A Title 24 report can change your California new-home budget before the building department reviews the structural plans. A window package that looked affordable, a gas-appliance assumption, or a late HVAC change can trigger revised calculations, new specifications, and higher bids.

If you are developing an infill rental, replacing a demolished house, or building a small spec home, treat a Title 24 report for a new home as an early feasibility tool. Waiting until the permit set is nearly complete can leave you redesigning the project after you have already priced it.

What a Title 24 Report Actually Covers

“Title 24” refers to California’s full Building Standards Code. The energy report that builders commonly call a Title 24 report addresses Part 6, the Building Energy Efficiency Standards. The broader California Building Standards Code also contains the state’s structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, fire-safety, accessibility, and green-building rules.

For permit applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026, new homes generally must comply with the 2025 Energy Code. The current standards expand heat-pump use in new residential construction and update requirements affecting envelopes, ventilation, equipment, and compliance documentation.

The report converts the proposed house into energy-performance inputs, including:

• Location, climate zone, orientation, and conditioned floor area
• Wall, roof, ceiling, slab, and floor assemblies
• Window area, U-factor, and solar heat gain coefficient
• Heating, cooling, ventilation, and duct design
• Water heating, lighting, solar, and applicable battery provisions
• Measures requiring field testing or verification

It does not simply label the house “energy efficient.” It records the features the approved plans and finished construction must deliver.

Why Investors Should Order the Report Early

A developer who orders the report after finalizing the plans gives the energy consultant fewer economical ways to solve a compliance problem.

Suppose the design uses large west-facing windows, standard insulation, ducts in a hot attic, and equipment selected mainly on price. The model may require better glazing, a revised insulation assembly, different duct placement, or upgraded mechanical equipment. Each change can affect drawings, bids, lead times, and subcontractor scopes.

Early modeling gives you choices. Late modeling gives you corrections.

The Real Cost Is Not Just the Report Fee

The consultant’s charge is only the first cost. Higher-performance windows, insulation changes, heat-pump equipment, electrical upgrades, ventilation components, and roof-layout revisions can move the construction budget.

Carry Title 24 in two places:

1. A professional-services line item for modeling, forms, and revisions.
2. A construction allowance for code-driven specifications.

Ask whether the quote includes plan-check responses, registry charges, revisions, and field-verification coordination. Pricing varies by project size, complexity, consultant scope, and the number of design changes.

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Prescriptive and Performance Compliance Are Different

California offers two basic compliance approaches for a new single-family home.

Prescriptive Compliance

The prescriptive approach follows defined requirements for individual components and systems. It can work well for a straightforward house that fits the standard assumptions for its climate zone.

Under the 2025 code, prescriptive single-family compliance uses heat-pump space heating in all California climate zones. A design that departs from the prescriptive package may need the performance approach instead.

Performance Compliance

The performance approach uses approved software to compare your design with a code-compliant standard design. It can allow tradeoffs, such as stronger performance in one area offsetting a weaker feature elsewhere.

This method does not remove mandatory requirements. It gives your team more design flexibility within the approved calculation method. The 2025 Building Energy Efficiency Standards page provides the current code, manuals, forms, and approved software resources.

For an investor, the better path is the one that produces a buildable specification at the lowest total project cost—not necessarily the lowest modeling fee.

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What Your Energy Consultant Needs

Incomplete information creates assumptions, and assumptions create revisions. Provide a coordinated plan set and a written list of intended systems, including:

• Site plan with north orientation
• Floor plans, elevations, and sections
• Window and exterior-door schedule
• Wall, roof, ceiling, and floor assemblies
• HVAC type, equipment location, and duct location
• Ventilation and water-heating plans
• Solar information and unusual design features

You may not need final model numbers during the first review, but your assumptions must be realistic. A placeholder that bears no relationship to what your contractor plans to install weakens the report.

A practical sequence is to run an early model during design development, update it with the coordinated permit set, and check it again before ordering windows and mechanical equipment.

Compliance Continues During Construction

The permit-stage report is only the first part of the process. California uses three main categories of single-family energy documents:

• CF1R — Certificate of Compliance: Shows the proposed design complies at permit application.
• CF2R — Certificate of Installation: Records that contractors installed regulated features as specified.
• CF3R — Certificate of Verification: Documents required field testing by an Energy Code Compliance rater.

The 2025 code cycle renamed the former HERS verification program as the Energy Code Compliance, or ECC, program. Projects with ECC measures must use an approved registry, and required CF3R forms must be completed by a certified ECC rater. The state’s single-family compliance forms identify the documents used for new construction and measures requiring verification.

A passing CF1R does not protect you when the field installation differs from the approved documents. Inspectors and raters compare installed windows, insulation, ducts, HVAC equipment, ventilation, plumbing, and other regulated features with the compliance package.

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Five Problems That Disrupt the Schedule

1. Plans and Report Do Not Match

A revision changes windows, ceiling geometry, insulation, equipment, or conditioned space, but nobody updates the energy model. The inconsistency surfaces during plan check or inspection.

2. Contractors Substitute Products

A cheaper window or HVAC unit may not meet the values in the report. Send exact product data to the energy consultant before approving a substitution.

3. Testing Is Scheduled Too Late

Some measures must be checked before work is concealed. Coordinate the ECC rater with framing, insulation, HVAC startup, and final inspection.

4. Bid Specifications Are Vague

“High-efficiency windows” is not a procurement standard. Put required U-factors, solar heat gain coefficients, equipment performance, and insulation values into subcontractor scopes.

5. Nobody Owns the Paperwork

Assign responsibility for registry entries, installer certificates, rater scheduling, corrected forms, and final documents. The building department can hold final approval when required compliance documents remain incomplete.

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Use the Report to Protect the Deal

Before permit submission, compare the Title 24 specifications with the budget and schedule. Confirm that window, HVAC, water-heating, insulation, and solar bids match the report. Identify every measure requiring ECC verification and place those inspections on the construction schedule.

The Forms Ace tool can help identify forms and verification requirements that may apply. Your local building department still controls its submittal procedures, so confirm file format, signatures, registry requirements, and sheet placement before uploading the package.

A Title 24 report for a new home should help you answer a business question: can you construct the approved design for the amount in your budget? Order it early, coordinate it with the plans, and carry its requirements into your contracts. That turns it into project-risk control instead of another permit expense.