Re-applying for a credit approved in Design submittal

A small point of clarification - the design credits that were approved at the end of the Design Submittal are technically "Anticipated", not "Awarded". It is not until the Construction review has been completed that points/credits are "Awarded" to a project. Think of it this way - the reviewers "anticipate" that the design credit will be awarded - based upon the original design that was submitted. But in your case, the design has changed.

In the Construction Submittal (when doing a split review), not only do you submit the construction credits and any desired design credits that may not have been submitted at the Design Submittal, you can also resubmit any "anticipated" design credit if something has changed during the project that would alter the results of the previously submitted credit. This sounds like your case.

Select the credit that you want to reopen, and then click on the "In Progress" icon on the Credit Information page. Make the changes to the credit form, and also be sure to provide a narrative to the reviewer explaining why the credit is being resubmitted - that way they know what changes to be looking for. When done with your changes, click on the "Complete" icon on the Credit Information page, and the credit will be closed and ready for when you attempt your Construction Submittal. The Status for the modified credit will have a green checkmark on the Scorecare page - that tells the reviewers that the credit has been opened and needs to be reviewed.

Hint - once you click the "In Progress" icon you cannot undo it. You have to reclose the credit by clicking the "Complete" icon, and the credit will be flagged (the green checkmark) for review during the Construction Submittal. If you open an "anticipated" credit by accident, make sure to add a note in the Special Circumstances field in the credit, explaining your error. (been there, done that)

I posted a similar question earlier, and the comment we received indicated that to resubmit a credit from the design phase in the construction phase would require a $500 fee per credit. Can anyone clarify when this is or isn't the case? Thanks.

In my recent experience, if you have changes to the design after the design review is complete, you can have the effected credits reviewed again in the construction submittal without an appeal.

On my project we moved a few walls taking 2 larger rooms and changing them into 3 smaller rooms, this affected a few different design credits including EQc2, EQc6.1 & 6.2, MRp1 and maybe even a few others. We also added PVs to the project which affected EAp2, EAc1 & EAc2. We did coordinate with our review team first to confirm it would be allowable to have these credits re-reviewed during the construction submittal based on our situation.

Another thought – maybe someone can confirm this - after you accept your design review I don’t think you can appeal a design credit. Resubmitting during the construction phase may be your only option.

To respond to Jennifer's last point regarding when you can appeal:

In Split Reviews, we all know there are two appeal phases: Design Appeal + Construction Appeal. The Design Appeal phase can obviously only include Design Phase credits (as those are the only things to have been fully reviewed and denied at that point). The Construction Appeal phase, however, can include any denied credits (i.e. Design Phase Credits and/or Construction Phase Credits). So you could accept the Design Phase results and still go back and appeal any denied credits at a later date.

For our projects, we typically recommend waiting to file any appeals until after the Construction Preliminary and Final Reviews are complete and you know exactly where the project stands (i.e. will those denied credits get you to another threshold? are there cheaper appeal options? etc.). Additionally, it has the potential to slightly reduce the overall timeline as you move from two appeal phases (two 25-business days reviews) to one appeal phase (one 25-business review). The only time we really deviate from this wait-process would be in cases where a Design Phase prerequisite was denied - that you would definitely want to appeal in the Design Appeal Phase to confirm that you've addressed all issues/can get LEED certified.

Shivani -
Kristina makes a good point that you could appeal these at the end of the construction submittal, but I would guess that is longer than you would want to wait.

I think because these points were not denied originally and you have a legitimate design change, you can have the effected credits re-reviewed during the construction phase. We use the GBCI contact page to reach out to our review teams on tricky issues like this one. If you happen to be going to GreenBuild next week, you could drop in or make an appointment at the Workzone to discuss the issue as well.

Good Luck!