Title 24 reports for El Cajon permits.
El Cajon publishes a genuinely useful simplified CF1R that maps four HVAC change-out scenarios to their exact registrations — on 2019 Energy Code minimums, footed Revised 1/2020, while the same website enforces the 2025 code.
The city’s own energy form is two cycles old
El Cajon publishes a Title 24 document of its own: “Simplified CF1R-ALT-02-E (Residential) for City of El Cajon Permit (Climate Zone 10).” Its four-scenario table is the most useful thing any city I work in prints about energy compliance: a complete replacement system carries CF2R MCH-01-E, 20-H, 22, 23 and 25-H with matching CF3R registrations for duct seal, refrigerant charge, fan efficacy and airflow; a complete replacement duct system runs to leakage under 5 percent at R-6; an altered conditioning system allows 15 percent, excepting systems under 40 feet or containing asbestos; altered ducts adding 40 feet or more allow 15 percent combined but 5 percent all-new.
Useful, and dated: the form gives its basis as 2019 Energy Code minimums — SEER 14, AFUE 81 percent, HSPF 7.7 — and is footed “Revised 1/2020,” while the same site says the city enforces the 2025 codes from January 1, 2026 and cannot approve work to a superseded cycle. Use its HERS registration map, then model the change-out to the 2025 code. Submittals are electronic through PACO; published turnaround is three to four weeks for a first check, one to two for a recheck. El Cajon is Climate Zone 10. There is no local amendment to the Energy Code, whatever a plan sheet says: the city is on neither CEC list, and codified Title 15 adopts the Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Residential, Fire and Green Building Codes with no Energy Code chapter at all. Its three free standard ADU plans — 560, 649 and 802 square feet — end with sheets T24.1 and T24.2, shipped blank.
One thing that doesn’t change by city: my price and turnaround are flat statewide — $99 first report, $150 flat after, 24–48 hours on your first job. What differs city to city is what happens on the plan-check side before and after the CF1R lands in your permit set, which is what this page covers.
Prices
Flat fees, in writing before I start. No hourly, no bid package, no change-order games — the number on the quote is the number on the invoice.
Your first report with me
One per client, homes under 3,000 square feet. Full energy model, CF1R and CHEERS registration. It’s a test run — send one job and see how it goes.
Every model after the first
The standard rate once you’re a client — the second building, ADU plus main house, the next project that walks in. Back in 3 business days.
Over 3,000 square feet
Quoted from the plans before any work starts, same day.
24×36 plan-sheet set
Your CF1R laid out full size, matched to your drawing set. Comes back as a PDF you drop straight in.
Revisions
Two revisions included, plus questions any time. Past two I quote first, before I touch it.
Commercial / tenant improvement
Send the plans and you’ll have a flat quote back the same day. No deposit, no minimum.
One honest note
I’m not a licensed engineer or architect, and I don’t stamp drawings. On the CF1R I’m the documentation author — you stay the responsible designer. Nothing about your role on the job changes.
That’s on purpose. I’m not after your scope or your clients. I do one piece of the permit set — the piece that usually holds it up — and I do it fast.
El Cajon plan-check questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
Should I use El Cajon’s Simplified CF1R form?
What goes on the T24 sheets of El Cajon’s free ADU plans?
Does the project need HERS field verification?
Sometimes — typically for duct leakage, refrigerant charge, or certain heat-pump and quality-insulation measures. The CF1R lists exactly which measures need it, and I’ll flag it in the email so it isn’t a surprise at inspection. The field testing itself is done by a third-party HERS rater the owner or contractor hires; that’s outside what I do.
What is CHEERS registration, and is it extra?
California requires the compliance certificate to be registered with an approved data registry before the building department will accept it. I use CHEERS, and registration is included in the rate — no separate registry fee, no account you have to open.
Send your El Cajon plans.
The CF1R comes back registered and ready to leave on site at final inspection with the CF2R and CF3R set, which is what the city’s own form asks for.