Kelowna Step Code Requirements

Current Step: 3 | ACH Target: 2.5 ACH50 | Climate Zone: 5 | HDD: 3,715 | Mid-construction rebate: $325 | Permit Office: kelowna.ca/building

If you are pulling a permit for a new build house in Kelowna, the energy code is no longer an afterthought you bolt on at the end. It governs your wall assemblies, your windows, your mechanical sizing, and your occupancy permit. This page is the builder-focused walkthrough the City’s own site mostly skips: what Step 3 actually requires here, how the permit and inspection sequence runs, where Kelowna projects most often fail, and how to work with a local energy advisor so the paperwork does not stall your close.

What’s required right now

Step 3 has been the minimum for all new Part 9 residential buildings in Kelowna since June 1, 2021. Energy advisors must use HDD 3,715 in compliance reports, updated September 12, 2023, after the City refined its climate data inputs.

The airtightness target is 2.5 ACH50, verified by blower door test before occupancy. Most builders hit 2.5 with disciplined manual sealing and an attentive crew. Builders aiming higher are using aerosol air sealing to compress the timeline and lock in 1.0 to 1.5 ACH50 ahead of the 2027 transition. For the full ladder of airtightness thresholds and what each one demands of your crew, see the ACH targets by step reference.

Step 3 is a performance standard, not a prescriptive checklist. That means an energy model has to demonstrate your design meets the targets numerically — there is no “follow the R-value list and skip the modelling” path at Step 3. In practice, essentially every new Kelowna build now requires energy modelling plus an as-built blower door test.

Permit process at the City of Kelowna

1. Pre-construction. Energy advisor models the design in HOT2000 and produces a compliance report. Submit with your permit application. Expect 2 to 4 weeks for permit issuance for typical Part 9 builds.

2. Mid-construction (optional, recommended). Pre-drywall blower door test. The City of Kelowna offers a $325 rebate for this test, capped at 3 tests per builder per year. Catch leaks while you can still fix them.

3. As-built. Final blower door test plus updated compliance report. Required before occupancy permit.

The Building Permits desk runs out of City Hall, 1435 Water Street. Online submissions handle most permits; in-person reviews are available by appointment for complex multi-family or mixed-use projects.

One sequencing note that trips up first-time Step Code builders: the pre-construction compliance report is part of your permit package, not something you produce later. If the energy model is not done, your application is not complete. Build the energy advisor into your design timeline, not your construction timeline.

CSA F280-12 heat-load calculations Kelowna permits expect

Alongside the energy model, Kelowna building permit submissions for new homes typically require a CSA F280-12 heat-loss / heat-gain calculation to justify how your heating and cooling equipment is sized. F280-12 is the national standard for residential heat-load calculations, and it is what separates a properly sized system from the old habit of slapping in an oversized furnace “to be safe.”

This matters more in a tight Step 3 envelope than it did in a leaky 2005-era house. When you seal a building down toward 2.5 ACH50 and add the insulation levels below, the actual heat loss drops sharply — so the F280 heat-load number is smaller than rule-of-thumb sizing suggests. Oversized equipment short-cycles, wastes the efficiency you paid for, and can push your modelled energy use the wrong direction. The heat-loss calculation, the energy model, and the mechanical spec all have to agree with each other; an energy advisor or mechanical designer who does F280 work in Kelowna will reconcile them before the report is stamped.

If your permit reviewer asks for the F280 calc and your contractor has been sizing by square-foot rule of thumb, that is a delay you can avoid by raising heat-load calculations at the design meeting.

What HDD 3,715 means in practice

Kelowna sits in Climate Zone 5 with 3,715 heating degree days (base 18°C). For builders, that translates to:

• Wall assemblies need effective R-22 cavity plus R-7.5 exterior insulation to comfortably hit Step 3 prescriptive
• Window U-value of 1.4 W/m²K is the practical floor (most double-pane low-E with argon fills meet this)
• Slab edge insulation gets neglected often and shows up as a frequent compliance gap on Step 3 reviews
• HRV with 70%+ sensible recovery efficiency is becoming standard, not optional

Climate Zone 5 is the same band that covers Vernon, Kamloops, and Penticton, so an advisor who works across the Okanagan valley is reading from the same climate assumptions on your project as they would one valley over. The HDD figure feeds directly into the thermal energy demand targets your model has to clear — colder zones get stricter targets, so a build that would pass on the coast does not automatically pass here.

See wall assemblies for compliant build-ups and HVAC for Step Code for mechanical options that keep modeled energy use under target.

Working with a Kelowna / Okanagan energy advisor

Step Code compliance reports in BC must be signed off by a Registered Energy Advisor (REA) — a third-party building energy professional certified through a service organization licensed by Natural Resources Canada. They are independent from the builder, and their stamp is what the City accepts on your compliance documents. For the full breakdown of what an advisor does at each stage, see the energy advisor guide.

A Kelowna build touches an energy advisor at three points:

• Design / pre-construction. The advisor reviews your drawings, runs the HOT2000 model, confirms the targets are achievable, and produces the pre-construction compliance report you file with the permit.
• Mid-construction. An on-site pre-drywall blower door test after the air barrier is installed but before drywall closes it in. This is the test the City’s $325 rebate is built around.
• As-built / final. The final blower door test, verification that what got built matches the model, and the as-built compliance report required before occupancy.

A useful detail for Okanagan valley builders: the advisor does not have to be physically local for the design work. Drawings can be reviewed remotely — on-site presence is only needed for the blower door tests. So you can use an Okanagan-based advisor who knows Kelowna’s climate inputs and permit desk, while still having flexibility on scheduling the in-person testing days.

When you book your first meeting, bring: floor plans and elevations, building section drawings showing the insulation assemblies, your wall/roof/floor R-values and vapour barrier locations, the window and door schedule with U-values, and your mechanical spec (heat source, HRV, water heater). The more of that you have ready, the faster — and cheaper — the modelling goes. Confirm the required Step and HDD 3,715 up front so there is no rework.

Rebate stack for Kelowna projects

Source	Amount	Notes
City of Kelowna	$325	Mid-construction blower door test, max 3 per year
FortisBC New Home Program	$9,000 to $15,000	Step 4 with hybrid heat pump
FortisBC New Home Program	$11,000 to $20,000	Step 5 with hybrid heat pump
CleanBC Better Homes	$4,000 to $10,000	Heat pump rebate, stacks with FortisBC
Greener Homes Loan	up to $40,000	Interest-free for energy upgrades

Combined potential on a single Step 4 home: $15,000+ in straight rebates, more once you add heat pump and electrical service upgrades. Duplexes and triplexes multiply per dwelling unit. See the full Step Code rebates guide and the FortisBC rebates breakdown for stacking rules and current program eligibility.

Two things worth flagging for Kelowna builders. First, the City’s $325 is the only municipal line on this table — everything else is provincial, federal, or utility money, and program terms shift, so verify each before you budget around it. Second, the larger FortisBC and CleanBC numbers are tied to building above the Step 3 minimum (Step 4 / Step 5) and to heat-pump mechanical systems, so the rebate conversation and the Step 4 airtightness conversation are really the same conversation.

Common compliance gaps in Kelowna builds

After four years of Step 3 in the City, the recurring fail patterns are:

• Rim joist transitions. Spray foam stops short, gaps open at corners. Roughly 30 to 40% of mid-construction failures trace back here.
• Window rough openings. Backer rod missing, sealant skipped on the warm side. Easy fix, often missed.
• Service penetrations after drywall. Plumbers and electricians cut through the air barrier without resealing. Walk the trades through your air barrier strategy on day one.
• Attic hatch. No gasket, no insulation. Standard fail point, standard fix. See the air sealing checklist for the rest.

Two more that show up across BC field experience and apply just as much here: bottom plates (the gap between the bottom plate and subfloor is the single most common leak in residential framing) and the attached-garage interface, where the air barrier transition between the garage and living space gets neglected. Add those to your walkthrough.

Builders running a pre-drywall test catch these before drywall closes them in. After drywall the cost to fix triples. The economics are stark: the mid-construction test is the cheapest insurance you can buy, and with the City’s $325 rebate offsetting most of it, there is little reason to skip it on a build targeting tight airtightness.

What’s coming in 2027

Step 4 is expected provincially in January 2027, dropping the airtightness target to 1.5 ACH50. That’s roughly a 40% improvement over Step 3 and not achievable with sloppy framing plus caulking touch-ups. Builders capturing FortisBC rebates today by building above Step 3 are also de-risking the 2027 transition.

The practical path: run mid-construction blower door tests on every build now, take the $325 from the City, and use the data to dial in your air sealing approach before Step 4 lands. Crews that learn where their own builds leak — at 2.5 today — are the ones who hit 1.5 without drama when it becomes the floor. If you want a head start, the how to achieve 1.5 ACH50 guide covers the sealing strategy that gets you there.

Frequently asked questions

What Step Code does Kelowna require for a new house? Step 3 of the BC Energy Step Code, the provincial minimum, has applied to all new Part 9 residential buildings in Kelowna since June 1, 2021. The airtightness target is 2.5 ACH50, verified by a blower door test before occupancy.

Do I need an energy advisor for a Kelowna building permit? Yes. Step 3 is a performance standard, so a Registered Energy Advisor must model the building in HOT2000 and produce a pre-construction compliance report that goes in with your permit application, plus an as-built report and final blower door test before occupancy. The advisor can review drawings remotely; only the blower door testing requires an on-site visit.

Does Kelowna require CSA F280-12 heat-load calculations? New-home permit submissions in Kelowna typically require a CSA F280-12 heat-loss / heat-gain calculation to justify mechanical equipment sizing. In a tight Step 3 envelope the calculated heat load is lower than old rule-of-thumb sizing, so the F280 calc, the energy model, and the mechanical spec all need to agree before the report is stamped.

What is the City of Kelowna blower door rebate? The City offers a $325 rebate for a mid-construction (pre-drywall) blower door test, capped at 3 tests per builder per year. It is meant to encourage catching air leaks while walls are still open and cheap to fix.

What HDD does Kelowna use for Step Code modelling? Energy advisors must use HDD 3,715 (base 18°C) for Kelowna compliance reports, a value the City updated September 12, 2023. Kelowna is in Climate Zone 5, the same band as Vernon, Kamloops, and Penticton.

When does Step 4 take effect? Step 4 is expected to become the provincial minimum for Part 9 in January 2027, lowering the airtightness target to 1.5 ACH50 — roughly a 40% improvement over Step 3.

Next steps for your Kelowna project

• Run the rebate calculator for project-specific numbers
• Review the Step 4 readiness checklist
• Compare air sealing methods if you’re targeting below 1.5 ACH50
• See Step Code requirements by municipality for nearby Okanagan and BC jurisdictions