Commercial Lighting-Only Tenant Improvement: Title 24 Requirements
A lighting-only tenant improvement is regulated under Section 141.0(b)2I once the work includes 10 percent or more of the luminaires serving an enclosed space. You then pick one of three routes, file NRCC-LTI-E with the permit and NRCI-LTI-E at installation, and have installed controls tested by a certified technician.
- Send your plans
- Get a free quote
- Approve it
- Report in 4–5 business days
The 10 percent test, room by room
The count is made per enclosed space, not per floor. Below 10 percent the rule is not triggered. At 10 percent or more, Section 141.0(b)2I offers three routes:
- Full compliance with the Section 140.6 power limits and every control in Table 141.0-F.
- No more than 80 percent of the allowed power, with a lighter control set: Table 141.0-F drops multilevel, daylight responsive and demand responsive controls and the 600 square foot office zoning clause.
- A one-for-one swap in a building or tenant space of 5,000 square feet or less that cuts total wattage by at least 40 percent, with that same lighter control set.
What sits outside the rule
Exceptions cover adding controls or replacing only lamps, ballasts or drivers, a room with a single luminaire, portable fixtures and fixtures on moveable partitions, and one-for-one swaps of up to 50 luminaires per complete floor or complete tenant space per year. New wiring is not excused: rewiring counts as an alteration, new or completely replaced circuits need the separate control of general, display and decorative lighting in Section 130.1(a)3, and existing controls must keep working.
Paperwork and testing
The NRCC-LTI-E goes in with the permit application, and the installer signs the NRCI-LTI-E. Shut-off controls are tested on NRCA-LTI-02-A and daylight controls on NRCA-LTI-03-A by a certified lighting controls technician before the occupancy permit. Adding controls to 20 or fewer luminaires needs no acceptance test. The manual names a change in which fixtures are daylight controlled as the kind of change order that needs building department approval.
If diffusers or thermostats move in the same job, read lighting and HVAC together. The general rule is on lighting alterations, the test steps on lighting acceptance, and the forms on the NRCC page. We quote through our commercial service.
Common Title 24 Questions
- When does a commercial project need Title 24?
- Does an office tenant improvement need Title 24?
- Does a restaurant remodel need Title 24?
- Does a retail tenant improvement need Title 24?
- What plans are needed for a commercial Title 24 report?
- What is an NRCC certificate of compliance?
Frequently Asked Questions
It can. If the swap covers 10 percent or more of the luminaires in a room it is an alteration, unless it fits the exception for up to 50 one-for-one luminaires per floor or tenant space per year.
No. Only the disciplines the permit touches are documented, so a relight files the lighting certificates and nothing for mechanical.
Explore Commercial Lighting
- Commercial Lighting Power Density Under Title 24
- Commercial Occupancy Sensor Requirements Under Title 24
- Commercial Outdoor Lighting Control Requirements
- Commercial Sign Lighting Title 24 Requirements
- Commercial Track Lighting Title 24 Requirements
View all Commercial Lighting guides → · Commercial Title 24 · Title 24 guide