes, and for portfolios we usually recommend it: Level 1 across all buildings first to find where the opportunity concentrates, then Level 2 only on the buildings that justify it. Auditing twenty buildings to Level 2 when three hold most of the saving is a waste of your money.
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Request a proposal
A compliance deadline, an incentive application, a financing requirement, or a capital plan. Tell us which, and we will tell you what you need and what it will cost — as a fixed fee, before any work starts.
If you do not need an audit, we will say so.