The newly designated IAQ manager or contractor reviews the relevant education modules from EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Building Education and Assessment Model (I-BEAM), focusing on the following modules:

Fundamentals of IAQ in Buildings
Diagnosing and Solving Problems
Renovation and New Construction
Managing for Indoor Air Quality
Training Supervisors and Staff
Establishing Written Plans and Protocols
Establishing a Communications Program.

Assign an IAQ manager—someone familiar with building operations—to develop and implement the management program, communicate with and manage the outside auditor if applicable, maintain contracts with IAQ-related service providers, and communicate about IAQ issues with building occupants.

Some buildings, particularly Class A multi-tenant office buildings, have a contract with a firm that performs annual IAQ audits of the facility. These auditors generally work above and beyond I-BEAM requirements, so if you work carefully with the LEED documentation requirements, you can use an audit to comply rather than conducting additional auditing.

If your building does not hire a firm to perform annual IAQ audits, determine if you have the resources—mostly staff time—to complete the IAQ audit in-house. The IAQ manager needs one hour per 20,000 ft2 to conduct the baseline audit and less than half that time to complete a follow-up (it will take several additional hours to review the education modules and complete the IAQ audit report). The key is to have someone on staff that has the time to go through the building identifying auditory, visual and olfactory problems.

Hiring an outside firm to conduct the audit and prepare all of the required documentation can reduce the burden on in-house staff if you don’t have the resources. Most professional firms are quite familiar with the technical aspects of the I-BEAM forms, though they are not necessarily accustomed to performing the non-technical aspects of the audit that are required in order to earn this credit.

Expect an outside auditor to charge approximately $125 per hour for the onsite inspection and required documentation. This figure varies depending on region and the size of the project.

Project teams conducting the IAQ audit in-house incur very little cost other than staff time.

Giving staff the responsibility of auditing IAQ is a worthwhile investment in ongoing performance. They are more likely to remain engaged with IAQ and to monitor or remedy issues on a regular basis, beyond the credit requirements.

Decide who will perform the IAQ audits—a contractor, or in-house staff. Consider the following factors in your decision.

If durable goods waste cannot be tracked for the entire building, estimate the total waste from those areas under separate management by extrapolating from data compiled for participating areas of the building. Estimated data can be extrapolated on a per-square foot, per-occupant basis, or other calculation. All estimated durable goods waste is assumed to be non-compliant with the credit.