Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code for BC builders

The BC Energy Step Code sets five performance steps for Part 9 housing, with Step 3 the base code minimum since May 1, 2023; the Zero Carbon Step Code adds four emissions levels, EL-1 to EL-4, that local governments adopt by bylaw. What a builder has to deliver is an energy advisor’s model at permit, an airtightness result at the blower-door test (2.5 ACH50 at Step 3, 1.5 at Step 4, 1.0 at Step 5), an as-built compliance report at occupancy, and, where the municipality has adopted EL-3 or EL-4, a mechanical design with no gas for heating and hot water.

The Energy Step Code in one table

The steps are performance targets, not prescriptive assemblies. Each step is defined by an airtightness limit plus energy metrics (mechanical energy use intensity and thermal energy demand intensity, or a percentage improvement over a reference house) that vary by climate zone. The official tables are on energystepcode.ca.

How compliance actually works

1. Design and modelling. A registered energy advisor models the house in HOT2000 from the drawings: assemblies, windows, orientation, mechanical systems. The output is an as-designed compliance report that says which step the design meets. Most building departments want it with the permit application.
2. Build to the model. Every substitution matters: a cheaper window package, a different furnace, a change in the HRV. Tell the energy advisor before you change it, not at the final test.
3. Mid-construction blower-door test. Not required by the code, but the single best money you will spend. With the air barrier complete and before drywall, leaks are visible and fixable.
4. Final test and as-built report. At completion the advisor tests airtightness, verifies the installed systems and issues the as-built compliance report and the EnerGuide label. The occupancy permit usually waits for it.

Airtightness, the number builders fail on

Step 3’s 2.5 ACH50 is achievable with ordinary framing if the air barrier is continuous and someone owns it. Step 4’s 1.5 needs attention at every penetration and transition: rim joists, window rough openings, top plates to ceiling, service entries, the attic hatch. Step 5’s 1.0 is a different build culture. The common failures are not exotic: unsealed electrical boxes in exterior walls, tape that was never rolled, poly that stops at the top plate, a tub against an exterior wall with nothing behind it. Decide which layer is the air barrier at design, draw it continuously, and make one person responsible for it on site.

The Zero Carbon Step Code

Each level also has a performance path based on greenhouse gas intensity, which the energy advisor can model if you want a gas appliance in an otherwise electric house. In practice EL-3 means a heat pump for heating and a heat pump or electric water heater, and EL-4 means no gas service at all. The provincial code applies EL-1 by default; everything above it is the municipality’s choice.

How local governments adopt it

The Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code are written into the BC Building Code so that local governments can require higher levels by bylaw without writing their own technical rules. A municipality adopts them through its building bylaw, often with a schedule of increases and sometimes with different levels for different building types or sizes. The result is a patchwork: two municipalities twenty minutes apart can require Step 3 EL-1 and Step 4 EL-4. The province’s original roadmap set higher steps for 2027 and 2032 and EL-4 province-wide by 2030; the schedule has been under review, so check energystepcode.ca and the local bylaw rather than assuming. Before you price a house:

• Pull the current building bylaw for that municipality and find the Step and EL level for Part 9.
• Check whether the level changes on a date inside your permit timeline.
• Confirm which date locks the requirement: application, issuance or something else in the bylaw.
• Price the mechanical system for the EL level, not for the gas furnace you used last year.

What it costs and where the money goes

Step 3 over the old base is mostly labour and attention: air sealing, a better window package, an HRV. Step 4 adds insulation, better windows and usually a heat pump. Step 5 adds a thicker envelope and often triple glazing. The Zero Carbon levels shift money from gas service and a furnace to a heat pump and electrical service capacity; on an infill lot, the electrical service upgrade can be the surprise. Energy advisor fees, two blower-door tests and the EnerGuide label are a fixed cost per house that does not go away.

Paperwork the building department expects

• As-designed compliance report (energy advisor) with the permit application
• Mechanical design showing the heating, cooling (the 26°C room) and ventilation systems
• Mid-construction test result, if the municipality asks for one
• As-built compliance report and EnerGuide label before occupancy
• Zero Carbon compliance statement where the bylaw requires it

The 3-hour course in the CPD Pass covers all of the above with Part 9 examples and earns 3 CPD points. Its refresh trigger is any change to the Step Code, Zero Carbon Step Code or municipal adoption, so it is re-issued when the levels move. See Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code: Compliance in Practice, and the related code changes in BCBC 2024 Part 9 changes.