Title 24 reports for San Rafael and Novato permits.
In San Rafael a 500-square-foot remodel of a pre-2011 house has to earn points on a city menu before it gets a permit. Fifteen miles north in Novato the state Energy Code is the whole rule, and a like-for-like HVAC changeout is issued instantly with no plan review at all.
One county, one climate zone, two rulebooks
San Rafael is codified and CEC-approved for the 2025 code, one of nine jurisdictions listed. SRMC Chapter 12.360, “Single-Family Model Reach Code—FlexPath,” carried in by Ordinance 2036 and re-adopted by Ordinance 2052 on September 15, 2025, was approved on 1/21/2026 by CEC Resolution No. 26-0121-03civ. A Covered Single-Family Project is an addition, alteration or remodel of a house permitted before 2011 that affects more than 500 square feet — and touching walls, joists, drywall, rafters or foundations pulls the whole floor area of every affected room into the count. It then has to hit a target score: 12 points for a pre-1978 house, 8 for 1978–1991, lighting only for 1992–2010, rising to 16 and 9 on January 1, 2027 or later at the Chief Building Official’s discretion. Measures already in the house count. Measures the Energy Code already requires do not.
Novato has no local amendment to the Energy Code — NMC § 4-1.2 A. adopts the 2025 family without one, and the codified code returns zero hits for “reach code,” “all-electric” and “electrification.” It is on neither CEC list and in neither docket. Both cities sit in Climate Zone 2. Novato issues instant permits with no plan review for the scopes that carry alteration duties — water heater, like-for-like HVAC, panel, reroof, windows — and decides an ADU in 60 days on a building permit alone. San Rafael publishes no turnaround, only a promise to abide by the estimate it gives you. Both cities have stood up pre-approved ADU programs; neither has a plan in one yet.
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 Rafael & Novato plan-check questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
Which San Rafael remodels have to hit a FlexPath target score?
Does a Novato express permit skip the Title 24 requirements?
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.
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.
Send your San Rafael or Novato plans.
For San Rafael, say the year the house was first permitted and the floor area the work affects — that pair decides the FlexPath target score the CF1R has to be built around.