This is a serious question- How are you documenting furniture?

Valerie Molinski

Environmental Stewardship Manager

Tarkett North America

LEEDuser Basic Member

64 thumbs up

November 2, 2012

I am working on several CI projects right now, and I am having HUGE issues with documenting the furniture for this credit. First, the local dealers want nothing to do with it, so I am calling the manufacturers directly. Second, when I do call the manufacturers and explain the information I need for the 'extraction' portion of the credit, they act like I have two heads. Many say that this is the first time they have come across this question. These are big companies, too, not small mom and pop manufacturers. Really? So then I guess I am wondering where everyone is getting this info to document this credit in the first place. And honestly, some of the comments coming from the review teams are getting beyond onerous and ridiculous... like asking for more than 20% of the required back up even if the stuff provided is bullet proof. Having to break down a piece of furniture into a billion raw components by weight and putting it all in separately instead of giving the overall assembly a certain percentage regional? And providing the calcs for all of them? I just.... I don't even know where to start anymore. Is it just me? Is this all coming easy to everyone else? Does this all seem very reasonable to everyone? Maybe I am in the minority of not understanding this, so please tell me so.

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Ellen Mitchell

LEEDuser Basic Member

211 thumbs up

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 22:08

We have had many of the same problems with the furniture reps and manufacturers - I was suprised to get such pushback from the big ones too. It has cost me this credit on a couple of projects that had a considerable amount of new furniture - I no longer consider it easily achievable for CI projects. You would think that all the LEED CI project teams who are requesting this information would spur the furniture industry into action, but we have not seen evidence of this yet either. And don't even get me started on the review comments.....

Susan Walter

HDR

LEEDuser Expert

894 thumbs up

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 22:26

Are you having any luck with the BIFMA? I'm not having a great time getting more information on their program but I don't have a project pushing for furniture information yet.

Lida Lewis

HKS Director of Wellbeing Design

| IIDA, WELL Faculty, WELL AP, LEED AP ID+C

LEEDuser Basic Member

26 thumbs up

Fri, 03/01/2013 - 20:23

I, too, have many difficulties with this. I feel that furniture manufacturers in particular make this credit difficult to document. I am working with a furniture manufacturer directly, right now, to document this credit for their own showroom, and despite multiple letters, examples, conversations, and it being in their particular best interest in this specific case, it's like hitting my head against a brick wall. It's particularly frustrating given how simple a concept this is. Many other product manufacturers are very bad at only listing on their environmental documents "will contribute to MRc5 if the project is within 500 miles of the manufacturing facility"....while never actually providing any information, even an address, of where that facility is... And yet, some companies in other industries, such as Armstrong, have it down so pat that you can generate a custom project letter to document their product's compliance in a matter of moments. Unfortunately, furniture comprises far too much of an ID+C project budget, particularly modern benching and open office environments, to not continue to soldier painfully on.