Section 4: LEED-Related Soft Costs
The consultant tracks the status of the LEED
The LEED-related soft costs may be higher in
goals throughout the project. The consultant
this approach. In addition to the consultant's
supports the design team by providing design
fees, there are also LEED-related
suggestions and material and system options,
administration fees for the design team, which
and by performing LEED-specific calculations
cover their time to integrate the LEED
where needed. The consultant defines "action
directives, administer the consultant's
items" for other members of the design team
contracts, and evaluate unfamiliar strategies,
during each project phase.
materials, or systems. The extent of these
integration and management fees will vary
The consultant may provide additional
depending on the experience level of the
specialized services such as energy modeling,
design team and their business perspective
daylighting analyses, or renewable energy
regarding LEED (for some design teams,
systems design.
LEED is seen as a future business
The consultant coordinates the development
opportunity, and they are willing to invest time
of "green" specification language.
on a project to learn the process).
The consultant provides LEED-related
submittal reviews during construction.
Experienced Design/Construction Team Approach
The consultant assembles the final LEED
This approach is typically used when the primary
documentation submission, with assistance
design team members (i.e., architect; landscape
from the design team.
architect; civil, structural, and
The architect acts as general coordinator and
mechanical/electrical/plumbing engineers;
integrator for the LEED initiatives proposed
construction manager) have previous LEED
by the consultant.
experience and have a demonstrated track record of
The potential benefits of this approach include the
producing high-performance buildings.
following:
Key characteristics of this approach include the
following:
One entity, the expert consultant, focuses
exclusively on the LEED issues for the
The architect, engineer, or construction
project.
manager designates a point person among
The consultant's specialization in high-
their team for LEED issues.
performance buildings may bring innovative
The architect, engineer, or construction
ideas and cost-effective strategies to the design
manager coordinates an initial LEED charrette
team. This can potentially lead to lower hard
or review, and performs the LEED analyses
costs on LEED projects, particularly with
and updates throughout each project phase.
inexperienced design teams.
All LEED-specific calculations, materials
The consultant typically provides detailed
research, specifications, construction
deliverables during each design phase. This
documents, submittal reviews, and
enables the client to clearly track the project's
documentation are provided by the design
progress toward achieving the desired LEED
team.
rating.
The design/construction team is capable of
The consultant is likely to be up-to-date on
performing specialized tasks such as energy
specific LEED issues, including updates to the
modeling, daylighting analyses, or renewable
rating system and credit ruling interpretations,
energy systems design.
as well as new products or systems that are
available to meet LEED criteria.
The potential benefits of this approach include the
The consultant can assist in educating design
following:
team members and contractors on green
Additional soft costs can be lower than in the
building issues.
Expert Consultant approach, because the
The potential disadvantages include the following:
LEED tasks are performed directly by the
design/construction team (i.e., most of the
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