Energy documents that match the permit set.

Intake example card: a residential addition

Illustrative intake, not an actual client project: an architect is adding conditioned living space to an existing single-family home. Start with a short scope note separating retained rooms, newly conditioned area and alterations inside the existing house. Identify the total conditioned area included in the requested report and how many dwelling units the package covers. Do not treat the addition label alone as a modeling boundary; explain which existing systems and assemblies are changing.

Upload one legible PDF set with a site plan and north arrow, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations, building sections and a complete window and door schedule. Mark retained versus replaced fenestration. Include U-factor and SHGC values or identify selections still pending; an architectural product name alone does not resolve the rated performance input. Show insulation and assembly information on the sections, including transitions between existing and new construction.

Add mechanical and water-heating information when it is part of the work. State whether an existing HVAC system is extended, replaced or independent of the addition, and identify what remains uncertain. Explain any ducts or equipment locations relevant to the proposed design. If the team is evaluating addition-alone versus existing-plus-addition compliance, send enough existing-building information to discuss that boundary before assuming an option is available or advantageous.

Attach the AHJ-recorded permit application date if known, any prior CF1R and the full correction letter if this follows plan check. Use the CEC reference tools and AHJ confirmation for the exact location rather than assigning a climate zone to an entire city. We use these inputs to identify unresolved assumptions; your design team still chooses assemblies and equipment and updates the drawings.

Residential pricing follows the published conditioned-square-footage bands and dwelling-unit count, not an addition-only menu. A revised design after the report is distinguished from a correction caused by our error and from a rebuilt model requiring a custom quote. Send the packet for scope review rather than assuming a small addition automatically means a particular modeling path or revision price.

• Name the controlling PDF and drawing date.
• Label existing, proposed and pending choices.
• Include schedules and prior documents rather than isolated screenshots.

• Upload the addition plan set
• Addition modeling guidance
• Published residential bands

Intake example card: a commercial tenant improvement

Illustrative intake: an architect is coordinating an office TI inside an existing building. Open the packet with existing and proposed use, tenant area, affected systems and a boundary sketch. Distinguish the tenant work from shell or whole-building work. Identify whether lighting, HVAC, envelope or water heating changes are included; do not presume that a lighting-only permit requires an unrelated full-building model.

Upload the architectural floor plan, reflected ceiling plan, luminaire schedule and controls narrative when lighting changes. Coordinate room names and areas across the sheets. Include equipment specifications and mechanical schedules for altered HVAC, plus envelope details where those components change. Flag base-building equipment or landlord information the tenant team does not yet have rather than filling gaps with assumed efficiencies.

For NRCC preparation, tell us which systems the responsible designers are documenting and who will answer each unresolved item. The consultant coordinates energy-document inputs; the architect and engineers retain their own drawing and design responsibilities. Construction-stage installation records and acceptance testing are separate handoffs, not services automatically included in a design certificate.

Commercial pricing uses the same published square-footage bands for TI report scope as other commercial documentation; above the published area limit a custom quote is required. Confirm the included area and system scope before carrying the report into a project budget. Field testing, nonresidential acceptance testing, registry/document-registration fees, CALGreen documentation and AHJ plan-check or permit fees remain excluded.

For either example, upload PDF, DWG or ZIP with a short index identifying the latest set and questions needing resolution. Complete inputs reduce avoidable back-and-forth but are not a promised review deadline. Optional rush means next-business-day production after complete inputs; it does not control AHJ staffing, review or approval. Confirm the application date and applicable requirements with the AHJ; this intake guidance is educational, not legal advice.

• Upload the TI packet
• Commercial form responsibilities
• Complete intake checklist
• Order and upload roles

Built from the set you will actually submit

Plan check corrections often trace back to small mismatches: a window schedule revised after the model was run, an insulation value on a section that differs from the energy form, or a mechanical note nobody carried forward. We work from your current plan set and note each input we take from it, so the documentation and the drawings can be read side by side.

Projects with permit applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026 are generally reviewed under the 2025 California Energy Code. Field verification is now described as ECC verification; older documents may still call it HERS.

• Window and door schedule with U-factor and SHGC
• Wall, roof and floor assemblies on sections
• Heating, cooling and water heating equipment
• Duct location and any solar or battery scope

Coordinated questions, not guesswork

When an input is missing or two sheets disagree, we ask rather than assume. You receive a short list of open items so the design team can answer once and keep the set consistent. Where the result depends on a design choice, we describe the trade-off and leave the decision with you.

If you revise the design after the report, an architectural revision is a flat published fee. A larger redesign that needs the model rebuilt is quoted separately after intake.

• Residential Title 24
• Commercial compliance
• Energy modeling
• New construction

What we do and do not cover

We prepare compliance documentation for the permit application. We do not perform ECC field verification, nonresidential acceptance testing or site inspections, and we cannot promise how a building department will rule. Those responsibilities sit with the field parties and the reviewing jurisdiction.

• Contractor scope guide
• Order a report