4.3 The Installation Certificate (SF035) and Its Distribution

Why This Section Matters

The installation certificate is the document that converts finished work into legal certification. It is also the rule most often mis-cited in third-party study material — the correct citation is § 34.617, not the label rules at §§ 34.620–34.624. TDI publishes the form as SF035, Fire Alarm Installation Certificate.

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1. When a Certificate Is Required

"After completion of the installation, modification, or addition of a system or single station detector unit, except for a one-or-two-family residence, the licensee shall complete an installation certificate…"

Remember that § 6002.002 defines "installation" to include extension, modification, or alteration — so the certificate obligation attaches to far more work than just new construction.

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2. In Lieu of the Adopted Standard's Form

"…the licensee shall complete an installation certificate in the format provided by the state fire marshal in lieu of the installation form required by the adopted standard unless required otherwise by the local authority having jurisdiction."

This is § 34.607(a)'s variance clause in action: the Texas form displaces NFPA 72's record of completion. The one exception is a local AHJ that requires the NFPA form as well. The format itself is determined by the state fire marshal and is provided by the SFMO on request.

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3. Content of the Certificate

The certificate shall identify the standards applicable to the installation and certify compliance with such standards. If a variance is permitted under § 34.616(b)(4) — that is, the work complies with an edition previously adopted by the political subdivision rather than the § 34.607 edition — then the specific variance and the authority for that variance shall be identified on the certificate.

That single sentence is why the certificate always names an edition. A certificate that simply says "installed per NFPA 72" without an edition is incomplete.

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4. Who Gets It and How Long It Is Kept

"The certificate shall be presented to the owner or the owner's representative or posted near the main control panel."

Note the or — presentation to the owner and posting at the panel are alternatives, not both.

When the certificate has been completed, legible copies shall be distributed as follows:

Two numbers to memorize: 10 days to the AHJ, and life of the system or 10 years, whichever occurs first in the company file. The "whichever occurs first" phrasing means a 25-year-old system's certificate may lawfully have been purged at year 10.

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5. Who Signs, and Who Must Be Present

Section 34.617 says "the licensee shall complete" the certificate. Read that with § 34.616(b)(1):

• The certifying licensee must be licensed under the ACR number of the registered firm responsible for the installation; and
• That licensee must be present for the final acceptance test prior to certification.

Read it also with § 34.619(a): the planner is an APS, an RAS (as applicable), or a Texas registered PE, and § 34.620(d)(5) requires the installation label to carry the name and license number of the planner. So a complete commercial job normally involves a planner and a certifying licensee, who may be the same person when an APS acts as an FAL under § 6002.154(d).

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6. Worked Fact Patterns

Pattern A. A firm adds a smoke detector and two horn/strobes to an existing office system on May 1 and completes acceptance testing the same day. → This is a modification/addition: an installation certificate is required. The AHJ copy must be sent by May 11. The company's copy is kept for the life of the system or 10 years, whichever comes first. An installation label under § 34.620 also goes inside the panel cover.

Pattern B. A firm installs a monitored system in a two-family duplex. → No installation certificate — § 34.617 excepts one- and two-family residences. But § 34.619(f) requires drawings showing device and panel locations, retained by the installing firm for not less than one year, and § 34.620 still requires an installation label.

Pattern C. A city has adopted an older NFPA 72 edition and the system was planned and installed to that edition. → Permitted by § 34.616(b)(4), and the certificate must identify the specific variance and the authority for it.

Pattern D. The AHJ requires the NFPA 72 record of completion in addition to the Texas form. → Permitted. Section 34.617's "in lieu of" applies "unless required otherwise by the local authority having jurisdiction."