Title 24 reports for Escondido permits.
The word energy appears nowhere in Escondido’s ADU submittal checklist. The obligation lives in a different handout entirely — and finding that out the hard way costs a full 30-day review cycle.
No energy line on the ADU checklist
Escondido’s ADU Submittal Checklist, dated January 2023, asks for a plan set, the Housing Development Tracking Form, a grant deed, a preliminary title report, site photographs, an SDG&E notification form and a hazardous wastes disclosure. It does not mention energy anywhere — no Title 24, no CF1R, no energy calculations. The requirement is real; it lives in another document. Information Guideline #7, revised April 2025, has a section headed “Title 24 — Energy Regulations” requiring that the appropriate documentation, forms and calculations be submitted, and its submittal matrix marks a Title 24 Energy Requirements row for every building project type.
Which matters more here than elsewhere, because Escondido publishes one review number: “plan review will be approximately 30 calendar days for each review cycle.” There is no shorter recheck figure, so a correction costs a full cycle. Plan check is valid one year, with a 90-day extension that a still-posted footnote switches off for anything submitted before January 1, 2026. Escondido is Climate Zone 10, and its energy handout shelf is worth reading with the date attached — all thirteen items are prefixed 2022, three of them “2022 Climate Zone 10,” while the 2025 code has been in force since January 2026. There is no local amendment to the Energy Code: the codified Municipal Code Chapter 6, current through Ordinance 2026-12, carries no Energy Code article at all, and the city is on neither CEC list.
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.
Escondido plan-check questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
What does “each review cycle” mean in Escondido?
Escondido’s ADU checklist skips energy. Do I still need a report?
Does my ADU or addition actually need one?
Almost certainly. New conditioned floor area — ADUs, JADUs, garage conversions, additions — triggers Title 24. So do alterations that touch the envelope, the ductwork, or the HVAC equipment, including a straight change-out. A remodel that only moves non-structural interior partitions usually doesn’t.
Send it either way. If it doesn’t need a report I’ll say so and there’s no charge for the look.
What do you need from me to start?
A PDF of the architecturals and the project address. Floor plans, elevations and a window schedule is plenty.
You don’t need the HVAC or water heater picked. If the plans don’t call them out, I model what I’d normally specify for that job — and I list every assumption in the email so nothing is buried. Swap any of it and I rerun; that doesn’t count against your free revisions.
The design doesn’t have to be finished either. Early is often better, because that’s when a compliance problem is still cheap to fix.
Send your Escondido plans.
The CF1R comes back ready to drop onto the trade sheets the way Guideline #7 asks for it, so the energy documents are not what sends you back around for another 30 days.