Design Review vs Construction Review

You can defer those design credits to the construction phase by un-checking them when you resubmit your design final review, that way their second round of review is with the construction credits. Choosing "skip review" means you accept GBCI's decision as-is and you aren't changing anything.

Why defer? It is obvious that a design review does not require photo proof. This is a problem created by the USGBC/GBCI.

The reviewers use "canned" review comments, and someone at the USGBC recently decided they want photo proof. Unfortunately, they neglected to adjust the comment to take into account what a "design review" is intended for.

Yes Todd, anything that you un-check as complete will not be allowed to be submitted for the design final review (i.e. the green check on the scorecard should be gray). When you're ready to submit for the construction review, mark those remaining design credits as complete and submit them all together.

The 25 day window for your reply is not required. You can get as many extensions as you like or if you do not even ask for an extension nothing will happen. So another possible response is to simply wait until you do have the answers and respond then. I think this is probably the simplest route to go since you already paid the premium for a split submission. Go to GBCI's web site under Contact Us and request an extension there.

Todd, projects are required to confirm that features claimed for credits earned during a design review are installed. This is supposed to ensure that value engineering has not removed the features.

Photographic proof is a recent review comment invention. My guess is that one or two LEED projects did not install all of the features claimed for their earned LEED credits. This is nothing new.

Evidently, the problem missing features has been deemed significant enough to demand photographic proof. But, demanding photographic proof during a design phase review makes no sense at all.

The benefit of a design review is to get early feedback and to space out the credit documentation. If something changes during construction to affect an approved design credit you are supposed to make the changes and resubmit it. The level of change risk depends on the project in my experience.

No problem. FYI proof may not require photos. Did the reviewer specifically ask for photos? Often things like a purchase order, letter from the owner, etc. are enough for proof depending on the issue.

On a similar note; I am getting ready to submit for the Construction Preliminary Review and on the 'Submit for Review: Form Selection' page I understand that I check every form (construction phase) that is marked complete, but do I need to check/submit the forms that were Design Phase, already awarded, and not changed?? A little confusing, since they have already been reviewed and approved I am not sure why I have the option, especially since they haven't changed. Any help is great..

I think you are required to indicate that nothing has changed during construction that would affect each of the approved design credits in order to move into the construction review phase. If nothing changed in construction to affect the accuracy of any of the approved design credits then indicate as such. If something did change then change the documentation and resubmit.

The LEED submission should ultimately reflect what gets built, not what was designed.

Marcus, thanks for the reply.
We didn't have any changes from what was submitted for Design Review and what was built; it was a very thorough process and we stayed on the GC the whole time and documented everything every step of the way (more than probably needed). So, when you say that we are required to indicate that nothing has changed, do you mean that I should submit the Design Phase credits that were approved and just make sure the flag that states it was changed says 'no'? Basically, for the Construction Preliminary Review should I submit all of my credits (even though the Design Phase credits are approved)? Thanks again...

Sounds right to me.

While this somewhat exposes an issue we had, I have become a firm believer in doing Design Reviews. We had a situation related to a prerequisite that could have been easily resolved if a design submittal had been done, but turned into a much more significant problem when found during the construction review. All was resolved, but you never want to be finding a problem with a prerequisite at that stage of a project. A little plug for the LEED Work Zone at GreenBuild. I had a great meeting with a reviewer from GBCI who was great help in developing a strategy to resolve this issue.

This particular project did not do a design review because a decision on inclusion of renewable energy was pending, and of course that affects the EAc1 calculations. My discussions with GBCI indicated that we probably should have done a design review, deferred the EAc2, not shown any renewable in EAc1, and moved forward. Then during the construction review, add in the EAc2 information, including the minor change to EAc1, and that would have been acceptable.

I can tell you that projects often go many months and sometimes over a year before replying. Far more than 2 extensions have to have been granted or GBCI does not enforce the requirement for asking for an extension. Perhaps the response you received indicates a new found desire to enforce the rules.

Marcus is correct.

It would be a disaster for the GBCI to strictly enforce a limited response time to reviewer demands.

Local, state and federal government projects would be hardest hit. Those entities have a tough time responding to requests. Adding a few smoking control signs can take months for the paperwork to get through their systems.

Hello,

Is the extention for all the design review credits, or can we ask for an extention just for 1 particular credit ?

We would like to answer as soon as possible, but for some credits, some information might be available later on. So the idea would be to postpone the reply for 1 or 2 credits to be able to gather all proper informations before sending a reply.

Also is it possible to ask for an extention of 1 year for instance ?

Thanks for your reply. 

We worked on a project in Richland, and honestly we wasted millions of dollars in meetings and red tape trying to get stuff approved from DOE and DOD.  We could have completed the project in about 1/3 or the time and money... except.  Good luck.