[Bldg-sim] Cost of LEED certification

[Paul Meyer, P.E.]

The LEED experience of the team is a factor.  The LEED AP has to do a
lot more education and "hand holding" on a rookie team.
 
________________________________

From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org
[mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Marcus
Sheffer
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 12:39 PM
To: paul.hay at phcjamaica.com; Bldg-Sim
Subject: Re: [Bldg-sim] Cost of LEED certification
 
Anyone's first LEED project requires an investment of time to learn how
to do it.  This learning curve is somewhat steep but once you learn how
to do, actually doing it takes considerably less time.  Outside soft
costs (commissioning, energy modeling and LEED documentation) if you are
spending a dime more for construction costs than conventional for LEED
Certified or Silver then you have made an optional choice or are not
properly applying the system.  Many projects attain the Gold
certification level without an increase in construction costs.  
 
There have been several cost studies over the years than do not show
that LEED requires the type of investment purported by the American
Chemistry Council.  Here are some links:
 
http://www.cap-e.com/publications/default.cfm
http://www.davislangdon.com/USA/Research/ResearchFinder/2007-The-Cost-of
-Green-Revisited/
 
The Davis Langdon study above is far more thorough and comprehensive
than the much older ACC report which relies on a considerable amount of
early anecdotal evidence.
 
In many respects the cost of LEED comes down to what you assign to LEED
as an "extra" cost.  Many teams have figured out how to neutralize even
the added soft costs through an integrative design process. 
 
Marcus Sheffer
7group 
 
 
From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org
[mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of P. Hay
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 11:36 AM
To: Bldg-Sim
Subject: [Bldg-sim] Cost of LEED certification
 
I recall someone once asked about the time needed to be spent on LEED
certification.  Well, I have just come across a report prepared by
Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants
<http://www.nbenvironmental.com> entitled Analyzing the Cost of
obtaining LEED Certification, which is available online at the following
link: 
 
http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/for_communities/LEED_links/Analyzingt
heCostofLEED.pdf
 
It indicates that the documentation takes 226 working hours on average
to prepare and costs between US$8,000 - US$70,000 per project: the first
project costing between US$30,000 - US$60,000.
 
Paul Hay
Managing Partner
PAUL HAY Capital Projects
 
Strategic Facility Planning and Implementation
 
15a Cassia Park Road
Kingston 10
Jamaica, W.I.
 
tel: 1 (876) 756-0631
cel: 1 (876) 324-4274
fax: 1 (876) 756-0631
 
web: www.phcjamaica.com
e-mail: paul.hay at phcjamaica.com
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