Title 24 questions, answered

The 2025 Energy Code took effect on January 1, 2026, and it applies based on when the permit application was filed — not when construction starts and not when the plans were drawn. If your application was submitted on or after that date, you are on the 2025 Energy Code. Projects with applications filed before it remain on the previous cycle. This catches teams out constantly on long-running projects, so tell us your application date when you send plans and we will model to the correct cycle.

Three things matter most in practice. The code expanded heat pump requirements for newly constructed residential buildings, pushing heat pump space and water heating into the baseline rather than treating it as an alternative. It broadened electric-readiness provisions, so buildings that install gas equipment now have to be wired and spaced for later electric replacement. And it strengthened ventilation requirements. Multifamily requirements also continue to diverge from single-family in ways that catch design teams out. The practical effect is that designs which complied comfortably under the prior cycle frequently do not any more.

They are the three stages of the residential compliance chain. The CF1R is the Certificate of Compliance — the design-stage document we produce from your plans and submit with the permit application. The CF2R is the Certificate of Installation, completed by the installing contractor to confirm what was actually built. The CF3R is the Certificate of Verification, issued by a certified ECC-Rater after field testing. Where measures require ECC verification, all three must be registered with an approved data registry before final sign-off. Nonresidential projects use the parallel NRCC, NRCI and NRCA series.

It depends on the measures your design relies on for compliance, which is exactly why the report and the testing should be scoped together. Common triggers include ducts located outside conditioned space, refrigerant charge verification on split systems, quality insulation installation, high-performance attics and walls, whole-house fans and various ventilation measures. ECC-Raters are certified through a CEC-approved ECC-Provider and their results are registered with an approved data registry. If your CF1R calls for a measure requiring verification and nobody performs it, you will not get final sign-off.

Yes, for Title 24 compliance purposes. Effective 1 January 2026, alongside the 2025 Energy Code, the California Energy Commission replaced the field verification and diagnostic testing portion of the HERS Program with the Energy Code Compliance (ECC) Program. HERS Raters became ECC-Raters, HERS Providers became ECC-Providers, and the ‘HERS Feature Summary’ on compliance documents is now the ‘ECC Feature Summary’.

Two things are worth knowing. First, the testing itself has not changed — duct leakage, blower door, refrigerant charge, airflow and QII are the same procedures. Second, HERS has not disappeared: whole-house HERS ratings and home energy audits continue under the separate HERS Program, and compliance documentation produced under earlier code cycles will still display ‘HERS’. Only 2025 Energy Code documentation shows ‘ECC’. If someone on your project still says HERS, they almost certainly mean ECC verification.

Same-day reports are available. Send complete plans and tell us the deadline — if it is today, say so and we will work to it. Same-day expedite is priced up front at $95, never invented when you are desperate.

What actually slows a report down is almost never the modelling; it is incomplete drawings. Window schedules, insulation values, equipment efficiencies and orientation are the four things most often missing, and we will tell you within the business hour if any of them are absent.

PDF plans covering floor plans, elevations, window and door schedules, and a mechanical schedule if one exists. The project address, because it determines your climate zone. And the permit application date if one has been filed. For small projects a dimensioned hand sketch with window sizes is often enough to start. If something is missing we will tell you exactly what and why rather than guessing and producing a report that fails plan check.

Yes, including reports we did not write. Send the correction letter and the existing report. Most rejections come down to a handful of recurring causes: the model does not match the drawings, a measure requiring ECC verification was not flagged, the report was run against the wrong code cycle, glazing schedules disagree between documents, or the wrong climate zone was used. We diagnose it, correct it and assemble the resubmittal.

California is divided into 16 building climate zones and they are assigned by ZIP code, not by city or county. That matters more than people expect: Los Angeles alone spans multiple zones, and the zone drives every prescriptive requirement and every performance trade-off in the model. City boundaries and climate zone boundaries do not align, so we confirm yours from the project address at intake rather than assuming.

Both live inside Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, but they are different parts. Energy compliance is Part 6, the Building Energy Efficiency Standards. CALGreen is Part 11, the Green Building Standards Code, and covers water efficiency, construction waste, material emissions and site development. Many jurisdictions require both at submittal, and CALGreen documentation is one of the most commonly forgotten items in a permit package.

All 58 California counties and all 16 climate zones. Documentation work is done remotely, so location has no effect on turnaround. ECC field verification and acceptance testing require a site visit, which we schedule regionally across Southern, Central and Northern California.

We guarantee the report is modelled correctly to the applicable code cycle and climate zone from the documents you provide, and we handle correction responses at no additional charge when a rejection relates to our work. What no consultant can guarantee is the discretionary judgement of an individual plan checker, or compliance where the built project departs from the plans we modelled. Anyone promising an unconditional pass is overselling.

Residential reports start at $175 for an ADU, $225 for a typical single-family home up to 2,500 square feet, and $325 for larger custom homes. Additions and alterations start at $195. Multifamily and nonresidential are quoted from the drawings. ECC field verification starts at $250 per unit. Full pricing is on our pricing page, and every quote is confirmed in writing before we start.