Score your drawing set against the correction items that most often send Bay Area permit submittals back, and see exactly which gaps a reviewer is likely to flag.
Every result is a planning estimate, not a quote or an engineering determination. Real numbers depend on site conditions, existing structure, engineering requirements, and your jurisdiction’s current fee schedule. For structural and engineering work we coordinate with a licensed engineer — we do not perform or stamp engineering ourselves. Get a project-specific estimate before committing to a budget.
The overwhelming majority of first-round plan check comments are not about whether the design is any good. They are about information that is missing, contradictory or simply not written on the sheet. A reviewer cannot approve what they cannot verify, so an undimensioned setback, a section that disagrees with the floor plan or a header schedule with no calculation behind it all become correction items regardless of how sound the underlying work is.
That is why completeness beats elegance at the counter. The strongest predictor of a short correction list is internal consistency: the same dimension appearing identically on the plan, the elevation and the section; the CF1R listing the same window U-factor that the schedule shows; the structural details matching the framing actually drawn. Each disagreement a reviewer finds tends to generate its own comment, and each comment adds a resubmittal cycle measured in weeks.
The other recurring failure is a set that was assembled from separate sources without anyone reconciling them — architectural drawings from one place, energy documents from another, structural from a third. Coordination is a task in its own right. A properly assembled permit set treats it as one, rather than stapling three packages together at the last minute.
California code is statewide, but every jurisdiction layers its own amendments, submittal checklists and reach codes on top. Several Bay Area cities have adopted electrification or all-electric requirements that go beyond the base energy code, and those flow straight into the Title 24 CF1R. Others require a dedicated green-building or mandatory-measures sheet, a defensible-space or fire-access note, or a separate arborist or grading review before the building set advances.
Intake screening also differs. Some departments will decline a package at the counter for a missing cover-sheet data block before it ever reaches a reviewer; others accept everything and return a long comment list weeks later. Neither is worse for you in the end, but the first one gives you the bad news sooner. Pulling the current submittal checklist for your specific city before you submit is fifteen minutes that routinely saves a full review cycle.
One more note on stamps: where structural calculations or a wet stamp are required, that work is performed and sealed by an independently licensed engineer. We prepare and coordinate the drawings and documentation and bring the engineer in where the scope calls for it — we do not perform or stamp engineering ourselves.
No. A low score means your set contains the items reviewers most often ask for, which historically means a shorter correction list. Approval is the building department’s decision and depends on local amendments, zoning interpretation and department policy that no checklist can predict. Nobody can guarantee first-pass approval.
Yes. Corrections are a routine part of plan check, not a sign that something went wrong. The goal is not zero comments, it is a short list of easily answered comments instead of a long list that forces a full redraw and another multi-week review cycle.
Not sure is scored as partial risk, because in practice an item nobody can confirm is present is often an item that is missing or incomplete. The fix is a set review: open the drawings, confirm each item against the city checklist, and close the gaps before submitting rather than after.
Yes. Responding to an existing correction list is common work. We read the comments, identify what the reviewer is actually asking for, revise or add the drawings and documentation needed, and prepare the resubmittal package. Where the comments call for structural calculations or a stamp, we coordinate an independently licensed engineer to perform and seal that portion.
Tell us what you're building and we'll get back to you with next steps — usually within one business day.
(408) 634-6655
Yuna Drafting