We have a client who is interested in persuing LEED for Homes for a Multifamily project in Maryland. We are trying to research the advantages and disadvantages of doing a LEED for Homes rating rather than LEED for New Construction. Since LEED for Homes - Multifamily Midrise 2010 is still in its pilot version, we were wondering if anyone else was in a similar situation. Would persuing LEED for Homes be cheaper than New Construction? Are there any tax rebates associated with LEED for homes? LEED NC follows ASHRAE 62.1 and Homes follows ASHRAE 62.2, how different are the two versions of ASHRAE?
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Sharon Block
LEED AP + Homes, LEED for Homes Green RaterBright Green Strategies
15 thumbs up
September 10, 2011 - 2:46 pm
Generally speaking and in my opinion, the two main advantages for going with LEED for Homes is
1) You work with a regional LEED for Homes Provider so there is better responsiveness both for technical feed back and the certification process is faster. Once you submit your package for certification, your project can be certified in 2-3 weeks.
2) Commissioning is not required as in LEED NC with the current version of LEED for Homes. In a sense, commissioning is "built-in" to the LEED for Homes process by way of the LEED Green Rater. Field verification and testing is an integral part of the LEED for Homes process. This is the role of the LEED Green Rater.
Ann Edminster
founder/principalDesign AVEnues LLC
LEEDuser Expert
9 thumbs up
December 28, 2012 - 8:41 pm
For better or worse, LEED for Homes Midrise now requires commissioning, via the incorporation of Energy Star as a prerequisite. Even so, the Cx requirements MAY be less onerous than in LEED-NC; it's worth looking at them closely! From a cost perspective, for larger projects in particular, the USGBC and Provider fees as well as the Cx costs should be compared for LEED-NC vs. LEED for Homes.
If costs prove not to be a deciding factor, as Sharon says, a major benefit of LEED for Homes is the ability to work with a real live human being (your Green Rater), who should run interference for you with the Provider and USGBC, as well as providing important quality management services.
The real significance of your connection with the Green Rater is a much higher level of certainty as the project unfolds as to your final score and rating level, and greater control over those outcomes. Rather than tossing documents over the transom into the Bermuda Triangle (to mix metaphors somewhat horrendously), you will get guidance as the project progresses as to whether X or Y will earn credit. As you get answers about issues that may give rise to uncertainty, you have the opportunity to correct course.
And finally, remember that LEED for Homes was developed specifically to respond to the nature of residential buildings, so you are likely to find fewer credits that seem wacky or irrelevant than you might find in LEED-NC -- less fitting a round peg into a square hole.