Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant online course - All-in package

This course is for anyone who wants to gain in-depth knowledge about the Passive House Standard and become a Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant, whether you are an architect, building designer, engineer, contractor, builder, policymaker, salesperson, teacher, or in general a professional working in the building design and construction industry.

The course is also suitable for (future) homeowners who don’t have any experience in the field but want to learn more about Passive House. However, if that’s your case, sitting the final exam is not necessary if you do not plan to work in the building sector.

Anyone can take part in the course and the exam.

There aren’t any requirements for taking part in the Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant online course. We’ve had a wide variety of course participants, ranging from professional architects and structural engineers to Bachelor students, investors, builders and even homeowners (who had zero knowledge about designing and constructing buildings). 

No prior knowledge is required for this course. It is ideal for anyone willing to learn about the standard and/or to make their first step into the Passive House industry.

Only if you have zero experience with the design and construction process of buildings, we recommend you start with the Passive House 101 online course.

All attendees will get 3-month access to the course recordings. This way everyone will be able to fully prepare to successfully pass the CPHD/C exam.

Even after completing the whole course, you still don’t pass the exam, the exam guarantee will cover the exam costs for your second exam attempt, i.e. we will cover the costs for the exam ticket for your second attempt.

To qualify for the certification guarantee, you have to complete the whole course and finish all exercises:

• Before the exam, you have to have watched and/or participated in all lectures. If you couldn’t take part in any of the live sessions, you can still qualify for the certification guarantee if you rewatch the recordings of the live session.
• You have to complete all exercises – this means you have to send all exercises to us to check them. Sometimes it happens that some of the exercises are incorrect or incomplete. In this case, we will ask you to remake these exercises and send them to us again. After submitting the revised exercises, you will be eligible for the certification guarantee. 

DISCLAIMER: Any additional costs, apart from the costs for the exam ticket and the accreditation fees, will have to be covered by you.

Both titles are equal in terms of qualification with ref­er­en­ce to the Passive House relevant knowledge. The requirements for attaining this certificate and for renewal are also the same. The only difference between Certified Passive House Designers and Consultants depends on your background, as far as Designers come from highly relevant fields. Consultants, on the other hand, can come from any background. Normally, Passive House Designers work in plan­ning of­fices on the con­crete im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Pass­ive House Stand­ard, while Pass­ive House Con­sult­ants usu­ally con­trib­ute to its dis­sem­in­a­tion through their work as re­search­ers or speak­ers, or as de­cision makers in gov­ern­ment au­thor­it­ies.

A clear classification is not always easy due to the diverse educational qualifications, professions and the legal provisions relating to buildings worldwide. For this reason, the Passive House Institute has specified two possibilities for classification as a “Certified Passive House Designer”:

• Providing proof of an educational qualification which enables you to plan buildings or technical building systems independently. This educational qualification should have reached a certain level (e.g. diploma or bachelor’s degree) and have been attained in a specialized subject that primarily involves the planning of buildings or building services systems.
• Providing proof of membership in an institution, whose members are entitled to provide planning services that are subject to approval by a building authority (e.g. Chamber of Architects).

You qualify for the Designer title if you have the following educational qualification:

• Architect or interior designer
• Civil or timber construction engineer
• Building physicist
• Building and energy technology engineer
• Building contractor
• Master carpenter
• Certified technician for structural engineering, building construction, heating plumbing and ventilation technology or supply technology

If you have the following educational qualification, you qualify for the Consultant title:

• Degree in (analytical) chemistry, electrical engineering, or manufacturing engineering
• Engineering degree in environmental technology and resource management
• Construction industry environmental safety technician
• Environmental engineer
• Gas, plumbing, and ventilation systems technician
• Woodwork technician
• Certified technician for electronics
• Energy consultant
• Architectural draftsman
• Geometrician
• Woodwork technician for window installation
• Managing director
• Property sales manager/estate agent
• Economist

Note: You just have to provide a copy of the proof to your course/ex­am­in­a­tion host or as­sess­ing body. The at­tained Con­sult­ant title can be changed into the De­sign­er title if such proof is only ob­tained and sub­mit­ted later on (e.g. tak­ing an ex­am­in­a­tion dur­ing train­ing). If no proof is sub­mit­ted, the Con­sult­ant title will be gran­ted upon suc­cess­ful qual­i­fic­a­tion.

The Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant certificate is valid for 5 years. After that the certificate can be renewed in two ways:

• By submitting project documentation, it is possible to renew a certificate at any time, even if your certificate has already expired some time ago (for this you need to be the PH desdigner/consultant of a building that gets certfiied).
• You can also renew your certificate through credit points for continuing education by attending events, conferences, and additional courses. Here you can check out our courses for which you can get additional credit points to renew your certificate. 

You don’t need any prior knowledge and experience with any software.

The whole course is conducted remotely and all materials are shared via the internet. Therefore, you should have a good internet connection. Speeds of 3 Mbps are required for the live sessions and 16 Mbps for the final online exam.

For the exam, you will need to supply your own PC or Mac computer (Linux can’t be used for the exam). Moreover, you will need colored pencils and a scientific calculator. If you don’t have one, we would recommend you get the Casio fx-991 ES PLUS C.

For Module 3, you will need to have Microsoft Excel (paid; free trial available) or OpenLibre (free) in order to be able to work with the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP).

All the slides and course material from the ‘Passive House Design and Construction’ module will be provided in a downloadable pdf format with additional notes which you can then print and use during the preparation for the exam.

During the ‘CPHD/C Online Exam Preparation’ and the ‘PHPP workshop’ modules, we will share with you multiple handouts and booklets with exercises in PDF format. 

You will get the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) with a unique personal registration number. The PHPP is also required by the PHI to register for the exam.

All materials that we will share with you during the course, you can use at the exam as far as they are printed. Digital materials are not allowed at the exam.

We will give you access to all course materials from Module 1, 10 days before the course starts.

You can bring any printed course material and notes to the exam. Digital materials are not allowed. 

At the Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant online course, we will give you additional resources, such as summaries of all formulas that are covered in the course and summaries of the Passive House requirements which you can also use at the exam.

We also advise you to bring markers or colored pencils for the design exercise, as well as a (scientific) calculator with spare batteries. If you don’t have one, we would recommend you get the Casio fx-991 ES PLUS C.

You can earn the international designation of “Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant” in one of two ways: by taking the Certified Passive House Designer Exam or by submitting project documentation.

If you want to submit project documentation, you have to doc­u­ment a cer­ti­fied Pass­ive House, En­erPHit ret­ro­fit or PHI Low En­ergy Build­ing where you ex­er­cised full re­spons­ib­il­ity for the build­ing design and the pro­ject plan­ning with the PHPP. Sub­mis­sion of a pro­ject doc­u­ment­a­tion can be used to earn or re­new the cer­ti­fic­ate for one per­son per build­ing.

After successfully passing the exam, you will get the Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant certificate issued by the Passive House Institute (PHI) in Germany.

After completing the whole course, we can also issue a certificate of completion stating the total course hours.

Yes, the course is officially accredited by the Passive House Institute (PHI).

Also, the Certified Passive House Designer / Consultant title that you will acquire after passing the exam, is accredited and valid worldwide.

Yes, please get in touch with us and mention in which module you are interested in.

In total, you will need around 90 hours to complete the whole course.

Module 1 is structured into seven 4-hour live online sessions. All live sessions will be recorded, so that you can rewatch them later while preparing for the exam or in case you were unable to join the live session. 

The CPHD/C Online Exam Preparation module (2) is self-paced and includes a live online Q&A session at which will be discussed all exercises and answered all questions regarding the CPHD/C online exam. Approximately 15 hours are needed to complete the whole module.

Module 3 is a self-paced module that includes a 4-hour live Q&A session to clarify all your questions about the software. Approximately 15 hours are needed to complete the whole module.

After the course is finished, to prepare for the exam, depending on your schedule, you can budget about 1 hour every day during the time between the course and the exam, or you can schedule a few longer sessions each week. In total the exam preparation will take you around 30 hours. Either way, the course is designed to immerse you in the learning process, while still fitting into almost anyone’s busy schedule. 

No, it doesn’t matter which timezone you are in. You can take this class from anywhere in the world. Also, the material at the course covers design and construction strategies for all climate zones.

All live lessons are recorded and the lessons from Modules 2 and 3 are pre-recorded, so you can watch them around your own schedule.

If you can’t join most of the live sessions, then we will give you the opportunity to schedule a 1-on-1 call with Anton and/or Svetlin to discuss any questions that you have. And this, of course, will be for free… 

Module 1 is structured into seven 4-hour live online sessions. All live sessions will be recorded, so that you can rewatch them later while preparing for the exam or in case you were unable to join the live session. 

All the video lessons from Module 2 and 3 are pre-recorded, allowing you to watch them whenever is best for you. For each Module, there will be a 4-hour live Q&A session which will be also recorded.

You’ll get many of the benefits of learning in-person but from the comfort of your own home with the flexibility of your own hours.

Yes, the class is taught completely online, allowing you to take it from anywhere. Even though it’s online, it will still feel like you’re in a classroom and part of a vibrant group of students: You’ll be interacting with peers, getting feedback, and learning with hands-on projects.

You’ll get all the learning benefits of an intensive in-person program, but from the comfort of your own home.

Students and iPHA members get a 10% discount.

If you are an iPHA Member, please send an email to team@passivehouseschool.com with a link to your iPHA membership to provide you with a discount code.

If you are a university student, please send your proof of enrollment to team@passivehouseschool.com from your student email address.

Note: These discounts cannot be combined with other offers and discounts.

If you cancel your reservation for any reason, we will refund your full payment. However, this is only possible up to 14 days before the start of the course, as there are only limited spots available.

We know that life is busy. There’s probably never going to be a perfect time. We also know that we all crave to broaden our horizons, gain new knowledge and lead the industry.

We’ve designed this course to fit into almost anyone’s busy schedule, so you can easily immerse yourself in the learning process.

Yes, even if you have a full-time job, or are a full-time student, or have family obligations. If you commit to yourself, we think you’ll be surprised by just how much you can learn and improve in two months. If you’re interested, we say go for it!

Otherwise, the course runs a few times per year, so there will be future opportunities. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming courses and discounts. 

You will receive a receipt for your purchase which is tax compliant and can be used for claiming business expenses. For this, you have to enter your business details and VAT number (if applicable) on the checkout and you will receive your receipt via email after enrolling in the course.

If you live in a country where an invoice is required by law, the platform we use for our courses (teachable) will issue an invoice in PDF format for your purchase. If an invoice is not required by law, you will receive a receipt for your purchase.