Contractors that have a "green" advantage can gain a valuable foothold in the architectural marketplace, especially as more and more designers and building owners seek environmentally-friendly materials and construction practices for their projects.
For most contractors, their role in implementing sustainable practices can at first appear intimidating. But it boils down to understanding the four main areas covered within most green building rating systems. These include: construction waste management, indoor air quality management, materials selection and use and reporting protocols.
The Contractor's Role
Understanding the contractor's role in compliance with programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System represents an opportunity to bid on more projects, as well as a higher potential for bid acceptance.
In addition to LEED, there are other commercial building initiatives such as GreenGlobes, from The Green Building Initiative (which is very similar in its intention to the LEED program) and the GoGreen Program developed by Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International.
On the residential side, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has a sustainable homes checklist. There are also building-type specific programs such as the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, which has been adopted by many of the school districts in California.
Documentation Is Key
Since most of these programs embrace the same general concepts, such as energy efficiency, recycling and air quality standards, a contractor with general “green” knowledge can assemble and maintain the documentation necessary for compliance with any of these established standards, as well as any municipally mandated derivations.
The most important first step for contractors looking for a competitive advantage is to understand what these rating systems expect in terms of verification and compliance. Understanding the purpose of the various credits can lead to the development of a project plan that fits within a reasonable time frame and cost to the owner.
A green contractor needs to have thorough knowledge of materials, especially building products that are rapidly renewable, contain recycled content (post-consumer and pre-consumer) and are low VOC-emitting. With such a skill set, the contractor can then truly participate in the integrated-design approach needed to build green facilities and even contribute by identifying ways to reach LEED certification of a building. During integrated design charettes, a green contractor can target the LEED credits that they believe are achievable from the beginning and then help to define the project team's responsibilities.
The Contractor on LEED Projects
Within the popular LEED-NC (New Construction and Major Renovations) program, a contractor could potentially have decision-making responsibilities for up to twenty-three required prerequisite credits, plus an additional sixty-nine available credits within the six established LEED categories—Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation & Design Process.
It takes a minimum of twenty-six points for a project to gain a LEED certification, with silver, gold and platinum levels available for achieving higher point levels.
On LEED projects, the contractor is required to maintain spreadsheets in various categories such as itemizing the costs of materials used in specific building systems. Often, the subcontractors are responsible for providing the general contractor with some of the information such as how far certain products traveled from the point of manufacture to the jobsite. This is necessary for calculating the Regional Materials credits.
Another part of the compliance process can involve contacting manufacturers or their suppliers in order to obtain information such as where the raw materials were harvested, the amount of recycled content used in their products, as well as the content of any cleaners and polishes required to maintain the product both during and after installation.
In all, the general contractor is potentially responsible for up to thirty submittals, leaving much of the burden on their subcontractor for reliable recordkeeping and accurate data in order for the project team to eventually submit its report to the USGBC (or other third-party verifying
