Common Myths – GreenHome Institute

Recently, many people have told me they thought a LEED for Homes certification was going to cost many thousands of dollars – even over $10,000. This simply isn’t true, at least not when using the Green Home Institute () as the LEED for Homes Provider. So let’s bust this myth.

If a quality homebuilder knows a little about green design and construction, and is already doing many efficient construction practices (which often means Quality building), there isn’t a big step to construct a LEED-certified house. To borrow a pun, they are already close to Leading in Energy and Environmental Design, particularly if they review our 22 tips to earn 70+ points. Now, there may be some design-related costs outside of LEED – such as installing renewable energy system – but that is not required for LEED certification. Many builders such as Habitat for Humanity are able to build multiple LEED homes at no extra construction cost.

Let’s look over the actual LEED certification-related fees for a typical single-family home. When using as the LEED for Homes Provider, there are four required fees:

single-family home fee: $650
USGBC Registration fee: $150 / $225 (depending on USGBC membership)
Green Rater fee: Varies based on scope of work, typically $1700, +/- $300
USGBC Certification fee upon completion: $225 / $300 (depending on USGBC membership)

Total typical fees: Around $3,000 — often a fraction of a typical single-family home’s construction budget (and often less than the cost of countertops!). Of course, every home is different, but this is a typical single-family home project.

There may be optional fees if the project team would like a full-day design meeting or assistance with documentation. But the prices above reflect the minimum required fees to build a LEED-certified single-family home.

In summary, the costs are a small price to pay for the third-party verification that your home was properly constructed correctly to match an intended green building design. Typical code officials or home inspectors can’t give the same peace of mind on the home’s actual performance as the thorough work a professional LEED for Homes Green Rater can provide with their extensive training in building science. Other benefits include the ability to get an energy-efficient mortgage using the Green Rater’s report, since ENERGY STAR for Homes is basically a prerequisite for a LEED Home. Also, green homes have reduced home insurance, and higher property value now that we see many real estate MLS going green. Prospective home buyers can now look for third-party certification, such as a LEED-certified home.

The fees can be even less for multi-family homes or production-built homes that become LEED certified, due to the economies of scale on the reviewing and verification side.

If you’re located in the US and would like to use as your LEED for Homes Provider, get a free quote. For more information, or to receive a custom proposal for your project, call 888-533-3274 or email info@alliancees.org.

Sometimes, a LEED for Homes project team comes to the table with the expectation that they are required to use FSC-certified lumber in their LEED for Homes projects. Perhaps this comes from confusion with other LEED rating systems used for commercial construction, which does have a prerequisite for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) lumber.

However, in residential construction under LEED-H, this is not the case. There are certainly points available to reward and the use of FSC lumber as an under the Materials and Resources credit MR 2.2 Environmentally Preferred Products (EPP) , but using FSC lumber is not explicitly required.

Note: The only caveat is that any tropical wood used in a LEED for Homes residence must be FSC-certified. So, if you’re planning on Brazilian cherry flooring in a LEED home, then it must be sustainably harvested. However the 2×4 lumber used in the interior wall framing does not have to meet this requirement. This prerequisite is explained in MR 2.1 FSC Certified Tropical Wood.

LEED recognizes that the residential building market doesn’t have the capacity to support FSC lumber as a requirement, so it rewards its use, rather than requiring it. Unless of course the lumber may come from a tropical source. One common, real-world example of this is with luan underlayments. If a project team simply specfies when ordering products such as luan by name, simply state on the purchase order that the Certificate of Custody must be furnished. Since all lumber is required to show the country of origin anyway, this isn’t a difficult requirement.

Actually, project teams choosing to use sustainable lumber on a LEED for Homes project in Chicago have a variety of options open to them. Under LEED for Homes, lumber using any combination of reclaimed, sustainably harvested, or locally produced can earn credit as an environmentally preferred product.

Here are some local resources worth investigating:

Hines Lumber carries all kinds of FSC lumber.
Green Depot also carries FSC lumber on special order.
FSC-certified lumber is even starting to appear in local “big box” retailers.

For studs and interior wall framing, also consider getting reclaimed and locally harvested 2x4s and other lumber from:

ReBuilding Exchange
CM Depot

For wood trim, also consider getting reclaimed wood from the sources above, and reclaimed wood that has been re-milled from:

Horigan Urban Forest Products mills and kiln dries reclaimed hard wood for interior trim, floors, and exposed beams.

And for other resused building materials, there are ten (10)Habitat ReStores in the state of Illinois:

Habitat for Humanity ReStores in IL

We hope this has helped demystify LEED for Homes for you. Any questions? Call the premiere LEED for Homes service provider in Illinois toll free at 888-LEED-AP-H (888-533-3274).

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