All --

I work for a small Design-Build company in Durham, NC and we are looking to certify our new office building (12,000 sq. ft adaptive reuse) through LEED Core and Shell Rating system.

This is the first LEED project for our entire team, except our PME contractor/commissioning agent, who has been involved with a few LEED projects.

As the designated LEED Project Administrator, I have been tasked with developing a budget for this certification process and I am having a difficult time finding information related to the average time expenditure for managing this process.

It is clear to me that there are many variables (team experience, project size, rating system, etc. etc.) that go into such an equation, but can anyone help me with even a spit-ball estimate of how much time I might be spending on this process?

I have, to date, received two anecdotal estimates from friends who have worked as Project Administrators:
a) first estimate: 8 hours per credit, with more like 4 hours per credit on credits primarily completed by another party (i.e. energy calculation from HVAC engineer etc.)
b) my source for the second estimate, after hearing the first estimate, said, "that may be true after you've done a few projects as an admin, but on your first project, I would double those figures"

Anyways, I would love to hear other people's experience, to confirm or amend the above numbers.

Thanks a bunch!