New-Construction Energy Modeling & Reports

A staged workflow: design options to construction handoff

Start while the design can still change, but distinguish advice based on provisional inputs from documents representing the selected design. The following is a coordination framework, not a promise of permit approval or a substitute for the responsible designers. Establish the applicable edition using the permit application-date guide: the 2025 California Energy Code applies to applications on or after January 1, 2026. Earlier active permits require their own edition confirmation.

1. 1. Establish scope, edition and responsibilities

   The applicant and lead designer identify the proposed building, conditioned boundary, dwelling units, reviewing authority and application history. The documentation preparer confirms which information is needed; the reviewer resolves permit-status questions. Assign an owner for architectural, mechanical, lighting and water-heating inputs rather than assuming one energy report covers every discipline. Use the project intake checklist to flag missing or undecided information before work starts.

2. 2. Compare early options and choose a compliance approach

   The designer supplies candidate glazing, assemblies and systems; the modeler records assumptions and compares eligible options. The owner and designers choose what to carry forward. Decide whether a prescriptive approach fits or performance modeling is useful using the prescriptive-versus-performance guide. Mandatory requirements still apply under either path. An option study is not a final permit certificate or a utility-bill forecast.

3. 3. Coordinate the selected design and resolve assumptions

   The lead designer establishes one controlling plan revision. Each discipline confirms its schedules and specifications, while the preparer reconciles model inputs with those documents. Resolve window products, orientation, assemblies, duct locations and equipment information. Record any remaining unknowns explicitly; do not quietly turn a placeholder into a final specification. The owner approves the selected scope, not an uncommitted upgrade added only to obtain a passing result.

4. 4. Prepare the coordinated permit documentation

   The preparer generates the applicable compliance output and documents modeled measures and assumptions. Responsible design parties coordinate their required signatures, plan notes and applicable registry steps. The applicant submits the package using the reviewing authority’s instructions; the reviewer decides acceptance. Later comments or substitutions go through a controlled revision, not a cosmetic change to the report. See energy plan-check corrections and revisions when drawings and compliance output need to be reconciled.

5. 5. Hand off installation and verification responsibilities

   The builder coordinates the installing trades and required testing participants using the approved measures. Installers document actual work; qualified ECC-Raters perform required ECC verification, and applicable nonresidential acceptance work follows its own requirements. The preparer’s design output does not complete those tasks. Where single-family forms apply, use the CF1R, CF2R and CF3R responsibility guide to plan access and document handoffs before assemblies are concealed. For project-specific design documentation and a responsibility checklist, see CF1R preparation and CF2R/CF3R coordination.

Worked example: a glazing option study is not the permit package

Hypothetical example: a designer is developing a new single-family house with a large glazed living-room opening. Two window configurations are under consideration; the HVAC model and final roof assembly are not yet selected. The modeler compares the glazing options using documented provisional system and assembly inputs. The purpose is to understand design consequences, not to certify that unspecified products comply.

At this preliminary stage, the option record identifies what changed between runs, which inputs stayed the same and which are assumptions. A favorable option does not approve every later product substitution. If a comparison is needed, the energy-modeling service describes option studies separately from final compliance output.

For the permit package, the designer supplies the selected opening sizes, orientation, rated window data and coordinated assembly details. The relevant designers confirm equipment and ventilation inputs. The preparer replaces provisional values, reruns the selected design and reconciles the output with the named plan revision. If the result changes, the team resolves the design; it does not reuse an earlier passing screenshot. The permit documents identify the actual required measures and applicable signatures/registration, with construction-stage responsibilities still separate.

• +What stays traceable: confirmed permit edition, documented location basis, model scope and the history of options considered.
• +What remains provisional during options: unselected window products, candidate assemblies, equipment inputs and any unapproved design changes.
• +What becomes coordinated for permit: the chosen plans/specifications, final model inputs, applicable compliance output and drawing measures.
• +What is not proven by either study: installation quality, completion of required tests, utility bills or permit approval.

Residential and nonresidential documentation are not interchangeable

Single-family: confirm the building classification and 2025 form family. CF1R is design compliance, CF2R is installation certification and CF3R records required ECC verification by a qualified ECC-Rater. Not every project requires the same verification measures. Low-rise multifamily uses a distinct 2025 family—LMCC, LMCI and LMCV—rather than automatically using single-family forms. The residential report service explains that classification boundary.

Nonresidential: coordinate the affected envelope, mechanical, lighting and other applicable systems. NRCC design compliance is distinct from NRCI installation, applicable NRCV verification and NRCA acceptance documentation. Testing requirements and responsible participants depend on the scope; do not book a generic residential field test as a substitute for acceptance testing. See commercial energy compliance and NRCC for the discipline-by-discipline handoff.

Both pathways: use the applicable CEC edition, manuals, forms and approved compliance software when performance modeling is selected. Title 24 contains multiple parts: Part 6 is the Energy Code; Part 11 is CALGreen, a separate code. Solar, storage, electric-readiness and other measures require project-specific applicability review, not a blanket claim that every new building has the same requirements. The CEC sources below are the educational reference points.

When the design changes or another dwelling is involved

Re-model before relying on a changed design: send altered glazing dimensions or ratings, orientation, envelope assemblies, conditioned area and equipment/system changes to the documentation team. The preparer determines whether new calculations or documents are needed; the designer coordinates affected sheets. Keep an explicit revision trail. For an existing permit, do not assume that a change automatically switches the code cycle—ask the reviewer about the actual permit circumstances.

A new dwelling plus an ADU, garage conversion or changes to another building needs a scope map. Identify newly built, previously conditioned and newly conditioned space and any separate application dates. An unconditioned garage becoming conditioned can be an Energy Code addition even without a larger footprint. Do not assume one report covers every unit or that shared services allow shared HVAC. Use the ADU and garage-conversion documentation guide to prepare those distinctions, then confirm the appropriate model boundaries with the design/documentation team.

Typical scope

• +Early design check-in on glazing, assemblies and systems
• +Performance or prescriptive documentation
• +Plan notes for mandatory measures
• +List of measures likely to need field verification

Documentation deliverables

Typical report-preparation outputs to confirm in the project scope; not a promise of field services or permit approval.

• +A documented compliance approach for the confirmed building type and edition.
• +Option-study findings when included in the agreed design-documentation scope.
• +Final applicable compliance forms and coordinated measures for the selected design.
• +A construction handoff for installation documentation, ECC verification or nonresidential acceptance testing where applicable.

Not included / not implied

• -Permit approval is decided by the building department; documentation does not guarantee approval.
• -Construction-stage installation certificates and ECC verification are separate responsibilities; field testing and installer certification are not included in report preparation.
• -CALGreen (Title 24, Part 11) documentation, permit processing and acceptance testing are separate scopes, not implied by a Part 6 energy report.
• -Structural, mechanical design or legal advice.

Questions