Title 24 reports for Santa Cruz permits.
Santa Cruz holds four CEC approvals of its own energy standards across two code cycles, and the trigger is small — 350 square feet of addition or alteration puts a house on a nine-point measure menu.
Three hundred fifty square feet starts a point count
Santa Cruz is the only California city listed twice on both the CEC’s 2022 and 2025 approved-ordinance lists — four approvals, five ordinance numbers. The current pair is codified and CEC-approved for the 2025 code: Ordinance 2025-19, approved 1/21/2026, for single-family additions and alterations of 350 sf or more, and Ordinance 2025-22, approved 5/26/2026, for cooling on altered nonresidential systems, both in SCMC Chapter 18.15. The residential half adds §150.0(w): a major addition (350 sf of conditioned floor area in a year) or a major alteration (350 sf of altered components, roof or fenestration replacement alone excluded) installs Table 150.0-I measures totaling at least 9 points, plus the mandatory measures and water-heating electric readiness. Live on residential work since August 18, 2025.
The point math is the design decision: a heat pump water heater is 12 points and clears the target alone, or measures stack. Exception 11 exempts single-family homes built after December 31, 1991; Exception 2 is a hardship path above 20% of project valuation. A city intake form rides at the front of the Title 24 packet, a sheet reference against every measure, and the contractor re-documents at final with photos or a HERS report. Stamped effective February 1, 2026, that form still cites the 2022 Energy Code and drops the floor-insulation measures — the codified table controls under the 2025 code cycle. The city is Climate Zone 3, submittal is by email under a mandated subject line, no plan-check turnaround is published, and an ADU needs a permit with energy calculations like anything else.
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.
Santa Cruz plan-check questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
What trips the Santa Cruz energy reach code on a remodel?
Which measures actually add up to nine points?
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 Santa Cruz plans.
The CF1R comes back with the reach-code measures picked off the codified point table and the city intake form filled in to sit at the front of the Title 24 packet.