Title 24 Reports in San Francisco
San Francisco is California's only consolidated city and county, and every part of it is climate zone 3. What shapes most projects here is not the zone but the fact that almost nothing is new construction.
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One city, one county, one climate zone
Being a consolidated city and county removes a question that arises nearly everywhere else in the state. There is no unincorporated territory inside San Francisco and no second building department with its own process, so every project in the city answers to the same authority.
The zone is just as settled: all 28 ZIP codes in the city are zone 3, and so are Daly City, Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Pacifica, Oakland and Berkeley. Zone 3 is the third largest of the sixteen at 276 ZIP codes, running down the peninsula and around the bay shore. Unlike a San Jose project, a San Francisco one shares its zone with most of its neighbours.
Where the zone breaks is north
Across the Golden Gate it holds through Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon and Corte Madera — and then stops. Larkspur, immediately next to Corte Madera, is zone 2, as are San Rafael, Fairfax and Novato. Two adjacent Marin towns on opposite sides of the assignment is about as tight as the boundary gets anywhere in California, and it is why a practice working both sides of the bridge cannot carry one set of figures across.
Alterations rather than new construction
San Francisco is effectively built out, so most residential work is a change to an existing building: a vertical addition, a rear extension, a garage or ground-floor conversion, or a full envelope remodel of a Victorian or Edwardian flat. Title 24 handles that through the additions and alterations path, where the changed area and the affected systems demonstrate compliance rather than the entire building. Replacing windows in an existing façade, installing new heating, or bringing an unconditioned ground floor into use can each require documentation without any addition at all.
Permitting through the Department of Building Inspection
Permits are issued by the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, acting as both the city and the county authority, and the compliance forms are read against the architectural drawings as part of the same review.
Common Title 24 Questions in San Francisco
- Is all of San Francisco in climate zone 3?
- Does a San Francisco remodel need a full Title 24 report?
- How does the additions and alterations path work on a Victorian flat?
- Does converting a garage or ground floor need an energy report?
- What does the Department of Building Inspection review in the energy set?
- Is there a separate county requirement in San Francisco?
- Does a Marin or peninsula project use the same climate zone?
- Do San Francisco tenant improvements need the nonresidential forms?
San Francisco projects fall in California climate zone 3. The zone drives the envelope and equipment requirements a report has to meet, and a single city can span more than one, so it is confirmed per address.