More than 80 percent of building officials are aware of the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) and nearly 90 percent rely on NFRC labels to confirm ratings for building/energy code compliance purposes, according to a recent survey conducted in four states selected for geographical diversity and adoption of NFRC ratings in their codes.

Building officials in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Texas were surveyed earlier this year as part of NFRC's Codes Education and Assessment Program (CEAP). This program is intended to assess utilization of NFRC products in code compliance and to educate building officials regarding NFRC.

"We're delighted that our efforts to reach out to this important audience have been so successful, with four out of five respondents telling us that they are aware of NFRC," said Jim Benney, NFRC's executive director. "CEAP is designed to make sure that NFRC's ratings are available, accessible, and understandable to building officials as they inspect residential and non-residential buildings in states where building/energy codes reference or require NFRC ratings and certification."

The survey also found that:
- Most building officials (in some states more than 55 percent) have held up projects because they failed to meet energy code requirements, while a similar number have held projects because they failed to meet fenestration-related energy code requirements.

- More than half of the respondents learned about NFRC in training sessions or through local codes, and roughly 40 percent learned about NFRC from their state or local associations.

"These survey results confirm that fenestration-related code compliance is an important issue to building officials, and as a result, also to builders, architects and others involved in the construction industry, and that NFRC plays an integral role in this process," said Benney.

NFRC is conducting follow up phone calls with a select number of respondents to delve deeper into some of the questions asked on the survey. "Ultimately, we hope to use what we've learned to assess how NFRC can better help building officials across the country," Benney said.

NFRC is a non-profit organization that administers a voluntary, uniform rating and labeling system for the energy performance of windows, doors, curtain walls and skylights. Its members include manufacturers, suppliers, utilities, consumer groups, representatives from the building and code industries, and government agencies.