Can an unlicensed designer sign the CF1R?

Where no licensed design professional is required, the compliance manual lets the builder sign as the responsible building designer. The ECC-Rater cannot. The licensing rules are on our who-can-prepare page.

Do I draw the duct layout?

Only when the CF1R takes credit for a verified duct design. Then a scaled Duct Design Layout must be filed with the plans, and deviations need a revised layout approved by the building department.

What do I send you to start?

The plans as PDFs and the project address, which fixes the climate zone, plus the window schedule and the heating, cooling and water heating equipment.

Title 24 for Designers and Drafters

The CF1R reports what your drawings specify, so most Energy Code problems are drafting problems that surface at plan check.

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Permit-ready report by email

The compliance manual makes the designer responsible for the overall design and for signing the CF1R, even when the energy analysis is delegated. We prepare the CF1R from your drawings, so what you draw is what we model.

What the drawings carry

The certificate sits in the plan set

Where plans are required, the certificates are incorporated into them and the plans must match the specifications on the CF1R (Section 10-103(a)2). If a feature changes so the building may no longer comply, amended plans and certificates go back for approval.

Ducts

A verified duct design credit needs a scaled Duct Design Layout showing the equipment, every register and grille, and the size, R-value and location of each duct segment, filed with the permit set (RA3.1.4.1.1). A favourable duct location allows 12 linear feet or less outside conditioned space, air handler and plenum included. Ducts in conditioned space can be drawn with a dropped ceiling, a conditioned plenum or open-web floor trusses; an unvented attic does not qualify.

The water heater closet

For a consumer integrated heat pump water heater installed without ducts, Section 110.3(c)7B asks for a space of at least 100 cubic feet per kBtu per hour of compressor capacity, or venting to a communicating space through openings of 125 square inches plus 25 per kBtu per hour, one in the upper and one in the lower half of the enclosure.

What the plan examiner compares

The manual lists the radiant barrier, vented or unvented attic, roof-deck insulation, register placement, duct location, piping insulation, PV orientation, tilt and shading, and battery readiness, besides window and equipment schedules.

Measuring the way the code does

Four definitions

Conditioned floor area is measured at the floor level of the exterior surfaces of exterior walls. Fenestration area is the rough opening. Orientation is measured from true north, in sectors of 45 degrees either side of each cardinal direction, and the performance model uses the actual azimuth of the front. A habitable story has at least half its volume above grade.

Additions

Compliance as an addition alone or as existing plus addition plus alteration is a design decision: for a 400 square foot addition the manual gives a 30 per cent glazing limit on the second path and 20 per cent on the first.

How to order

What to send

Residential reports start at $245 and ADU reports at $199, with unlimited revisions. Send plans as PDFs with the address, the window schedule, equipment and any duct layout.

Licensing and who may sign are on who can prepare a Title 24 report; Title 24 for architects covers licensed designers. See 15 plan check mistakes, HVAC load calculations, room additions and how to read your CF1R.