Title 24 CA: The Premier Commercial Property Specialist
[In 2021]

Why Use Landers Electric For your Title 24 CA Needs?

Landers Electric has over 10 years experience dealing with the intricacies of Title 24 in CA. Our top expert, Stephan, has spent much of his electrical career focused on the preplanning, design, installation, programming, and acceptance testing of high end commercial lighting control systems. Stephan’s knowledge has not only provided cost savings in the form of time and material, but also by giving contractors a more competitive edge in the bidding process.

Below are some of the markets Stephan has provided Title 24 services in:

1. Biotech

2. Government

3. Healthcare

4. Hospitality/Entertainment

5. Education

6. High Rise Residential

7. Class A High Rise Commercial

What California Title 24 Services Does Landers Electric Provide?

• PRE-PLANNING & DESIGN:
  The most important (yet most overlooked) part of Title 24 for contractors is the preplanning & design phase. Why? Because this is where the majority of your cost savings is to be found. There are many exceptions to Title 24 that can reduce and sometimes even eliminate lighting controls completely. Without a proper review, these savings will be missed. And once the design drawings have been approved and the submittal package has been released, it’s much more difficult to receive a credit back for materials. At the very least, your going to have to pay a restocking fee for the materials returned. This is why having a Title 24 expert review the lighting controls drawing prior to releasing the package is critical.

  Let’s look at a simple example.

  Let’s say you’ve landed a 20,000 sq ft lighting retrofit job in a scientific laboratory. You send off your contract drawings to your lighting rep and you get the first revision back. Upon review you see all the normal lighting controls components (power packs, occupancy sensors, daylight sensors, etc…). Everything looks good and you move forward.

  Sound good? Well, guess what? You just potentially spent a lot more money than was necessary.

  Let me explain.

  Section 130.1(C)1 of the Building Energy Efficiency Standards says that all installed indoor lighting must have occupancy sensors.

  What the problem then? It says we need occupancy sensors and we have them. Well, the part that most people miss is that most Title 24 requirements also come with exceptions. The very first exception in section 130.1(C)1 states that if the building is in continuous use, 24 hours/day, 365 days per year, you DO NOT have to provide occupancy sensors.

  That is HUGE!

  All those occupancy sensors that you just paid for were not required by Title 24. Not only could you have saved on material costs, but think about the cost savings in labor if you didn’t have to install 75 motion sensors.

  This exception and many others can be found in almost every sub-section of section 130.1 Mandatory Indoor Lighting Controls. This is why it’s so important to consult with the premier Title 24 expert, Landers Electric, to ensure the most cost effective lighting installation possible.

• INSTALLATION

  Having a properly planned and designed project is critical. The next important step is ensuring that the design specifications submitted on the NRCC’s are followed during the installation phase.

  This includes:

  1. Complete understanding of the purchased lighting control system

  2. Proper selection of backbone system controller location

  3. Precise wiring of line voltage devices

  4. Accurate connections of low voltage wiring

  5. Complete and detailed as-builts

  Correctly installing lighting controls systems ensures that the next steps (programming and Title 24 acceptance testing) will be easily completed.

• PROGRAMMING
  The programming of lighting controls systems can be extremely challenging considering the number of CA Title 24 code references that a programmer must have in his/her bank of knowledge.
  
  Let’s look at a few of these below:

  1. Certain areas within a building envelope must be programmed between 50-70% of available wattage output.

  2. Automatic time controls must be programmed for specific areas in buildings

  3. Exterior lighting must be programmed to an astronomical time clock

  4. Daylight zones must be programmed to be reduce by at least 65% when full daylight is present

  5. Demand response light levels must be programmed so that at the utility request the light levels dim by at least 15%, but no more than 50%

  As you can see, there are critical programming steps that must be completed for a project to be Title 24 compliant. Missing these steps has the potential to cause delays and ultimately a failed acceptance test, resulting in extra costs to the contractor.

• ACCEPTANCE TESTING

  Lighting acceptance testing is the final step to complete any project required to comply with Title 24 in California. As we have discussed previously, having a competent lighting acceptance test technician who understands the intricacies of the Building Energy Efficiency Standards and the Non Residential Compliance Manual is critical to passing your final inspection.

  Your lighting acceptance technician, whoever it is you choose, should have an extensive understanding of the following Title 24 code sections:

• Section 130.1(a) - Manual Area Controls

• Section 130.1(b) - Multilevel Lighting Controls

• Section 130.1(c) - Shut Off Controls

• Section 130.1(d) - Automatic Daylighting Controls

• Section 130.1(e) - Demand Responsive Controls

• Section 140.0(2)(I) Altered Indoor Lighting Systems

• Table 5-2 (Modified Table 141.0-F) - Control Requirements for Indoor Lighting System Alterations

Landers Electric: supporting California electrical contractors like you with all your Title 24 CA needs.