Title 24 reports for San Mateo permits.
A remodel of a pre-1992 San Mateo house that touches 1,000 square feet has to score 12 points on a city-written menu, and the scoring sheet is an addendum to the CF1R. The ordinance has been effective since April 15, 2026 — and no San Mateo filing has reached the Energy Commission’s 2025-cycle docket.
Codified in April, still off the CEC docket
San Mateo’s 2025-cycle reach code is codified in SMMC 23.24.020, .030 and .040 but not on the CEC’s approved list for the 2025 code. Ordinance No. 2026-04 was introduced March 2, adopted March 16, effective April 15, 2026. The city says they are pending Building Standards Commission and Energy Commission approval — and no San Mateo filing appears in the Energy Commission’s 2025-cycle docket, 25-BSTD-04. The cycle with a sign-off is the earlier one: Ordinance No. 2025-01, CEC-approved 4/10/2025 against the 2022 code, whose source-energy margins were not carried forward. San Mateo County’s Ordinance 4898 is a separate county approval.
Under new Energy Code section 150.0(w), a Covered Single Family Project is a project in a single-family building originally permitted before 1992 that includes an alteration or addition with an affected floor area of 1,000 square feet or greater, and has to reach the Target Score in Table 150.0-I — 12 in Climate Zone 3 — off the twenty-line Table 150.0-J. A heat pump water heater replacing gas is 12 on its own, heat pump space conditioning 18, while envelope work stacks: R-49 attic at 4, new R-8 ducts with sealing at 6, air sealing at 2. Verification is an addendum to the Certificate of Compliance under section 10-103, measures Part 6 already requires do not count, and the stricter requirement prevails. SMMC 23.24.020 rewrites the AC change-out separately, with the same two documented off-ramps — panel capacity, or a heat pump at least 12,000 Btu/h larger — filed before permitting for both the heat pump and the air conditioner.
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.
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.
San Mateo plan-check questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
How does San Mateo want the CF1R shown on the plans?
Which San Mateo remodels have to score 12 points?
How fast do I get it back?
24 to 48 hours on your first job, three business days for everything after that — a date you can put on the schedule, not an estimate. If your permit deadline is tighter than that, say so in the notes; I’ll tell you honestly whether I can hit it before you commit.
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.
Send your San Mateo plans.
Tell me the year the house was originally permitted and the affected floor area, and the CF1R comes back with the Table 150.0-J measures picked and the verification written as the section 10-103 addendum, ready to be printed and drawn onto the sheets.