Certified Passive House Designer/Consultant Exam (120EX) ONLINE – 23 OCT 2026

There are two methods of becoming a certified Passive House Designer or Consultant: through submission of a certified Passive House project, or by passing the standardized international exam.  The exam is offered by Passive House Canada in cooperation with PHI. Certified Designers and Consultants will be listed on our website, as well as the international database. For information on certification via project design and documentation please see PHI’s Project Qualification page.

The exam is thorough and time-limited, and it is not recommended that you attempt the exam without first taking courses 120A, 120B and 120C offered by Passive House Canada.

Exam details

The exam is one and a half hours (90 minutes) in length. The Certified Passive House Designer/ Consultant exam will be conducted in an online format. This format is subject to change according to the Passive House Institute policies.

There will be a 60 minute required tech check meeting a few days before the exam date. Details will be emailed directly to registrants.

Participants must supply a valid PHPP registration number in order to write the exam. PHPP can be purchased on our website here. Please allow at least 1-2 business days for processing. 

Information on examination regulations and detailed learning targets can be found on the PHI website. Briefly, the exam will include material on:

• Passive House definition
• Passive House criteria
• Thermally insulating envelope
• Airtight building envelope
• Transparent exterior components
• Passive House ventilation
• Heat supply system
• Hot water generation
• Summer comfort and space cooling
• Electrical energy
• Energy balancing
• Economic efficiency calculation
• Invitation to tender, construction management and quality assurance
• Building user information and support
• Retrofitting with Passive House components (EnerPHit)
• Calculations, quantities, units

The examination is marked by Passive House Canada and then sent to PHI for second review. Participants are notified directly via email by PHI approximately 4 weeks after the exam of whether they passed or failed.

PHI will issue either a Passive House Designer certificate or Passive House Consultant certificate to successful participants, depending on educational qualifications. To acquire the Passive House Designer designation, substantiated educational qualifications are required, which allows the applicant to independently design buildings or technical building systems. A copy of a document providing evidence of this qualification (degree, master craftsman’s certificate or similar documents, translated into English if applicable) must be provided to Passive House Canada at the time of writing the exam; we will forward this proof to PHI. Examination participants whose qualifications do not meet the specified requirements, or who do not provide any proof of their qualification, will receive the Passive House Consultant certificate. For more information on the distinction between “Designer” and “Consultant”, please visit the PHI webpage Certified Passive House Designer vs. Consultant.

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