Ecologic Guides · Hiring
How to hire a spray foam contractor in Canada
Direct answer
Ask three things before anything else: to see the installer's photo-ID certification licence (the CCMC listing on a properly listed foam requires that it be presentable on request), the foam's CCMC number so you can look the listing up yourself, and which R-value test the quote cites. Rebate programs only accept long-term thermal resistance (LTTR) values from a CCMC listing, tested to CAN/ULC-S770-15; "up to R-7 per inch" is a marketing number. A complete quote states area, thickness and target R-value per assembly, includes the thermal barrier plan, puts the re-entry time in writing, and sits on $2 million of liability insurance. The installer should be audited by a third-party quality program (SQAP), and rebate pre-approval happens before work starts, never after. This checklist is written to be used against any contractor, including Ecologic.
Sources: CCMC 14133-L · CAN/ULC-S705.2, S770-15 · efficiencymb.ca
01 First pass
Start with three questions
Spray foam is a permanent installation performed by whoever happens to hold the gun that day. The material's quality is decided in the seconds it leaves the nozzle, which is why hiring is the highest-leverage decision in the whole project. Three questions filter most of the field:
1. "Can I see the installer's licence?" Certified installers carry a photo-identification licence issued under the quality program named on the foam's CCMC listing, and the listing requires that it be presentable on request. Note the wording: the installer's licence, meaning the person spraying your job. A framed certificate at the office says nothing about the crew in your basement.
2. "Which foam, and what's its CCMC number?" Then look the number up yourself on the NRC's CCMC registry. The listing is public and shows the design R-values, density, installation standard and quality program. Two minutes of reading tells you whether the quote matches the evaluation.
3. "Which R-value test does this quote cite?" The acceptable answer names LTTR under CAN/ULC-S770-15. The unacceptable answers are covered two sections down.
Why these three
Each question checks a different layer of the system: the person (certified and licensed), the product (evaluated and listed), and the promise (an R-value from a test method a rebate program will accept).
A contractor who clears all three cleanly will almost always clear the remaining seven points of the checklist too, because the same discipline produces all ten. A contractor who stumbles on any of the three has told you what the paperwork on your job will look like.
Every question here can be answered in one phone call. None of them requires technical knowledge to evaluate; you are checking whether documents exist and match.
02 The checklist
The ten-point hiring checklist
Print it, put it beside the phone, and apply it to every bidder. Including us.
Ask to see the installer's photo-ID licence
The CCMC listing requires certified installers to carry a valid photo-identification licence, presentable on request. Ask for the licence of the person who will spray your job.
Get the foam's CCMC number and look it up
Product name plus CCMC number, then verify on the NRC registry yourself. Confirm the listing is active and the numbers on the quote match it.
Ask which R-value test the quote cites
LTTR to CAN/ULC-S770-15 is the standard rebate programs accept. "Up to" figures and older test methods are worth less than they sound; see the next section.
Ask about the daily work record
CAN/ULC-S705.2 requires a log of substrate temperatures, pass thicknesses and chemical batch numbers. Ask to see a sample, and request a copy for your job.
Ask for the thermal barrier plan
Foam in living space must be covered, and a quote that ignores the covering is incomplete. What the code requires is explained in our thermal barrier guide; the quote should name the barrier and say whose scope it is.
Ask who audits them
Certified work is subject to third-party site audits by the SQAP provider (CUFCA for the foams we install), and building officials can request a site audit. An installer nobody audits is self-certifying.
Get the re-entry time in writing
Occupancy time is a listed number tied to VOC testing, 25 hours for our closed-cell foam in a ventilated retrofit. A written quote should state it; "you'll be fine by tonight" is a red flag.
Require a written quote, per assembly
Area, thickness and target R-value for each assembly: walls, rim joists, crawl space, roof. A single lump sum with no thicknesses cannot be checked, compared or enforced.
Confirm insurance
$2 million commercial general liability is the program requirement, plus workers' compensation for the crew. Ask for the certificate, and check the dates.
Get rebate pre-approval before work starts
Efficiency Manitoba and comparable programs require pre-approval, accept only CCMC-listed LTTR values, and will not pay for work done before approval. Sequence is everything here.
03 The numbers game
Why the R-value test method matters
Closed-cell foam's thermal resistance drifts downward for years after installation as the blowing agent in its cells slowly exchanges with air. Canada's answer is LTTR, long-term thermal resistance, measured under CAN/ULC-S770-15: an accelerated-aging method that reports the value the foam is expected to hold over its service life rather than the value it has the week it was sprayed.
This is why quotes citing different test bases can describe the same product with different numbers, and why the highest number in the room is usually the least useful one. Fresh-sprayed and "up to" figures describe a peak, older test methods report higher values than the current one, and rebate programs cut through all of it by accepting only CCMC-listed LTTR.
For the closed-cell foam we install, the S770-15 ladder reads R-5.3 at 1 inch, R-11.1 at 2 inches, R-17.5 at 3 inches and R-24.1 at 4 inches. The full story of test methods, aged values and how marketing numbers get made is in the R-value and LTTR guide.
The question and the answers
You ask: "What R-value am I buying, and under which test?"
Good answer: a per-thickness LTTR figure from the product's CCMC listing, tested to CAN/ULC-S770-15, matching a thickness stated on the quote.
Weak answer: a per-inch number with no test named, or a brochure figure from an older test method presented as current.
Disqualifying answer: "R-7 per inch," "up to R-8," or annoyance at the question.
If the rebate application will cite the CCMC listing, the quote should already agree with it.
04 Documentation
The paperwork a real installer produces
Professional spray foam work generates documents at every stage. Their presence is evidence of process; their absence is evidence too.
| Document | Required by | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| Installer photo-ID licence | CCMC listing / SQAP | The person spraying is certified and current. |
| CCMC listing (public registry) | NRC / CCMC | The product is evaluated; design values are published. |
| Daily work record | CAN/ULC-S705.2 | Substrate temps, pass thicknesses and batch numbers were logged. |
| Manufacturer's installation manual on site | CCMC listing | Available at all times for building-official review. |
| Written quote, per assembly | Good practice | Area, thickness, target R and barrier plan are enforceable. |
| Certificate of insurance | Program requirement | $2M liability; you are not the backstop. |
| Rebate pre-approval | Efficiency Manitoba (in MB) | Eligibility locked in before work begins. |
None of this paper is bureaucratic decoration. Every document on the list exists because something once went wrong without it. If a problem ever surfaces, your recourse runs through these records: our safety guide walks through how batch numbers and work records turn a dispute into a traceable case.
05 Red flags
Signs you should keep looking
On the quote
A lump-sum price with no thicknesses. "Whole basement, $4,800" cannot be verified against anything after the fact. Board-foot pricing at stated thicknesses can.
"R-7 per inch." No CCMC-listed closed-cell foam carries an LTTR that high. The claim tells you the quote is built on marketing numbers.
No CCMC number anywhere. Either the product is unlisted or the contractor does not know what they spray.
No mention of the thermal barrier. The covering is code, and its cost is real. Silence means a surprise later.
In the conversation
"No need to leave the house." Contradicts the installation standard and the listing. This one sentence discloses how the rest of the job will be run.
Cash only, no written contract. Every recourse pathway described above begins with a document. Cash-only work is designed to leave none.
Annoyance at the licence question. Certified installers show the card. It costs them nothing.
Rebate promises with no pre-approval step. A contractor who starts work before your program approval has spent your rebate.
06 Fair is fair
Using this checklist against us
A hiring guide written by a contractor is worth exactly as much as its willingness to be turned on its author. So turn it on us. Ask our installer for the photo-ID licence. Our foam's CCMC number is 14133-L; look it up before we arrive. Our quotes state thickness, area and target R per assembly, cite LTTR under S770-15, name the thermal barrier plan and put the re-entry time in writing. Ask for the certificate of insurance and the sample work record, and if you are pursuing an Efficiency Manitoba rebate, the pre-approval comes before we book the rig.
If any bidder, us included, fails a point on this list, that is information. The checklist exists because the gap between certified, documented work and everything else is where every spray foam horror story lives.
07 Questions
Hiring, answered
What certification should a spray foam installer have in Canada?
Certification under the site quality assurance program (SQAP) named on the foam's CCMC listing. For most foam sprayed in Canada that program is run by CUFCA, which is accredited to ISO/IEC 17024 as a certification body. Certified installers carry a photo-ID licence, and the CCMC listing requires it to be presentable on request. Ask to see the licence of the person who will hold the gun, since a certificate on the company wall does not certify the crew in your basement.
Source: CCMC 14133-L · cufca.ca
How do I check a foam's CCMC listing?
Ask the contractor for the product name and its CCMC number, then search the number on the National Research Council's CCMC registry online. The listing shows the design R-values, density, the installation standard and the quality program. Two minutes of reading tells you whether the quote's numbers match the listing. A contractor who cannot produce a CCMC number for their foam is offering you an unlisted product or does not know what they spray; either answer settles the hiring question.
Source: NRC CCMC registry
What insurance should a spray foam contractor carry?
Commercial general liability of $2 million, which is the requirement contractors carry under the certification program, and workers' compensation coverage for the crew (in Manitoba, WCB). Ask for the certificate of insurance rather than a verbal yes, and confirm the policy is current. If an uninsured installer damages your home or is injured on your property, the costs can land on you.
What is a daily work record and why should I ask for it?
CAN/ULC-S705.2, the national installation standard for 2lb spray foam, requires the installer to keep a daily record of the job: substrate temperatures, thickness of each pass, and the batch numbers of the chemicals sprayed. It exists because foam quality depends on conditions at the moment of spraying. Asking to see a sample record before hiring, and requesting a copy for your job file after, is the single cheapest quality check available to a homeowner.
Source: CAN/ULC-S705.2
Should I get rebate pre-approval before the work starts?
Yes, and the sequence matters: programs such as Efficiency Manitoba require pre-approval before work begins, and work done first is typically ineligible. Rebate programs also only accept long-term thermal resistance (LTTR) values from a CCMC listing, so an unlisted foam or a marketing R-value can void your eligibility on its own. A contractor who quotes rebate money should be able to walk you through the pre-approval steps before any spraying is scheduled.
Source: efficiencymb.ca
08 Sources
Primary documents
- CCMC evaluation listing 14133-L on the NRC registry: licence, SQAP, audit and installation-manual provisions, and the listed design values.
- CAN/ULC-S705.2 (installation standard: daily work record, ventilation, site requirements) and CAN/ULC-S770-15 (long-term thermal resistance test method).
- CUFCA: installer certification, licensing and the site quality assurance program.
- Efficiency Manitoba: insulation rebate rules, including pre-approval and the CCMC-listed LTTR requirement.
- CUSE Grizzly Gold technical data sheet (2024): the S770-15 LTTR values cited in the R-value section.
Planning a project?
Get a written quote with these numbers on it. Then check it against this list.