LEED Certification Project Submittal Tips

For anyone who has participated on a LEED-registered project, you are certainly aware of all the documentation that is involved in the process. You may be a LEED Green Associate or a LEED AP with Specialty, but no matter what your title is or how much experience you have in the building industry, it can be overwhelming and intimidating to submit a project for LEED Certification. You may be wondering what information the reviewers at the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) need to fully assess your work.

After years of individuals fretting over the LEED Certification project submittal process, the GBCI decided to post a set of LEED Project Submittal Tips for the five major commercial LEED rating systems, including both the current 2009 (v3) versions and the previous 2008 (or v2) versions.

These public documents share a wealth of tips for each credit and prerequisite. Before the GBCI made these documents available to all, individuals had to register with LEEDuser and consult the various Checklist tabs on the interface for credit guidance. Having a comprehensive resource like this, especially from the organization that ultimately determines the fate of your LEED project, will certainly benefit many who have worried and stressed over the process.

For those looking for more experience with LEED projects, Everblue Training Institute offers a class fully dedicated to earning LEED Project Experience. Not only do LEED Green Associates need project experience before attempting to achieve the LEED AP with Specialty status, but participating on a real project provides enhanced knowledge unmatched anywhere. Everblue assigns its students to a real project and walk them through the project submittal process every step of the way. Learn more about Everblue’s LEED Project Experience Online course.

What was once an overwhelming process has certainly been fine-tuned over time. There are a number of resources available to those who want experience working on a LEED project and who need guidance when going through the process. Take advantage of these resources so you can relax, enjoy the experience, and go through the project submittal process correctly the first time!