Building units: Setting up & entering data – Scaler

Purpose of this article

This article explains how to set up building units in Scaler's Data Collection Portal, covering required data fields, floor area configuration, meter linking, and Building Performance Standards compliance.

Understanding building units

Building units represent distinct spaces within an asset, such as tenant-leased areas or functionally separate zones. Unit-level data enables granular performance tracking, tenant engagement, sub-metering workflows, and regulatory compliance reporting.

When to use building units:

Multi-tenant assets where different tenants occupy separate spaces

Assets with multiple use types (e.g., mixed-use buildings with retail and office)

Regulatory requirements that assess performance at the unit level (e.g., Local Law 97 in NYC)

Tenant engagement and sub-metering workflows

Building units vs. assets:

Assets represent entire buildings or properties (Asset groups for multiple buildings)

Building units represent subdivisions within an asset

Unit-level data aggregates up to the asset level (except for certifications)

Required data fields

Building units require specific fields to enable analytics, compliance tracking, and reporting. Incomplete data will prevent accurate calculations and may result in "Missing Data" flags in analytics.

Core identification fields

Client unit ID — Your internal identifier for the building unit (required for tracking and bulk uploads)

Unit name — Descriptive name for the building unit

Unit address — Physical address of the unit (if different from the asset address)

Property classification fields

ESPM Property type — The ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager property type for this unit (required for Building Performance Standards compliance)

ESPM Property subtype — The specific property subtype within the broader ESPM category (required for BPS compliance)

These fields determine applicable emissions thresholds for Building Performance Standards assessments. If multiple units within an asset have different property types, Scaler calculates a weighted average threshold based on floor area distribution.

Floor area

Unit floor area — The total floor area of the building unit

Critical requirement: The sum of all unit floor areas within an asset must match the asset's GFA - Tenant area field. This ensures accurate apportionment when meters are shared across units and enables Building Performance Standards compliance calculations.

Where to verify:

Unit floor areas: Data Collection Portal → Asset → Building Units

Asset tenant area: Data Collection Portal → Asset → Reporting Data → Floor Areas → GFA - Tenant area

Why Building Performance Standards require complete floor area coverage

Building Performance Standards like NYC Local Law 97 calculate compliance at the building level based on how space is used. Mixed-use buildings have weighted emissions limits based on floor area assigned to each property type.

To accurately calculate a building's emissions limit, Scaler must:

Allocate 100% of the building's tenant floor area

Assign each portion to a specific use/property type

Apply the correct emissions factor to each portion

Aggregate these into a single building-level emissions cap

If any unit floor area is missing, the property-type weighting becomes incorrect and compliance status cannot be reliably determined. This is especially critical for mixed-use properties where different use categories have different thresholds.

Tenant details (optional)

Additional fields capture tenant-specific information for occupancy tracking and tenant reporting:

Tenant name — The name of the tenant occupying the space

Leased area — The portion of Unit floor area that is leased to the specific tenant

Move-in date — The date the tenant began occupancy

Break date — The date the lease agreement was terminated or is scheduled to end

Notice period — The number of days' notice required under the lease terms

Why provide tenant details?

While not required for compliance calculations, tenant details improve data quality and operational insight:

Clear allocation of occupied vs. vacant space — Helps explain year-on-year performance fluctuations and supports audit-ready narratives

Improved tenant-level reporting — Enables tenant-specific energy allocation and sustainability engagement

Support for partial leasing — Track shared or subdivided spaces without duplicating units

Time-based occupancy tracking — Understand when spaces were occupied during reporting periods

Stronger audit trail — Provides context for why performance shifted or data gaps exist

Building Performance Standards: Local Law 97

Building unit data is required for Scaler to assess compliance with Building Performance Standards (BPS) like NYC's Local Law 97.

What are Building Performance Standards?

Building Performance Standards are regulatory policies that set mandatory emissions or energy use thresholds for buildings, with enforcement deadlines and penalties for non-compliance.

How Scaler assesses LL97 compliance:

Scaler automatically flags whether an asset is Compliant, Non-Compliant, has Missing Data, or is Not Applicable (N/A) based on:

Jurisdiction check — The asset must be in New York City (confirmed by zip code or city name)

Size threshold — The asset's total gross floor area must be 25,000 square feet or larger

Threshold calculation — Scaler calculates the applicable emissions target based on Property type and Property subtype of each unit. If multiple types exist, a weighted average threshold is applied based on floor area distribution

Compliance evaluation — The asset's actual GHG intensity is compared to its applicable threshold

Where to find compliance status:

Analytics Portal → Portfolio → Asset List → column BPS: Local Law 97 Asset

Requirements for BPS compliance calculation:

To ensure your assets are assessed correctly, complete the following for each building unit:

Property type (should be a property type recognized by ESPM)

Property subtype (should be a property type recognized by ESPM)

Unit floor area

Units must collectively match the GFA - Tenant area of the asset

All fields must be valid for the reporting year

Important: Even if an asset is a single-use building, the Building Units page must reflect that with a single unit entry. Otherwise, the asset will be labeled as "Missing Data."

Where to manage BPS inputs:

Data Collection Portal → Asset → Asset Details — Confirm asset location (City, Country, Zip Code)

Data Collection Portal → Asset → Floor Areas — Ensure GFA - Tenant area is accurate

Data Collection Portal → Asset → Building Units — Populate required fields for each unit

Note: Scaler currently only considers the asset's total gross floor area being 25,000 square feet or larger to flag compliance. Additional criteria for tax lot groupings and condominiums may be supported in future releases. Additional BPS frameworks beyond LL97 will also be added.

Certifications at building unit level

Certifications can be entered at both the asset level and the building unit level. Understanding when to use each level ensures certifications appear correctly in analytics and reports.

Use asset level for most certifications:

Whole-building certifications like LEED, BREEAM, NABERS, Energy Star

Tenant-specific certifications like LEED Commercial Interiors, WELL Building Standard, Fitwel

Partial building certifications covering only certain floors or areas

Even if a certification only covers part of your building, enter it at the asset level and specify the covered area. This ensures the certification appears in portfolio-level analytics, dashboards, and report exports.

Use building unit level only when:

You need to track certifications purely for internal tenant relationship management

You specifically do not want the certification to appear in portfolio-level reports

Important: Certifications entered at building unit level do not appear in portfolio-level analytics dashboards, report exports (GRESB, GRI, etc.), or asset-level summary views.

Linking meters to building units

Meters can be linked to building units to enable unit-level energy analysis and metric calculations. The same meter can be linked to multiple units (e.g., shared meters serving multiple tenants).

How meters interact with asset-level meters:

Asset-level meters capture consumption for the entire building

Building unit meters can be dedicated (serve only one unit) or shared (serve multiple units)

When a meter is linked to multiple units, Scaler uses the Unit floor area of each building unit to apportion consumption for unit-level metrics

Linking meters manually

For individual building units or small numbers of meters:

Navigate to Data Collection Portal → Asset → Building Units

Click the edit icon on a building unit row

Select the Linked meters tab

Click Link meter

Select one or more meters from the available list

Save changes

Creating new unit-specific meters: New meters specific to a building unit can be created directly within the unit data drawer via the Add new meter button. These will appear both in the building unit's linked meters and in the main asset Meters & Consumption section.

Linking meters via Scaler Spreadsheet (bulk upload)

For multiple building units or large-scale meter linking:

Navigate to Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Asset List

Select the assets to download

Click Download → Custom Selection

Select the following sections:

Meters & Consumptions → Energy Meters, Water Meters, or Waste Meters (to reference Meter ID values)

Building Units → Building Units - Details (to reference Client unit ID) and Building Units - Linking meters

Download the template

In the Building Units - Linking meters sheet, add one row per meter-to-unit link using the required fields: Scaler asset ID, Client asset ID, Asset name, Client unit ID, Meter ID

Upload the completed spreadsheet via Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Asset List → Upload

Important considerations:

Building units and meters must exist in Scaler before links can be created

Removing a row from the spreadsheet and re-uploading will unlink that meter from the building unit

Deleting a meter from the Meters section automatically removes all associated building unit links, even if those links still exist in the Building Units - Linking meters sheet

Troubleshooting & common mistakes

"Missing Data" flag for BPS compliance → Verify that Property type, Property subtype, and Unit floor area are complete for all units. Confirm that unit floor areas sum to the asset's GFA - Tenant area.

Certifications not appearing in portfolio reports → Check whether certifications were entered at building unit level instead of asset level. Move them to asset level if they should appear in portfolio analytics.

Meter consumption not apportioning correctly → Verify that Unit floor area is accurate for all units sharing the meter. Scaler uses floor area to apportion shared meter consumption.