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Hudson Pacific Properties, a west coast office owner, cycled through three FDD platforms over several years as it tried to bring a non-performing Seattle office building under Washington’s EUI targets. Each attempt created work, not outcomes.
“The first FDD try we made was one of those… black box, plug it in, lots of rules, lots of noise,” said Todd Sparrow, Director of Engineering at Hudson Pacific Properties. “Your engineering team spends a lot of time negotiating with the provider on how to change the rules so the red light’s not blinking.”
A second platform swung the pendulum the other way—clean dashboards, no engineering support. “They said, ‘We don’t know a lot about buildings, but we know data,’” Sparrow said. “That didn’t work very well either.” The vendor exited the market shortly after Hudson exited the contract.
The fourth attempt changed the structure, not the software. Hudson paired Clockworks Analytics with its mechanical contractor, MacDonald-Miller, and shifted responsibility for interpretation, prioritization, and follow-through away from the owner.
Clockworks handled onboarding. MacDonald-Miller ran centralized analysts who triaged issues, validated fixes with field techs, and met with Hudson on a recurring cadence. “It wasn’t rocket science,” said James Donahue of Clockworks. “Overridden equipment, stuck dampers, bad sensors—dozens of small things added up."
The combination of Clockworks and MacDonald-Miller turned FDD into a managed operating function, with analysts prioritizing issues, technicians validating fixes, and a fixed cadence that kept work moving. That let Hudson’s engineering team focus on approving and executing fixes instead of tuning rules or debating alerts. The software mattered—but only once someone else was accountable for making it work.
If you’d like to learn more, here are some ways to stay updated on stories like this:
Hudson Pacific Properties, a west coast office owner, cycled through three FDD platforms over several years as it tried to bring a non-performing Seattle office building under Washington’s EUI targets. Each attempt created work, not outcomes.
“The first FDD try we made was one of those… black box, plug it in, lots of rules, lots of noise,” said Todd Sparrow, Director of Engineering at Hudson Pacific Properties. “Your engineering team spends a lot of time negotiating with the provider on how to change the rules so the red light’s not blinking.”
A second platform swung the pendulum the other way—clean dashboards, no engineering support. “They said, ‘We don’t know a lot about buildings, but we know data,’” Sparrow said. “That didn’t work very well either.” The vendor exited the market shortly after Hudson exited the contract.
The fourth attempt changed the structure, not the software. Hudson paired Clockworks Analytics with its mechanical contractor, MacDonald-Miller, and shifted responsibility for interpretation, prioritization, and follow-through away from the owner.
Clockworks handled onboarding. MacDonald-Miller ran centralized analysts who triaged issues, validated fixes with field techs, and met with Hudson on a recurring cadence. “It wasn’t rocket science,” said James Donahue of Clockworks. “Overridden equipment, stuck dampers, bad sensors—dozens of small things added up."
The combination of Clockworks and MacDonald-Miller turned FDD into a managed operating function, with analysts prioritizing issues, technicians validating fixes, and a fixed cadence that kept work moving. That let Hudson’s engineering team focus on approving and executing fixes instead of tuning rules or debating alerts. The software mattered—but only once someone else was accountable for making it work.
If you’d like to learn more, here are some ways to stay updated on stories like this:
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This is a great piece!
I agree.