Title 24 questions.

An ADU, JADU or standard garage conversion starts at $200 on the prescriptive path. Additions and remodels start at $300, new homes at $300. Each zone after the first adds $100.

Commercial NRCC work and multifamily are quoted on a call, because their scope is driven by building type, unit count and system layout rather than by floor area.

For everything else, the calculator on this site gives you the exact number for your project without you contacting anyone first, which is unusual in this trade and deliberate.

ECC (formerly HERS) field verification is the one thing here that isn't on the calculator. It's quoted per project, because the cost is driven by the measures your CF1R calls for, the number of dwelling units and the number of site visits, rather than by floor area.

Call (909) 914-0305 for a quote. With the CF1R in front of you it takes about two minutes. Registry and rater coordination is quoted on the same call; the field verification itself is quoted separately.

Five business days is standard for residential work, 5 for a new home. Next business day is available as a rush option. Nonresidential runs seven business days and up depending on scope.

The 2025 Energy Code took effect on 1 January 2026 and applies to every permit application submitted on or after that date. Applications filed before then stay under the 2022 code.

If a project has been sitting for a while, this is the first thing to check. The two cycles have materially different requirements, and submitting the wrong one gets it kicked back.

Title 24 is Part 6 of the California Code of Regulations, the Building Energy Efficiency Standards. It sets minimum energy performance for buildings: insulation, windows, HVAC, water heating, lighting, and on new homes, solar.

Every California building permit that creates or alters conditioned space needs a compliance report showing the design meets it.

Yes. Any new conditioned floor area needs a Part 6 compliance report with the permit application: detached ADUs, attached ADUs, garage conversions and JADUs included.

Most ADUs are exempt from the solar PV requirement, but envelope, HVAC and water heating rules apply in full.

Only if the work touches something the code regulates: windows, insulation, HVAC, ducts or water heating. Moving a non-structural wall and repainting doesn't trigger it. Replacing ten windows and the furnace does.

Send the scope and we'll tell you. If you don't need us, that's the answer you'll get.

They are the same role under a new name. With the 2025 Energy Code the California Energy Commission renamed HERS (Home Energy Rating System) verification to ECC (Energy Code Compliance) verification.

The field tests, the CF2R and CF3R forms and the registration process are unchanged. Only the acronym on the paperwork moved.

CF1R is the Certificate of Compliance, the design document produced by the energy consultant and submitted with the permit application. CF2R is the Certificate of Installation, signed by the installing contractor. CF3R is the Certificate of Verification, signed by the independent field rater.

All three have to be registered with an approved provider, in order. A missing CF2R is the commonest reason a finished project stalls at final inspection.

Prescriptive is a checklist. Hit every listed requirement and you comply. It's simple but inflexible, and a single oversized window can fail the whole thing.

Performance models the whole building and compares its energy use against a reference design. It allows trade-offs: extra glazing paid for with better insulation. Most of our work is performance, because it usually produces a cheaper building.

California has 16 building climate zones set by the Energy Commission, assigned by ZIP code. The climate zone finder on this site resolves a city or ZIP to its zone and explains what that zone does to the design.

If your city straddles two zones, send us the address and we'll confirm it free.

The California Energy Commission's own approved compliance software, plus EnergyPro where a project calls for it, and Bluebeam for takeoffs. All CEC-approved.

Software isn't what makes the difference, though. Everyone in this trade has the same programs. What decides whether a report survives plan check is whether the person driving them understands the building.

Plan-check corrections are included at no extra cost, for as long as the project takes. If a plan checker comments on the energy documents, the revision is part of the original fee.

The architectural plan set as a PDF, with floor plans, elevations, and the window and door schedules, plus the project address. That is usually enough to finish, not merely to start.

If you already have a Bluebeam measurement export, send it and it speeds things up. If you don't, the takeoff is included.

Yes. Image-only scans and hand-drawn sheets get taken off by hand, at the same price and occasionally a day longer.

All 58 counties and all 16 climate zones. The work is done from the plan set, so location isn't a constraint. Crescent City to El Centro, coast to desert.

Since the 2019 code, yes. New single-family homes need a solar PV system sized to the dwelling, and the 2025 code adds battery-ready requirements for many projects.

There are exemptions, and most ADUs fall outside the requirement. Sizing the array is part of the report.

That's the best time. Glazing area, window orientation and duct location are the three things that most often decide whether a project passes, and all three are cheap to change on paper and expensive to change later.

A quick look at a schematic set costs nothing and has saved clients real money.

A CABEC Certified Energy Analyst, a certification issued by the California Association of Building Energy Consultants and earned by examination, plus ECC certification and ICC certification as a CALGreen Inspector / Plans Examiner.

Practically, that means when a project doesn't pass we can tell you which change buys the margin, rather than just reporting failure.