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Credit language
Requirements
Reduce the landscape area planted to turf grass by landscaping with plants that are native or adapted to the region. Points are awarded according to Table 1.
Table 1. Points for reducing turf grass and increasing native plantings, as percentage of total landscape area
| Turf grass area |
|
Native or adapted plant area |
Points |
|
| and |
> 25% |
1 |
|
| and |
> 50% |
2 |
|
| and |
> 75% |
3 |
|
| and |
> 75% |
4 |
Lists of native plants are maintained by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the North American Native Plant Society, state agencies, and local cooperative extension service offices and others.
Single family projects with private pools and other outdoor water features must use WE Credit Total Water Reduction. Projects with common pools do not need to enter the common pools in water calculator and thus do not need to use Total Water Reduction.
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Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »
Addenda
4/21/2023 – Updated: 4/23/2024
Rating System Correction
Description of change: Edit the last sentence to read as:
"Single family projects with private pools and other outdoor water features must use WE Credit Total Water Reduction. Projects with common pools do not need to enter the common pools in water calculator and thus do not need to use Total Water Reduction."
Internationally Applicable: No
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry: Can projects with unfinished landscaping at final verification earn credit?
Ruling: "Projects with unfinished landscaping at final verification can take two approaches:
1. Earn no points for outdoor water use. These projects may not use Total Water Use and must use the prescriptive pathway, but cannot earn any points in WEc Outdoor Water Use.
OR
2. Assume that any areas with unfinished landscaped are turf and pursue either WEc Total Water Use or WEc Outdoor Water Use.
Note that areas with unfinished landscaping must have erosion controls installed in accordance with SSp Construction Activity Pollution Prevention."
Internationally Applicable: No
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