ASHRAE 90.1-2019 Compliance Tools Are Here. And Yes, We Know Others Exist.

You can already do ASHRAE 90.1 compliance. Free tools exist. Paid tools exist. Expensive tools exist. EnergyPlus is open source and endlessly capable if you have the patience for it. People have been getting buildings compliant for years without us.

So why build another solution and launch it ion 2026?

Because there's a difference between "possible" and "efficient." And that difference is costing you time and $$$ on every project.

Here comes the three minute justification!

The Workflow Problem Nobody Solved

Most modelling compliance workflows, regardless of what software you're running, follow the same pattern: choose a path (Section 11 or Appendix G), build the model, run the analysis, chase unmet hours and discover whether it works. If it doesn't, you loop back to the start with a different path. That loop is where weeks disappear.

The diagram above tells a story. Traditional workflow: blind decision on day one, single-path modelling, discovery of non-compliance somewhere in day three or four, then a re-model using a different path. Total time: unknown. Risk level: high, because you're gambling that your initial guess was correct.

This isn't a software problem. It's a workflow architecture problem. And most simulation tools, even good ones, don't address it.

Parallel Compliance: Both Paths, Day One

Better Building launches both ASHRAE 90.1 2019 Section 11 and Appendix G this month. We will kick off with Appendix G, then add Section 11 and then expand to ASHRAE 90.1 2022 in February with a specific interest in improving thermal bridging workflows.

Our approach is different. We run both Section 11 and Appendix G simultaneously from a single model. You build once. The platform generates both compliance pathways and shows you the results side by side. We can even automate the reporting or let you do that bit yourself.

On day one, you're not guessing. You're comparing. Section 11 showing a PCI of 0.92? Appendix G showing 12% improvement? Now you have data to choose the path that actually works for this building, not the path you hoped would work three weeks ago.

The decision becomes data-driven instead of speculative. And because you're seeing both results on the same day you build the model, the entire compliance process compresses from weeks down to days or maybe even hours. That's at least 40% faster, with zero risk of the re-model loop.

What That Means In $$$

Let's run a hypothetical. If your team runs 20 ASHRAE 90.1 projects a year and each one currently takes 1 week, you're spending 20 weeks of effort annually. Cut 40% off that 1 week per project and you're at 12 weeks per year. That's 320 hours of engineering time recovered.

Even at conservative billing rates, you're looking at tens of thousands in recovered productivity for moderate users. For firms doing 50+ projects annually, the numbers quickly move into six figures. That's not software ROI math. That's actual capacity you get back.

For those that love a good slider based on hypothetical scenarios, feel free to check out our cost calculator.

The Platform

Better Building is cloud-based, powered by EnergyPlus under the hood. No installation, no IT overhead, no hardware requirements beyond a browser. Baseline generation, reporting, and documentation are automated. The platform also handles NCC 2022, Green Star, CIBSE TM59, and NZ H1 if you're working across multiple markets.

We're not claiming this makes ASHRAE 90.1 compliance simple in some absolute sense. The standard is detailed, buildings are complex. But the workflow shouldn't be the hard part.

Try It

14-day free trial, 20-minute demo to get oriented. As we kick-off in January, for those interested in a complimentary detailed onboarding process worth $1000 USD, lock in your interest below.

Lock in interest: https://betterbuilding.io/ashrae-90-1-section-11-and-appendix-g-2019

Book a demo: betterbuilding.io/book-a-demo Start a trial: betterbuilding.io/plans