1. Project address + ZIP
Why it matters. The project ZIP determines the climate zone, and the climate zone determines the prescriptive baseline — wall and ceiling R-values, window U-factor and SHGC, HVAC efficiency tier, DHW heater type, PV mandate sizing factors. Every per-zone branch in the compliance code keys off this one input.
What you need. The actual permit address (street + city + ZIP). Project descriptions like "Sacramento home" aren't enough — Sacramento County alone spans CZ11 and CZ12, and the wrong zone can shift the cooling tier from SEER2 17 to SEER2 22 (CZ12's tightening). Use the ZIP-to-CZ lookup or the CEC's official tool to confirm.
Common gotcha. A few ZIPs straddle the CZ boundary. The CEC's authoritative map cuts at the ZIP centroid; if a project address is on the edge of a ZIP that crosses zones, the AHJ may ask for confirmation. Our compliance engine defaults to the ZIP-derived zone but allows manual override on the Confirm step.
2. Conditioned floor area (CFA)
Why it matters. CFA drives load calculations, the §150.1(c)14 PV sizing formula, NDU determinations, and which compliance baseline branch applies. It also flows into the size-class buckets the design-options builder uses (SFR_SMALL, SFR_LARGE, SFR_VLARGE) for per-archetype carve-outs.
What you need.
- For Newly Constructed: the total conditioned floor area of the new residence. If an ADU is being permitted together, the combined CFA and a separate line item for the ADU's CFA.
- For Add+Alt: the existing residence's CFA and the addition's CFA, broken out separately. The compliance engine models them as two zones; combining them under one CFA number produces the wrong compliance result.
- For Alteration Only: the existing residence's CFA.
- For Add-Alone: the addition or ADU's CFA. For detached-ADU Add-Alone, this is the only CFA needed. For attached-ADU or non-ADU Add-Alone, you'll also need the existing residence's CFA (the project gets rerouted to the Add+Alt two-zone model).
What "conditioned" means. Spaces with active heating or cooling supply. Garages are not conditioned. Unfinished basements are not conditioned. A sunroom with an HVAC vent and a thermostat-controlled register is conditioned. The area measurement is the interior dimension at the conditioned-space boundary — not the exterior dimension and not the gross footprint.
3. Bedroom count
Why it matters. Bedroom count drives ventilation and hot-water demand calculations. Title 24's IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) ventilation requirement uses bedroom count as a proxy for occupancy. The HPWH sizing also keys off bedroom count for showers-served and baths-served defaults.
What you need. Total number of bedrooms in the project. For Add+Alt, this is the total after the addition — if the existing residence has 3 bedrooms and the addition adds 1, the value is 4. For Add-Alone with an ADU, it's the bedroom count of the ADU itself (the existing residence's bedrooms aren't part of the compliance run for that case).
What counts as a bedroom. Per Title 24's convention: an enclosed room intended for sleeping, with a door, a closet, and a window meeting egress requirements. Home offices, dens, studies, and converted lofts are generally not counted as bedrooms even if they could be used that way. The AHJ has discretion on borderline cases.
4. Ceiling height (top-plate height)
Why it matters. Ceiling height drives wall-area calculations for
every face of the building. The compliance engine computes wall area as face
perimeter × ceiling height × number of stories. Mis-stating ceiling height
throws off the entire envelope-area calculation, which throws off the U-factor
weighted average for the wall assembly, which can flip a borderline compliance run
from passing to failing.
What you need. The top-plate height in feet. Standard values are 8', 9', or 10'. For projects with a custom ceiling height (12'6", 14', etc.), the Confirm step accepts a custom value in feet + inches.
The convention. Top-plate height is measured from the finished floor to the top of the wall plates — not to the underside of the rafters or to the cathedral peak. For a 10' ceiling with a 16' cathedral peak in the great room, the top-plate height entered on the Confirm step is 10'. The cathedral geometry is handled separately in the attic/cathedral section.
Multi-story note. The compliance engine uses a single ceiling height across all stories. If your project has 10' on the first floor and 9' on the second, enter the most-common value (typically the first floor) and accept the small approximation on the second-story wall area. The alternative — modeling each story separately — is more accurate but introduces complexity that rarely pays off in a compliance result.
5. Responsible designer credentials
Why it matters. The CF1R is signed by the project's Responsible Designer. CHEERS verifies the signature is by an eligible party before the registered CF1R is issued. Get this wrong and the registration stalls.
What you need. For each project, the Responsible Designer's:
- Full legal name as it appears on their license (or as they'd sign for an unlicensed B&P exemption).
- Email address — CHEERS sends the signature request directly to this address.
- License number if the designer is a California-licensed architect (C-prefix) or engineer (varies by board). If signing under B&P §§5537 / 6737.1 exemption (wood-framed SFR up to 2 stories, or ≤4-unit two-story wood-framed multifamily), no license number is required.
The B&P exemption rules in one line. An unlicensed designer can sign the CF1R as Responsible Designer for wood-framed single-family residences up to two stories under B&P §5537 (architects) and §6737.1 (engineers), and for small (≤4-unit) two-story wood-framed multifamily buildings. Beyond that envelope — three stories, steel framing, larger multifamily, mixed-use — a licensed architect or engineer is required.
Who can be the Responsible Designer. The Responsible Designer is whoever takes responsibility for the building design. That's typically the project's architect of record, but it can be the structural engineer, the developer, or (in the B&P-exempt envelope) the homeowner or contractor acting as their own designer. The signature affirms responsibility for everything submitted on the certificate — it's not a clerical step.
6. Project scope
Why it matters. Scope determines the entire compliance basis — see our Addition vs Alteration vs Add-Alone article for the full breakdown. The wrong scope produces the wrong compliance result.
What you need. One of:
- Newly Constructed — new building on a vacant lot, or full teardown rebuild.
- Addition + Alteration — existing residence stays, work adds floor area and/or alters existing systems.
- Alteration Only — existing residence stays, no new floor area added.
- Add-Alone — addition or ADU modeled standalone (without the existing residence in the same run). Will be auto-routed to NC (detached ADU) or rerouted to Add+Alt (attached ADU, non-ADU).
For Add+Alt and Add-Alone, you'll also need the ADU type (Detached, Attached, or None) and, for ADUs specifically, the ADU's bedroom count and conditioned floor area.
7. HVAC preference
Why it matters. This is the customer-selectable input that determines which equipment lineup the compliance engine targets. The default is "no preference" — the engine picks the prescriptive baseline (ducted split heat pump) for the climate zone. The override exists primarily for Add+Alt projects where the customer wants to keep an existing gas furnace.
What you can pick.
- No preference — engine picks the prescriptive baseline.
- Heat pump (variable speed) — explicit request for a variable-speed inverter heat pump. Default for NC.
- Heat pump (mini-split) — separate-zone mini-split system; common for Add+Alt with separate-minisplit topology where the addition gets its own outdoor unit.
- Gas furnace + AC — only available on Add+Alt scope. Existing gas furnace is grandfathered; the AC component must meet prescriptive efficiency.
Heads-up. The compliance engine validates the (CZ, option, HVAC, DHW) tuple against a set of swept combinations known to pass. If your preferred combo isn't in the validated set, the engine falls back to the firm-default lineup for the scope and surfaces a note on the design card explaining why. Nothing hard-rejects.
8. DHW preference
Why it matters. Same logic as HVAC preference — the engine defaults to the climate zone's prescriptive HPWH tier unless the customer overrides. Override is most useful for Add+Alt projects keeping an existing gas tankless heater.
What you can pick.
- No preference — engine picks the prescriptive HPWH tier (Tier 3 in most CZs, Tier 4 in CZ3 / CZ5 / CZ16).
- HPWH Tier 3 — explicit Tier 3 50-gal HPWH.
- HPWH Tier 4 — explicit Tier 4 50-gal HPWH.
- Gas tankless — only available on Add+Alt. Existing gas tankless grandfathered.
- Gas storage — only available on Add+Alt. Existing gas storage tank grandfathered.
Replace water heater? checkbox. For Add+Alt and Alteration Only, the Confirm step shows a "Replace water heater?" checkbox. Unchecked (the default), the existing water heater is grandfathered and the design cards read "Existing — no change". Checked, the prescriptive HPWH for the climate zone is substituted and the compliance run treats it as a new install. See our HPWH selection article for when to check.
The Confirm step — your last review point
Once you've uploaded plans and the extraction has run, you'll land on a Confirm step that shows everything we read from your PDF: address, ZIP, climate zone, CFA, bedrooms, ceiling height, addition geometry (for Add+Alt), window counts, door counts, HVAC + DHW pre-fills from any existing-equipment schedule. This is the one moment to correct anything the extraction got wrong.
We will not pause to ask for clarifications later in the flow. The CF1R is generated from exactly what you confirm. The plan-check article covers what to do if an AHJ reviewer asks for changes after registration — but the design-time review point is the Confirm step, and it's worth a careful read.