The development of AHRI standards or guidelines, or the revision or interpretation of an existing one, starts with a request from an AHRI member or committee, but most often these requests are initiated by AHRI’s product sections. A standard may also be proposed by anyone from outside AHRI, such as another trade association or a federal regulatory agency.

Requests for the development of an AHRI standard should be directed to AHRI’s Vice President, Standards. A formal request is then sent to AHRI's Standards Policy Committee, which assigns development of the standard to the related product section's Engineering Committee. The Engineering Committee serves as the standards development committee and all of its meetings are open to the public. Notification of these meetings is published on AHRI’s Web site, e-newsletter, and in the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI's) biweekly publication, Standards Action.

A draft standard must make it through three rigorous reviews: First, it is reviewed by the Engineering Committee, then by the related product section, and finally by the Standards Policy Committee. It can be rejected at any step in the process. But, if approved by these three groups, which requires a two-thirds majority vote, the standard is then officially published on the AHRI Web site where it is available to download. AHRI standards are then submitted to ANSI for approval as American National Standards and serve as a basis for international standards work.