Design Phase Submittals

Usually, you'd be submitting after construction documents are done, since you need that level of detail to complete the credit forms. Any earlier and it would be hard to be confident that what you submit will actually be built that way. There's no deadline for the Design Phase submittal, and you can certainly wait until construction is done, but that diminishes the main advantage of getting the design phase review: if you get the preliminary review of those credits, especially the energy model, before construction is complete, there can be time to add or delete certain credits if the project team so desires. Some projects may decide whether to purchase FSC or a Rapidly Renewable material, or include additional controls or monitoring points depending on the scorecard status after the preliminary design review. Many teams also defer the decision of whether to purchase Green Power or not as late as possible to see where their point totals stand. It's also typical for projects to go into the final construction review with a few "buffer" points more than their anticipated goal, since many projects are denied a credit or two for any number of reasons.

What about the time in between submittals? Is it still the 18 months rule as the longest time frame that can be in between the design review and construction review?