The Cost of a LEED Certified Project.

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Author Message Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wyancey Post Number: 309 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 03:54 pm:    I recall recently seeing a magazine article discussing the impact of LEED on construction costs but can not find it. I believe I read it in the Construction Specifier but I cannot come with the goods. I stumbled across it in the past few months. Thanks in advance. Wayne John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 670 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 08:43 am:    I'd be interested in this too. We have more and more clients who want non-certified LEED projects. That is, they want the design to be suitable for getting LEED points, but don't care to pursue the certification. Peggy White, CSI, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 10:48 pm:    Scroll down this page on the USGBC website to Economic Analyses and you'll find some reputable sustainable cost studies: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=78 Just as on non-LEED projects, there are a number of variables to consider. The real prize in practicing sustainable design is the savings on operational costs if you do it right, and a tremendous contributor to the cost savings comes from creating healthy buildings that reduce absenteeism. Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wyancey Post Number: 311 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 10:45 am:    Peggy, Thanks. That link filled by basket. Wayne Frederick L. Jang, RA, CSI Advanced Member Username: fred_jang Post Number: 5 Registered: 07-2005 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 10:59 am:    To All, The General Services Administration commissioned a study a few years ago on the cost of LEED certification on government projects (new and R&A). This study is available on the Whole Building Design Guide: http://search.wbdg.org/wbdg/query.html?col=wbdg%2Cccb&qt=gsa+LEED+cost+study&submit.x=11&submit.y=8 This 580 page document should help answer any questions you may have concerning LEED. Please keep in mind that GSA's new construction projects are designed and construction with metric measurements. Fred Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 472 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 01:43 pm:    My experience in my former firm is that to get a LEED silver, the cost upcharge really is minimal for construction cost -- in the neighborhood of %2-3 percent. for a gold, the charge is more in the range of 10-15%. To get platinum, you're really breaking the box in terms of technology and that can engender quite a bit of cost. However, the biggest cost, especially for "certified" or "silver" buildings is by far the paperwork and registration costs. the SEattle area contractors are assuming 3/4 of one person for the whole project -- so that means $40-50,000 in personnel costs. As for the absenteeism claim: that simply hasn't been borne out. There is also reduced absenteeism that occurs when any office moves to a new space (just because its new and nicer). in the long term, the employee "benefits" aren't holding up as originally thought. as for operational costs: that may be the case in some jurisdictions. in Seattle is it also possible to install things that have such long payback times that there is simply no cost benefit. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 473 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 01:49 pm:    http://www2.davislangdon.com/USA/USA-Ultraseek-Search/?q=Costing+Green Davis Langdon has done some studies; the link is above. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 585 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - 04:49 pm:    http://www.sijournal.com/commentary/7241421.html this is a link to the Sustainable Industries journal... where they described how the cost of being certified was prohibitive -- 45% of their small budget -- so they are saving the paperwork for when it makes sense to do so.