Two Surveys

Geoffrey- two surveys may make sense under certain conditions. However, I personally would be hesitant to do two surveys because if your building is large with multiple tenants or a large number of employees, it may be difficult to get the required 30% survey response rate once, much less twice. Also, keep in mind that the required corrective actions (if any) are likely to be pretty minor such as checking and adjusting temperature setpoints or diffuser airflows or adding tasklights or perhaps window shades- not wholesale changes to the systems. If you craft your survey in a way that allows you to identify specific problem areas, these adjustments may also only be necessary in very small areas of the building, which typically makes them very easy to accomplish during the performance period.

You've got the make the call for your specific project. Do you think it's likely that a lot of people are dissatisfied? Is occupant comfort a high priority? If so, your conservative approach may be justified.

Geoff - I would also note that furniture comfort is not a required area of the survey for EBOM compliance. The CBE survey is fantastic and quite comprehensive, but goes beyond EBOM requirements in a number of ways. And I agree with both Allison and Tristan - in most instances two surveys are not necessary, but in all instances where surveys are part of EBOM the user has to assess the likelihood that they will get favorable results with an initial survey and the possibility that the survey will reveal substantial room for improvement that may need to be confirmed with a follow-up survey. Final note - remember that your performance period can be extended backward up to 2 years. So if you conduct your survey within 21 months before the shared 3-month PP for other credits, if the result is good, you're done. If not, you have plenty of time to make changes and re-survey.

Dan, I am understanding your point correctly - you CAN conduct the occupant survey BEFORE the performance period used for other credits? My client wants to combine the occupant comfort survey with the transportation survery. So if we combine both and do now, 2-3 months before we begin our performance period, it will be okay?

That's right Nena - The performance period for a credit (an individual credit, some credits, or all credits) can be up to 2 years hence, so even if you have a shared performance period for all credits planned for Jan, Feb, March 2013 you could conduct your surveys tomorrow and still be fine. In fact, if you did conduct your surveys tomorrow, you can think of them as having a 'shelf-life' of 2 years. Many projects conduct things like the transportation survey early in their LEED process to have confidence in the points they will eventually earn. Conducting the occupant comfort survey as early as possible is similarly helpful because it allows you plenty of time to ensure a high response rate AND complete any corrective action that may be necessary.

Hope that helps,

Dan

Hi Dan, thank you for the response. I am still a little unsure because the LEED online template ask if you conducted the survey during the performance period. Would you just adjust the pp for this credit to included the date of your survey (even if it is well before the pp for all other credits)?

Also, does this still apply if our project is already registred? This project was registered over a year ago, but has nothing has been done. Our performance period will begin this Fall and end within 3 months.

Yes and yes! You can extend the PP for that credit to include the date of your survey, and don't worry about the registration date. Registration dates are effectively irrelevant, as USGBC wants to encourage projects to register early, not see the registration date as some kind of clock-starter or deadline-inducer.

Dan