Title 24 reports for Modesto permits.
Modesto’s ADU Express puts Building Safety, Fire, Planning and Engineering at one table on a Tuesday morning and aims to approve plans the same day — which only works if the package is complete, and the energy calculations are a quarter of it.
Same-day ADU review, and a four-item list
Modesto’s ADU submittal package is exactly four items — “Complete set of Plans; Energy Calculations; Truss Calculations; Structural Calculations” — with no exception for pre-approved plans. That matters because of ADU Express, where an owner and their licensed designer “meet directly with City staff for a coordinated same-day plan review,” resolving comments in real time and approving qualifying ministerial projects the same day. Building Safety, Fire, Planning and Engineering are all in the room, on a Tuesday between 10 and 11 a.m. Same-day approval is conditioned on “complete, professionally prepared plans,” so there is no correction round to hide a missing energy set inside.
Submittal is hybrid: eTRAKiT under a dedicated ADU record type, or in person at Building Safety. Every Modesto ZIP is Climate Zone 12. The free plans are regional — Modesto names seven, while Stanislaus County, which owns and plan-checked them, publishes three at 405, 744 and 1,192 square feet. The County’s list exempts Title 24 calculations for pre-plan-checked plans, but it governs the County counter in Suite 3400, one floor up, for unincorporated property. Modesto is on neither CEC approved-local-ordinance list and publishes no building-code adoption page, so the statewide 2025 Energy Code governs. It publishes no plan-check turnaround, and every submittal-requirements handout on its Building Plan Reviews page 404s — so a correction round is an expensive way to learn what was missing.
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.
Nearby, same flat rate: Stockton, Livermore & Pleasanton, Morgan Hill & Gilroy and San José.
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.
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.
Modesto plan-check questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
How does Modesto’s ADU Express appointment work?
Does a free regional ADU plan cover the energy calculations?
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 Modesto plans.
If the plan is an ADU Express Tuesday, the CF1R needs to be in the box before the appointment — it is item two of four on the city’s own list.