When Does a Residential Project Need an ECC-Rater?
A residential project needs an ECC-Rater when its certificate of compliance lists a measure that must be field verified. New single-family and low-rise multifamily buildings always have some, most HVAC alterations do, and other jobs only when a credit was claimed. Window and water heater replacements are named as alterations with no field verification.
- Choose your report
- Upload your plans
- Pay securely
- Permit-ready report by email
Sort the job into one of three groups
- Mandatory. The Commission's counter sheet calls verification by an ECC-Rater mandatory for every newly constructed single-family and multifamily building of three habitable stories or fewer. At four or more stories the installing contractors test, except indoor air quality.
- Prescriptive. The same sheet says verification is prescriptively required for most HVAC alterations.
- By credit. A performance model can claim credit for a whole house fan, rated heat recovery ventilator performance, reduced envelope leakage or a verified demand recirculation controller. Each credit becomes a test listed on the certificate.
The existing-conditions catch
An alteration modeled with verified existing conditions needs a rater before the paperwork can even be filed. The registry generates a CF3R-EXC-20-H listing the existing features to check, and a registered copy is a prerequisite to registering the CF1R.
What the inspector covers instead
A project with no listed measure still gets inspected. The compliance manual has the building inspector check window U-factor and SHGC at rough frame, insulation at the insulation inspection, then HVAC efficiency values and water heating efficiency values at final. The rater measures only what the certificate lists.
Booking and timing
The builder arranges the rater before installation so testing does not delay approval; on an alteration the owner or the owner's agent takes the builder's place. Where the department requires no plans for an alteration needing verification, the registered CF1R is approved before final inspection rather than before the permit. The department decides how it handles each case.
The full trigger list is under when verification is required, the preparation steps in preparing for an ECC-Rater, and the certificate layout in how to read your CF1R. Choose someone through finding an ECC-Rater, and see ECC-Rater vs HERS rater for the name change. Order from the residential page.
Common Title 24 Questions
- What is a CF1R certificate of compliance?
- What is a CF2R certificate of installation?
- What is a CF3R certificate of verification?
- What is an NRCC form?
- What is an NRCA certificate of acceptance?
- What is an LMCC form?
Frequently Asked Questions
It avoids duct tests only. The Commission's ADU FAQ says mini-splits may still need refrigerant charge verification, and a new vented range hood is verified by a rater.
In the ECC feature summary on a performance certificate, which was called the HERS feature summary before the 2025 forms.
Explore ECC-Raters
- My ECC-Rater Was Suspended or Decertified: Is My Test Still Valid?
- Where Do I Get My CF3R, the Former HERS Certificate?
- How Do I Complain About an ECC-Rater or Ask for a Refund?
- Is an ECC-Rater a City Inspector? Who They Work For
- The Project Owner Report and Consumer Information Form: What the ECC-Rater Owes You
View all ECC-Raters guides → · CHEERS and ECC · Title 24 guide