Does Multi-Family HVAC Work Need Title 24?
Usually yes. Replacing or altering space-conditioning equipment is a regulated alteration, and on a multi-family building it matters whether the systems are central or per-unit.
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Per-unit systems
Where each dwelling has its own equipment, the work resembles a house repeated: replacing an air handler, a condensing unit or a coil is a regulated alteration, and where ducted systems are involved the ductwork comes into scope with the equipment. Done across every unit in a building, that is a substantial amount of regulated work and a substantial amount of verification if the measures require it.
Ductless equipment changes the picture, because there is no duct system to seal or test. That is one reason heat pumps without ducts are common on multi-family retrofits — the compliance route is simpler as well as the installation.
Central systems
Where conditioning or water heating is served centrally, the plant is treated as part of the building rather than of any one unit. Replacing or altering it is regulated on that basis, and on a high-rise multifamily building the mechanical scope is documented on the nonresidential and high-rise multifamily forms rather than the low-rise set.
What decides the amount of process
Whether any altered measure requires field verification and diagnostic testing. If none does, the compliance documents can be produced without being registered in an approved registry. If any does, the certificates have to be registered and a certified rater has to verify the work on site, which is a scheduling commitment across however many units are involved.
On a building of any size that distinction is worth establishing before the equipment is specified, because it can be influenced by the choice of system rather than merely discovered after it.