Page 147 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

COST DRIVERS FOR GREEN BUILDINGS 123

We’ve seen a corollary between better cost control—lower costs on projects where sus-
tainability really was integrated in—for example, in projects where the team has been
able to take simpler moves to get to sustainability, which in turn translates to less money
because it usually means fewer or simpler systems. The assumption that we make,
knowing what the projects are and who the teams are, is that those teams used an inte-
grated design process to get an integrated design outcome. In other words, it’s perfectly
possible that they used a totally linear [traditional] approach and came up with a good
design, but it’s more likely that they had an integrated approach in order to get there.
The design teams that we work with are really good, they know how to put enough
information into the drawings at an early stage so as they get later in design and espe-
cially in construction there’s less effort, fewer change orders, and fewer [increases in]
construction costs. So that would tell you that it’s worthwhile to spend more money
on design to save money in construction. Some of it comes down to what kind of proj-
ect you have and what kind of fee a team is able to command [to be able to afford the
extra initial costs of an integrated design process].

Cost Drivers for Green Buildings

What drives the costs of green buildings? First, let’s look at factors relating to design
costs. Key drivers include the following:

■ Experience with LEED/high-performance projects
■ Level of LEED certification required
■ Team structure
■ Design process and scope
■ LEED documentation
■ Design fees

TEAM EXPERIENCE

Team experience with LEED and high-performance projects is obviously a critical
factor, for two reasons. First, teams with little or no experience will naturally assign a
“risk premium” to their fees, hoping to get paid for their “learning curve” by the first
client. Second, teams with experience have developed shortcuts, written standard
specifications, researched alternative materials, and generally have learned to pick team
members with similar experience. Therefore, they don’t need to assign a risk premium
to their fees and are more likely to treat LEED project requirements as “business as
usual” rather than an added burden to their conventional design process.
Matthiessen comments on this issue, saying that teams need to get adequate fees to
be able to do the early-stage studies that lead to more cost-effective outcomes.*

*Interview with Lisa Matthiessen, March 2008.