Title 24 Form Codes and Suffixes Explained

Every nonresidential form code has three parts — the family (which stage), the discipline (which system), and a suffix (who may sign it). Read those three and a name like NRCA-LTI-03-A stops being opaque.

Part one: the family tells you the stage

NRCC — Certificate of Compliance. Design stage, submitted with the permit application. "This design will comply."
NRCI — Certificate of Installation. Signed by the installer. "What we built is what was approved."
NRCA — Certificate of Acceptance. After a functional test. "It works as required."
NRCV — Certificate of Verification. A diagnostic measurement of the building.

Residential work has the parallel set: CF1R compliance, CF2R installation, CF3R verification. Multifamily uses LMCC for the low-rise multifamily compliance path.

Part two: the discipline tells you the system

ENV — envelope
MCH — mechanical
LTI — indoor lighting
LTO — outdoor lighting
LTS — sign lighting
PLB — plumbing and domestic water heating
PRC — process, meaning covered process equipment
ELC — electrical power distribution
SAB — solar and battery

Three of those regularly surprise people. Sign lighting has its own code rather than sitting inside outdoor lighting. Electrical power distribution is a regulated component in its own right. And solar and battery has its own code now that PV is required on many new nonresidential buildings.

Part three: the suffix tells you who signs

-E — a document, prepared and signed rather than tested
-A — an acceptance test requiring a technician certified through an approved provider
-F — a test a field technician may perform
-H — a registered rater, working through a provider's data registry

This is the most commercially useful part of the whole naming system, because -A and -F have very different consequences. An -A form means finding and scheduling a certified technician; an -F form can often be done by the specialist contractor already on site.

Every form in the covered process family carries -F. Lighting controls and mechanical acceptance tests are -A. That single letter is the difference between two quite different end-of-job exercises.

Putting it together

NRCA-LTI-03-A reads as: acceptance test, indoor lighting, number three in that set, certified technician required. It is the daylighting responsive controls test.

NRCI-PRC-E reads as: certificate of installation, process systems, a document rather than a test.

NRCV-MCH-24-H reads as: certificate of verification, mechanical, registered rater — the building air leakage diagnostic test.

Why learning this saves time

A plan check comment asking for a form you have never heard of is much less alarming once the name itself tells you which stage it belongs to, which system it covers and who has to sign it. Most of the time the code answers all three questions before you look anything up.