One state code, many building departments

Every multifamily set in California is drawn to the same code: the California Building Standards Code, Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, published by the Building Standards Commission. What differs from one city to the next is the local amendments, the zoning and the way the building department takes submittals and returns comments.

TECTO Studio's founder has worked on multifamily projects across Southern and Central California: the project record includes work as a project engineer on the Cal Poly student housing program in San Luis Obispo, about 4,200 beds, a 143-unit mixed-use building in Inglewood and several condominium buildings in West Hollywood, alongside the work in the City of Los Angeles. The studio draws sets for practices anywhere in the state, in the practice's own Revit model and template. Four regions have their own pages, with each one's review system: San Diego, the Bay Area, Orange County and Sacramento.

The California-only chapters on the sheets

The California Building Code, Part 2 of Title 24, is based on the International Building Code, and a set drawn to it reads much like a set drawn anywhere in the country. Three parts of the state code change the sheets of a multifamily project more than any others.

Accessibility: Chapters 11A and 11B

California splits accessibility into two chapters. Chapter 11A, adopted by the Department of Housing and Community Development, covers housing accessibility in privately funded multifamily buildings. Chapter 11B, adopted by the state's DSA, covers public accommodations, commercial space and publicly funded housing. A mixed-use building with retail at the ground floor and affordable units above can fall under both, with each space drawn to its chapter. The 11A and 11B guide sets out how each chapter shows up on the accessibility plans, the unit matrix and the enlarged unit plans.

Energy: Title 24, Part 6

The Energy Code is Part 6. The 2025 Energy Code took effect on January 1, 2026 for new buildings, according to the California Energy Commission. Compliance is shown on certificates of compliance: LMCC forms for multifamily buildings of three habitable stories or fewer, and NRCC forms for four habitable stories or more, which covers most podium buildings (2025 Multifamily Compliance Manual). The forms demonstrate that the construction documents comply with the Energy Code at the time of permit application.

Your energy consultant prepares and signs those forms. The drawing side is making the set match them: the wall, roof and window assemblies on the sheets show the values the forms model, the forms are incorporated into the plans, as Section 10-103(a)2 requires wherever the department requires plans, and a change in an assembly during plan check goes back to the consultant before the sheets are reissued.

Green building: CALGreen, Part 11

The California Green Building Standards Code, Part 11, adds mandatory measures to every new multifamily building, among them electric vehicle charging readiness, flow limits for plumbing fixtures and a construction waste management plan (HCD, 2025 CALGreen residential mandatory measures). On the sheets, CALGreen appears as a checklist or a set of notes on a general sheet, with the parking plans and plumbing fixture schedules showing the measures that are drawn.

State housing laws that shape the set

California housing law now reaches into the drawings as much as into the entitlement. Four statutes come up on multifamily sets across the state:

The State Density Bonus Law, Government Code section 65915, adds bonus units, incentives and waivers, and a density table, an incentives table and a parking tabulation to the sheets. The density bonus guide takes each in turn.
The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (SB 330) created the preliminary application in Government Code section 65941.1, which lets a housing project submit a defined subset of information ahead of the full application, and it limits cities to objective standards: standards that involve no personal or subjective judgment by a public official (HCD). For the drawings, objective standards mean each standard can be dimensioned and tabulated on a sheet.
SB 35 and SB 423 set up a ministerial approval process in Government Code section 65913.4 for qualifying multifamily projects in jurisdictions that are behind on their regional housing need. SB 423 extended the process through 2036 (HCD). A project approved this way is reviewed for compliance with objective standards only, so the set includes a compliance table standard by standard.
Replacement unit rules in the Housing Crisis Act and the density bonus law require projects on sites with existing housing to replace protected units, which adds replacement units to the unit matrix.

Plan review in other California cities

Each building department sets its own submittal format, portal and correction process, and many now take submittals and return comments electronically. The studio works to the submittal rules of the jurisdiction on your set, and the plan check corrections service answers comments from any California building department the same way: revised sheets clouded and numbered, a response keyed to every comment and a dated log for your office.

What stays with your office

Your architect of record holds responsible control of the set and stamps it, as California law requires; the responsible control guide sets out what that means when someone outside your office draws. Your office also keeps the code and zoning decisions, the relationship with the building department and the signature on the application. The studio draws, coordinates and checks, in your model, and every issue comes with a review log of the questions that need your decision.

Multifamily sets for practices across California