Green Home Design:
The first thing you should do upon being convinced that your are going
to pursue a LEED for homes rating is contact a provider in your area.
Click on USGBC link
to find a provider in your state. Just choose your
state in the drop-down window. By clicking on your state you will be
given the all the choice of providers that cover your area. They all
have email addresses listed as well as phone numbers and address for
additional contact information.
Role of the Provider:
Marketing LEED to Builders
Provide Green Home Rating Support Service to Builders
Training, Coordinating and Overseeing LEED Qualified
Inspector and Building Support Staff
Providers Should Provide You With The Following Services:
Design Phase:
Energy modeling plan review with projected HERS Rating
Complete initial LEED checklist and projected certification
level based on plan review. This should include the initial design meeting between
all parties.
Complete durability plan
Water-efficiency plan upgrade to include rainwater harvesting system design
Review drawings to ensure all LEED-for Homes prerequisites met
Specifications to ensure LEED-for Homes certification
Annual reference electrical load
Detailed report outlining non-design strategies for achieving
LEED-H
certification, such as recycling strategies, builder education and
on-going operation of the home.
Construction Phase:
The LEED for Homes HERS Requirements include:
Thermal bypass inspection
Air infiltration testing
Duct tightness testing (as required)
Durability Management Inspection
There are 38 qualified providers available at this time. USGBC does
this through a selection process to Providers that demonstrate a proven
record of supporting builders in the construction of high-performance,
sustainable homes.
Providers also are responsible for selecting Green Raters, who together
with the Provider verify that the homes in the program will meet the
LEED for Homes standards.
I would suggest a personal contact to each of them or a select few if
you have a wide choice. Ask them questions on your project, find out
how they work and gage their level of excitement about working on your
project.
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LEED Green Home Eligibility:
Also ask a Provider for past experience and how many projects
they have that are on-going. Also ask what fees and overhead expenses will be
incurred and if these are lump-sum, a fee range or a not-to-exceed fee.
Ask the Provider under what circumstances, if any, additional
fees would be charged to you.
Provider fees will vary by region so expect quite a difference from
area to area, depending an the amount of red tape they have to cut
through, standard labor rates and basic outlines of services.
Fees will probably vary based on your projected home size, so
have that available too.
Be prepared to send them a complete set of plans as you
progress through the design/documents phase, so they can provide their review on
the most recent versions.
You should also find out if he is giving you a package deal
that includes the Green Raters' services. This is important as the Green
Raters' fees can be the larger of the two.
Find out what role they would play in your project, in other
words, their level of participation. Also ask what they would expect
from you the owner.
If you have not contacted an Architect/Residential designer
or a
Building Contractor, you could ask them if they have any advice for
you. They are very familiar with design/building people in the
construction trades and can give you useful information to at least
start your search.
Allow about 1 to 3 months for the above process as you will
need to gather quite a bit of information, meet with designers and contractors
and give them time to get information back to you. Registration is a
snap once you make your building team selection.
Your next step after hiring your Provider is to register your project
at the USGBC website. Just follow this LINK
Cost for registration for a member of USGBC is $150.00 and a non-member
is $225.00 for a single-family home. Additional fees will be due prior
to the construction phase. These are $225 and $300 respectively.
Create your user name and password and sign-in. This costs nothing so go ahead and do it.
Once on the window opens, fill in the desired project information and
all the mandatory information and you are done! Your project
will now be live on the USGBC website and accessible to add additional information.
The Prize a LEED Green Home
