What changed in the 2024 ASHRAE 90.1 update that affects your bids

The 2024 edition of ASHRAE 90.1 tightened minimum equipment efficiencies across several categories that land on commercial sheet metal bids. If you're not already pricing to the updated baseline, the "code minimum" selection in your current equipment library is light - sometimes by four figures, sometimes by five on a big packaged job.

Here's what moved, where it hits the bid, and what to check.

Packaged rooftop units, ≥65,000 Btu/h

The 2024 minimums for EER and IEER climbed roughly 3-5% across several capacity bands. The OEMs responded with different combinations: some are running the same frame at slightly higher SEER2 with better compressors and coils, others moved to hybrid configurations with a modulating compressor or an inverter scroll.

The material cost on the box is up 6-12% depending on manufacturer, and the labor lines on installation don't change much. If you're pricing a 40-ton RTU on a pre-2024 library, you're low. Check model numbers in your equipment schedules against the 2024 minimum efficiency standards and re-price anything that quotes against a spec dated after the code adoption in your jurisdiction.

Unitary heat pumps

Heat pumps below 65,000 Btu/h got a step change in 2024 - the minimum HSPF2 moved up, and the minimum cooling efficiency followed. Split systems are less affected because OEMs were already selling above minimum for marketing reasons, but the base-tier packaged heat pumps from a couple of manufacturers had to move up a tier in most applications.

Air handlers with built-up cooling coils

The Fan Energy Index (FEI) requirements tightened, which most obviously affects the fan selection inside AHUs and the static pressure assumptions for the ductwork feeding them. If the mechanical engineer drew the system to an older code baseline and the spec references "code minimum," you may be pricing a fan that's going to show up as non-compliant at submittal.

VAV terminals and fan-powered boxes

No headline change on the boxes themselves, but the controls requirements and the bypass-damper restrictions tightened enough that the selection trees for some fan-powered applications now default to ECM-motor boxes where the library used to have a PSC option. Check your equipment library for anything that previously defaulted to PSC.

What to do this week

• Update your equipment schedules. Our shipped templates reflect the 2024 baseline.
• For any bid with a spec referencing "latest adopted ASHRAE 90.1," assume 2024 unless the jurisdiction explicitly hasn't adopted yet.
• If you bid a project in Q1 2026 on an older equipment library, look at the equipment lines. The material move is real.
• Flag any bid where the equipment schedule references pre-2022 model numbers. They're not code-compliant if the job goes under the new baseline.

This is the sort of thing that doesn't show up as a line item on the change order. It shows up as a 3% margin hit at bid close and a question six weeks into the job about why the equipment package priced the way it did. The fix is upstream: get the library current, and the bid gets right on its own.