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ADDITIONAL COST CONSIDERATIONS 127

increasingly have specialized facade consultants and “climate engineers,” a specialty pio-
neered by firms such as Arup and the German firm, Transsolar.* These specialties often
come out of Europe because design fees for mechanical engineers are about one-third
higher there than in the United States, about 2 percent of total construction as against
†
1.5 percent. Therefore, more effort can be devoted to systems engineering rather than just
to equipment specification. On this subject, Matthiessen says,
Some teams want to bring in a lot of new experts that they didn’t have before. Other
teams are trying to do it internally and there are pluses and minuses to both
approaches. One is not particularly better than the other. I think for most people inte-
grated design means that they’re including more of the traditional design team mem-
bers earlier in the process. I have not seen that many projects where it’s a whole new
paradigm. It’s more like they’re improving the approach they already have.

PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE

Home on the Range, Billings, Montana
Now a 10,000-square-feet office for the Northern Plains Resource Council and the
Western Organization of Resource Councils, this building formerly housed a
derelict grocery store. What was once a Billings eyesore is now a local landmark
and has brought new life into a downtown portion. The total construction cost for
the building was $1.4 million. A 10-kW grid-tied photovoltaic system generates
approximately 37 percent of the building’s electricity, and a solar thermal water
system supplies all of the hot water. The building uses evaporative cooling and
radiant heating for space conditioning. Composting toilets and a water-free urinal
help the building reduce water use by two-thirds (compared to a similar building).
Cubicles, wood trim, solid oak doors, biofiber boards, carpet tiles, bathroom wall
tiles, fly-ash concrete, furniture upholstery, bathroom sinks, and kitchen tiles are
examples of products containing recycled, salvaged, and sustainable materials. ‡

Additional Cost Considerations

There are other potentially significant factors that determine what a LEED project will
cost, on a “dollars per square foot” basis. When estimating a LEED project, these fac-
tors often determine the final project budget. Some of them are quite significant but
may have nothing to do with the level of LEED certification or energy performance
sought.

*See the work of Matthias Schüler of Transsolar at www.transsolar.com, accessed April 2008.
†
Personal communication, Patrick Bellew, CEO of Atelier Ten, London, February 2008.
‡
Home on the Range: An In-Depth Look at Montana’s Greenest Commercial Building [online], http://www.
greenhomeontherange.org, accessed April 2008.