What Is a CF1R Certificate of Compliance?
The CF1R is the residential Certificate of Compliance — the design-stage document showing that a single-family project meets the California Energy Code. When a building department asks for "your Title 24", this is normally what it means.
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What the form records
A CF1R describes the building the compliance claim rests on: conditioned floor area and geometry, the wall, roof and floor assemblies with their insulation, the glazing schedule with performance values and orientation, and the heating, cooling, ventilation and water-heating equipment. It then demonstrates that the design complies — either by meeting each prescriptive requirement, or by modelling the building against a reference design of the same size and shape.
It is produced in software the Energy Commission has approved for the current code cycle, and the documentation author signs it. That signature certifies the design, which is why the CF1R has to describe the building actually being built rather than an earlier version.
Which variant applies
CF1R is a family rather than a single sheet. New construction and additions use the main compliance forms; alterations use the ALT series, and within that there are separate forms for prescriptive alterations generally and for altered space-conditioning systems. So a homeowner asked for "the CF1R" on a furnace changeout is being asked for something quite different from the CF1R on a new house.
Where it sits in the sequence
The CF1R is stage one of three. The CF2R is completed during construction as regulated features are installed, and the CF3R records third-party field verification where it is required. Where a design relies on verified measures, the forms are registered through a HERS provider's registry and carry a registration number rather than simply being printed.
Why it comes back at plan check
Almost always because the certificate and the drawings have stopped describing the same building — a window resized, equipment swapped, an assembly revised after issue. Reissuing it against the current drawings resolves it.