Steel Anchor Bars - Distances

Both extraction or recovery and manufacture have to be within 500 miles of the project site. Your instincts are correct.

Susan, while I agree that in this case Lilian's instincts are correct, LEED 2009 does offer an alternative calculation depending on shipping method.

We've seen a little of that attitude but our clients are large enough that contractors usually do a quick turn around on that attitude if they want one of their larger projects. I would recommend looking through any detailed bids or pay apps for your projects to get a better understanding of the big ticket items, filter for products within those categories and then write a tight spec for those items. Also customize your Div 1 LEED Requirements section and note items that must have regional content. Conduct a pre-construction LEED meeting and re-emphasize your seriousness in meeting the owner's goals and say that you'll reject non compliant shops. Then reject non compliant shops. Keep your owner in the loop on why you're being 'difficult' to deal with before the contractors complain about you. I heard through the grapevine that this happened to me and the owner's response was 'that is what we pay her to do; so do it'. That ended the whining.

This can be a very complicated Credit to document, as the contractor has to determine the source of each component of the product and then calculate the percentage of locally harvested/mined components. Getting reliable information can be challenging. Its certainly understandable why contractors balk, especially if they are smaller and their staff is already stretched thin.

That said, this Credit is a team effort - while the contractor has to calculate it, the designer has an obligation to research materials and select products that DO have regional content if the Owner wants to achieve this Credit. And yes, Susan is correct in her advice to focus on the big ticket items to maximize the opportunities.

Money talks. If the prime contract with the owner contains a requirement to achieve LEED certification, that element needs to be repeated in the sub contracts. I often see projects where the design team is contractually obligated by the owner, but uses specs, meetings, and the submittal process to execute the process. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard, "I didn't read the specs, I just took the information from the drawings," I would be on a beach somewhere reading these posts. Ha!

I enjoy working the construction side and spend a lot of time training and developing documents to address this very issue. This is about communication. I recommend putting the requirement to participate and respond to LEED requirements in areas of the contract that contain other similar requirements, such as insurance, bonds, liquidated damages, etc. If the only reference to LEED is buried in the paint spec (for example), you may not be relaying the right level of commitment or expectation to the right people.