What Does Compliance Margin Mean on a Title 24 Report?
The compliance margin is the standard design's energy budget minus the energy your proposed design uses. Zero or higher means the performance approach is met; a negative number means the house uses more than its reference house. It is measured in the code's own long-term cost and energy units, so it is not a bill forecast.
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Whose margin is it?
Under Section 150.1(b), a building complies when the energy calculated for the proposed design is no greater than the budget for the standard design. The margin is the leftover room. The standard design is not a fixed target: the software builds it from your own house, in the same location with the same floor area and volume, then inserts the Table 150.1-A features. A margin therefore compares your house with its own reference, which is why margins from two different projects are not directly comparable.
Which lines carry a margin
A new single-family building has three: source energy, efficiency LSC and total LSC, plus a separate peak cooling limit. An addition or alteration is compared on LSC only. The manual describes each as a separate comparison with its own budget, so a surplus on one line is not a cushion for another.
What moves it
- Departing from the prescriptive package shows up directly. The manual's example is a central gas furnace against a heat pump reference, which significantly raises heating source energy.
- Equipment or installation quality above the minimum can add margin, but only if an ECC-Rater verifies it.
- PV and battery storage move total LSC and leave efficiency LSC untouched.
For the reasons a result fails, use how to read a failing result, and for how much cushion to hold before construction see how much margin to keep.
What the margin is not
LSC is the Commission's projected present value of costs to California's energy system over 30 years, and the code states that it does not represent a prediction of individual utility bills. A large positive margin does not promise a lower bill, and a margin of zero does not mean a house is inefficient. Efficiency LSC and total LSC are explained on the energy budget page.
Where you see it
The results sit on the CF1R; how to read a CF1R walks the page order. Orders start on the residential report page.
Common Title 24 Questions
- What is Title 24?
- Do I need a Title 24 report?
- How much does a Title 24 report cost?
- How long does a Title 24 report take?
- What is included in a Title 24 report?
- What plans do I need to upload?
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The proposed design only has to use no more than the standard design budget, so zero or greater complies on every applicable measure.
No. The budget is measured in long-term system cost, which the code says does not predict individual utility bills.
Explore Performance Calculations
- What Is the Title 24 Energy Budget? LSC, Source Energy and the Old TDV
- Which Title 24 Performance Credits Need an ECC-Rater Test?
- Why Did My Project Fail Title 24? How to Read a Failing Result
- Efficiency LSC vs Total LSC: Why Solar Cannot Fix a Failing Efficiency Result
- Existing + Addition + Alteration: How the Performance Method Works
View all Performance Calculations guides → · Reports and Calculations · Title 24 guide