Answer four questions about your project and see whether California energy code requires a CF1R report — and which CF1R form your permit set will most likely need.
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.
California Title 24 Part 6 is the state energy code, and the CF1R is the Certificate of Compliance that proves your design meets it. Almost every residential permit that touches energy performance needs one. Three scopes trigger it.
Newly conditioned floor area. A new home, a detached ADU, a room addition, a garage converted to living space, or a JADU carved out of existing unconditioned space all create square footage that has to be heated or cooled. That area has to be shown to comply, so it gets a CF1R.
Envelope alterations. Replacing windows, re-siding with new insulation, adding insulation, or reframing a roof changes how the building holds heat. Those scopes are documented on a CF1R-ALT, and the U-factor and SHGC numbers on the form have to match the window schedule in your drawings.
Mechanical replacements. Swapping a furnace, condenser, heat pump, duct system, or water heater pulls in Title 24 requirements too. Those also land on a CF1R-ALT, and the installer usually owes matching CF2R installation and CF3R HERS verification documents before final inspection.
The common exception is a purely cosmetic remodel — new cabinets, flooring, paint, fixtures, non-structural interior walls — with no envelope work and no mechanical work. That generally does not need a CF1R, though many cities will still want a note on the cover sheet saying so.
The most common correction we see is not a missing CF1R — it is a CF1R that disagrees with the drawings. Plan checkers in San Jose, Fremont, Sunnyvale and Hayward compare the form against the plans line by line. If the CF1R says U-0.30 windows and the window schedule says U-0.32, the set comes back.
The second most common is registration. A CF1R that needs HERS verification has to be registered with an approved data registry and carry a registration number. An unregistered printout gets rejected at intake.
The third is scope creep. A project starts as a cosmetic remodel, then a wall opens up, then the furnace gets replaced, and suddenly the permit needs a CF1R-ALT that nobody budgeted for. It is cheaper to run the energy calculations once, up front, with the full scope on the table.
We prepare registered Title 24 CF1R energy calculations and coordinate them with the drawing set so the two documents agree. For accessory dwelling units specifically, see our ADU CF1R page.
The CF1R is the Certificate of Compliance for California Title 24 Part 6, the state energy code. It documents the insulation, windows, air sealing, HVAC and water heating your design relies on to meet the energy budget. It goes into your permit set and the building department checks it against your drawings before issuing a permit.
Yes. A detached ADU is newly conditioned space and is treated as new construction, so it normally gets its own CF1R-NCB rather than being folded into the main house. An attached ADU or a JADU built inside existing space is usually documented as an addition or alteration instead.
Usually yes. Window and glass door replacement is an envelope alteration, so most Bay Area jurisdictions want a CF1R-ALT showing the U-factor and solar heat gain coefficient of the new units. Some cities will accept a simple prescriptive form for a small like-for-like swap, which is worth asking about before you pay for a full report.
The CF1R is prepared and signed by the person responsible for the energy documentation, and when HERS field verification is involved the form must be registered with an approved data registry so it carries a registration number. We prepare and register the CF1R as part of the permit package.
Tell us what you're building and we'll get back to you with next steps — usually within one business day.
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