Lauth Group is a Proud Member of the U.S. Green Building Council
Building green is something that most developers are very interested in these days. Aside from the obvious benefits to the environment, building green allows companies to create healthier work spaces, implement the most up-to-date and sustainable building methods, and most importantly, play an active role in society’s crucial efforts to go green.
However, some developers feel that they might not be in a financial situation that would allow them to build green and therefore earn LEED certification. The added stress of the recession exacerbates these fears and leaves many developers to think they simply cannot take part. So this begs the question, exactly how much does it cost to build green?
In terms of the actual costs of building green for LEED certification and where those costs come from, there are four main expenses to consider:
• Registration and Certification Fees
• Documentation Fees
• Compliance/ Design Costs
• Construction Costs
Of the above expenses, registration/certification and documentation fees are the only LEED-specific costs. Registration and certification fees run roughly $0.03 to $0.05 per square foot, while documentation fees vary depending on whether you employ an outside consultant or an in-house staff member. At Lauth, in-house LEED Accredited Professionals help integrate many green building aspects into the design, development and construction of all new projects.
Each of these costs varies from building to building and different studies on the costs have yielded different results as to the overall price to build green. One study concluded that LEED certification can be obtained for as low as $0.76/gsf for design and consultation or as high as $1.27/gsf for design and documentation.
Although comparable studies have yielded a wide range of results, there is one thing that all green developers can agree upon: projects that are declared green at the outset are the ones most likely to stay within the original budget in terms of operating costs.
So what’s the bottom line? If you intend to build green, start planning green early – it’s the only way to keep costs down. The costs of retrofitting a building with green technology and/or materials can add up fast. But if you plan ahead, any additional costs of green building will be negligible as compared to the cost of developing non-green buildings.
