Title 24 reports for Watsonville permits.
Watsonville is the one city I work in where the Title 24 model does double duty — it is also the paperwork that gets the city’s Carbon Impact Fee refunded.
Your energy model is how the carbon fee comes back
Watsonville charges a Carbon Impact Fee on top of the building permit fee — 50% of that fee on new construction, 30% on additions, single-family alterations exempt (WMC 14-51.040). And it refunds: clearing the city’s 40% compliance threshold returns half of it, 80% returns all of it, and below 40% nothing comes back. The proof is the city’s undated voluntary-compliance worksheet, which is a Title 24 modeling exercise start to finish — average annual building electricity demand from “a Title 24 energy model using certified compliance software,” compared against the Standard Building — footnoted “To output kWh, run ECON-1 as additional report California Energy Commission using compliance certified software.” It is checked at plan check and again at inspection against the installed generation system.
The city’s Design Criteria page states Climate Zone 4; the CEC’s own ZIP workbook returns Climate Zone 3 for 95076 and 95077. Both are official, and they are not the same building — I run compliance to the CEC determination for the project address. And the checklist the city still links for an ADU or JADU carries a June 2000 footer, asks for four 18×24 paper sets, and lists CF-1R, MF-1R and CF-GR forms by name — forms no compliance software has produced in over a decade — while the 2025 ADU How-To Guide never mentions Title 24 at all. There is no local amendment to the Energy Code: WMC 8-8.01 adopts the 2025 California Energy Code without amendment, and Watsonville appears on neither CEC approved-ordinance list. For a single-family house the carbon fee starts at an addition over 500 square feet.
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.
Watsonville plan-check questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
How does Watsonville’s Carbon Impact Fee refund work?
Is Watsonville Climate Zone 3 or Climate Zone 4?
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 is CHEERS registration, and is it extra?
California requires the compliance certificate to be registered with an approved data registry before the building department will accept it. I use CHEERS, and registration is included in the rate — no separate registry fee, no account you have to open.
Send your Watsonville plans.
The CF1R comes back registered — and if the Carbon Impact Fee refund is in play, the ECON-1 kWh output the city’s worksheet asks for comes with it.