Howdy All,
I was just wondering what is general fee range per SQFT for LEED certification. I mean charges includes doing the documentation + Cx + Energy Modeling + IAQ stuff + necessary things. Any ballpark $$ numbers?
I know this is a loaded question but I was wondering if there are any thumb rules kinda thing? In simple how much do you guys charge from the min. to the max. in per SQFT basis?
Appreciating your help deeply. Thank you guys!
Peace!
Aru
Eric Johnson
271 thumbs up
January 29, 2014 - 1:11 pm
I read the below once and thought it was pretty useful (although a little old now). Mr. Di Nola is at NBI now.
"Big Green: LEED Design Fees
Ralph
Fri Jul 27 09:16:45 EDT 2001
Anja,
I think Paul Braese's response is pretty much ""on the money."" Our firm is doing six LEED certification projects right now (two will be finished by September) and have completed about a dozen eco-charrettes in the past six months.
1. Sustainable Design Charrette: Plan on about two days, depending on the size of the audience and the state of the project. Typical fees would range from $5,000 to $10,000 for this amount of time, including preparation, facilitation and follow up. You DON'T need a lot of experts. What you DO need is a facilitator experienced in green building issues, strategies and technology. See the discussion on eco-charrettes on our web site: www.greenbuildingservices.com. Consultants will want to get paid to attend this meeting, so the best time is at or near the beginning of sustainable design, when you'll want to assemble all of them anyway.
2. LEED Certification: Plan on 150 to 200 hours of professional time to coordinate and assemble all the documentation, PLUS the time of all the consultants to prepare it in a LEED suitable format. Typical costs will run from $10,000 to $20,000, excluding application fees to USGBC.
3. Energy modeling: this should be done for ANY sustainable design project. A good DOE-2 model for a 100,000 sf building should cost $10,000 to $15,000. Adapting it for LEED will cost another $5,000 (to use the ASHRAE method).
4. Building Commissioning: this is required under LEED and a good idea in any case, especially if the owner will be long-term. Typical costs will run $0.40 to $0.60 per sq.ft., with a minimum of $15,000. If you want the measurement and verification credits and the additional commissioning credit, add at least $10,000, depending on the size of the project.
5. Additional services: Technical consulting on such issues as daylighting, passive solar design, eco-roofs, etc. may be needed, depending on the skills/experience of the design team members.
It is a good idea to include language about LEED in the RFP to consultants specifically detailing what will be expected from them for LEED documentation. If you have a clear vision of the program, site and building massing, you could perform a preliminary LEED scoring and include this in the RFP, assigning documentation tasks to the appropriate consultant.
Researching green products and writing green specifications will add additional costs, typically in the $3,000 to $10,000 range. This research and spec writing would be tied to the LEED credits the project is seeking.
Tenant manuals should be included with any sustainable design project that uses any unusual technology (such as underfloor air systems, natural ventilation, operable windows, etc.), so that building occupants can have their expectations modified as needed. This will increase post-occupancy satisfaction and reduce complaints.
We're working right now on a comprehensive set of services similar to those described above, including basic commissioning, for a 100,000 sf renovation of a historic hotel in a city near Philadelphia. Our fee is about $1.00/sf, including the commissioning, or about $100,000.
In our experience, the only additional costs for a LEED Certified and LEED Silver building are in the design team fees, given that certain best practices are part of the base assumption. You may expect to pay more, 1% to 2%, for a LEED building, depending on the nature of the design and how much freedom you have with site variables, construction period ""points"", etc. vs. having, for example, to make a much more energy-efficient design with a conventional building to get the points you need. A LEED Gold Building will likely cost more, unless the design is radically altered from ""conventional"" approaches.
Hope this helps. Feel free to email me with any questions.
Ralph DiNola
Green Building Specialist
LEED Accredited Professional
Green Building Services
16280 SW Upper Boones Ferry Road
NEAC-03
Portland, OR 97224"