Title 24 HERS, Permits & Final Inspections in Ventura County

The Ventura County cities we serve

Ventura County is a standing part of our route, not an occasional detour. Our internal permit records show steady volume across six cities:

• Simi Valley — our #9 city statewide by permit volume (99 permits in our records), concentrated in 93065 on the west side and 93063 toward Santa Susana. Simi Valley has its own dedicated page.
• Thousand Oaks — 43 permits in our records, led by 91320 (Newbury Park), with steady work in 91362 and 91360.
• Ventura (San Buenaventura) — 43 permits, led by 93003 midtown/east end, plus 93004 and the 93001 coastal core.
• Oxnard — 37 permits spread across 93033, 93030, 93036, and 93035.
• Camarillo — 23 permits, split between 93012 and 93010.
• Moorpark — 23 permits, all in 93021.

We also cover the rest of the county on request — Port Hueneme, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Ojai, and unincorporated areas permitted through the County of Ventura.

Two climate zones: CZ 6 on the coast, CZ 9 inland

Ventura County splits cleanly into two of California’s 16 building climate zones, and the split changes what your project gets tested for. The coastal plain — Ventura, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and Camarillo — is Climate Zone 6, the mild marine zone. The inland valleys — Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, plus Ojai, Santa Paula, and Fillmore — are Climate Zone 9, with hot cooling-driven summers. Zone assignments come from the California Energy Commission’s climate zone map, and Energy Code Ace publishes the zip-by-zip table we use to confirm.

Why it matters: air-conditioner alterations in CZ 9 trigger refrigerant charge verification on top of duct leakage testing, while the same change-out in CZ 6 historically did not. Under the 2025 Energy Code — effective January 1, 2026 for permit applications submitted on or after that date — heat pumps are the prescriptive space-heating baseline in all 16 zones and every heat pump install gets refrigerant charge verification, so the gap between the two zones narrows. We confirm the zone and the required HERS / ECC measures for your exact address before quoting.

The AHJs we work with in Ventura County

Each city is its own AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) with its own building department, portal, and inspector pool. The three we interact with most:

City of Simi Valley — Building & Safety Division

City of Thousand Oaks — Building Division

County of Ventura — Building & Safety (unincorporated areas)

We also pull and close permits with the City of Ventura’s Permit Center, and the building divisions of Oxnard, Camarillo, and Moorpark. Every jurisdiction has its own portal quirks and document checklists — the practical value we add is that we already have accounts, templates, and working relationships in each one, so your permit doesn’t stall on setup.

What we do across Ventura County

• Title 24 HERS / ECC Rating testing — duct leakage, refrigerant charge, cooling coil airflow, fan efficacy. ECC stands for Energy Code Compliance — the California Energy Commission’s new name for the HERS program under the 2025 code. CF1R / CF2R / CF3R compliance documents prepared and registered with CHEERS, at no additional charge.
• QII verification — Quality Insulation Installation inspections for new construction, ADUs, and large additions, staged around your drywall schedule.
• Permit expediting — mechanical, electrical, plumbing permits submitted through each jurisdiction’s portal, plan-check corrections handled.
• Final inspections & closeout — we coordinate the final with the city or county inspector and the homeowner, brief the homeowner on what the inspector will want to see, and hand off the HERS test and permit packet.

Frequently asked — Ventura County

Do you charge extra to come out to Ventura County?

No surprise trip fees. Ventura County is part of our standing route, not a special trip — Simi Valley alone is our #9 city statewide by permit volume. We quote one fixed number up front that covers the visit, the testing, and CHEERS registration. Call (310) 807-4800 for a fixed quote on your address.

Which registry do you use for CF3Rs in Ventura County?

CHEERS. Every CF3R we field-verify is registered with CHEERS at no additional charge, and CHEERS was approved by the California Energy Commission as an ECC-Provider and data registry for the 2025 Energy Code on November 12, 2025. Note that CalCERTS shut down its HERS registry services in September 2024, so older projects that started there may need help migrating — we handle that too.

Do you handle permits in unincorporated Ventura County?

Yes. Unincorporated areas — addresses outside city limits — are permitted through the County of Ventura’s Building and Safety Division, which requires submittal through its VC Citizen Access online portal. We submit, track plan check, and coordinate the final inspection there the same way we do with the cities.

Does the 2025 Energy Code change what gets tested in Ventura County?

Yes, for newer permits. The 2025 Building Energy Efficiency Standards took effect January 1, 2026, and apply to permit applications submitted on or after that date — earlier applications stay on the 2022 code. The headline changes: heat pumps are now the prescriptive baseline for space heating in all 16 climate zones, refrigerant charge verification is required for heat pumps everywhere and for air conditioners in Climate Zones 2 and 8 through 15 (which includes the CZ 9 inland half of Ventura County), and heat pump water heaters are effectively the prescriptive baseline. We confirm which code cycle and which measures apply to your permit before quoting.

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