I recently became a LEED AP and need to know how to go about getting practical experience as a LEED consultant or doing LEED buildings. I'm a sole practitioner. Any suggestions would really be appreciated.
No suggestions here yet, but I will be very interested to see how the USGBC is going to try to enforce this requirement in the new accreditation system.
Your case is a perfect example: how can a sole practitioner working on small projects gain official experience on a LEED project?
It is a situation where you need experience before anyone will hire you on a project but somehow you have to get the experience first. A larger firm would offer this kind of opportunity but for small firms I think you have to be creative.
As citizen points out, LEED AP's with no experience is not uncommon. Sole practioners and small firms are potentially in the same boat in terms of trying to get experience.
tnarchi -- our small firm had partnered with a larger LEED experienced firm. Worked well.
There are a lot of LEED consulting firms out there. Our firm used one for a few jobs until we got the hang of it. Now we are capable of going through the process on our own.
you need to work on your persuasiveness and sales pitch for LEED certification. First figure out how certification benefits your clients. As a sole practitioner, you have a direct line of contact with your clients. Use it.
You have a choice of either billing for the services or providing the services gratis to compensate for your learning curve.
then again, LEED isn't the only game in town. Energy Star, Green Globes, state building codes and other rating systems have their advantages and market niches that might better serve your client/project types. If you're not already, become an expert on all the Tennessee rebates, incentives, and design assistant programs.
Points are not the point. You can design a sustainable project without the red-tape of certification. the cost of certification is significant - I'd rather spend the $$$ on another PV panel or an enthelpy wheel, then a plaque to hang in the lobby.
ps- I've been a LEED-AP for three years, never certified a project and don't care if I ever do as long as we get the performance.
it would seem partnering with a larger firm would be the way to go
maybe one where you are the LEED consultant or something?
that way, you take care of monitoring all the credits and the whole certification process while the larger firm takes care of the actual design and documentation
then you will have the experience to put on your resume, to hopefully gain more projects on your own
it seems LEED AP's with little practical experience on LEED projects is very common and not really a negative on the person at all and shouldnt be viewed that way.
everyone has to start somewhere
good luck!
i agree, sustainable projects are very possible without LEED certification. i suppose it all depends on who your clients are. the cost of certification can be significant, though a lot of times i see that if the certification is too costly, then sustainable features in a project will also become too costly as well.
or at least the first to be VE'd out of the project
that is a good suggestion, offering the services of certifying the project for free to compensate for it being your first project. hopefully you would only need to do it for one or 2 projects, then you would have sufficient experience to charge correctly for it.
I wonder what “experience” means? I think you can just go and certify a project or two, and gain experience, you can even retroactively certify some projects. Experience might be a measure of how many projects in your portfolio are certified LEED Gold or whatever. One measure is the percentage of your work “70% of projects” or dollar figures “we have over $20,000,000 in LEED certified work.
it seems some architects have a real big problem with LEED that causes them to rant to no end on the internet claiming LEED has ruined any chance sustainable design will ever have
i always find it amusing to read
LEED will not save the world, nor is it destroying sustainable design
architects tend to get really worked up with these things
yeah. at 7 this morning before class, i began to make a reply to PL's post, but there were so many conflicting arguments and confusing ideas i have surrounding the issue, so didn't want to post anything wrong.
you all know how people like to crucify each other on this website.
should you go through the political propaganda to claim a building is a certain thing that was established by other people's opinions, most likely in a gesture of capitalism? if you are a competent Architect who knows his/ her role, would a building function as it is supposed to, without needing to pay further fees and seek superficial approval? it is in a positive effort that leed was created, but has it been raped to death as a marketing tool rather than a progressive movement it was claimed to be created as?.................................................
Gaining LEED practical experience.
I recently became a LEED AP and need to know how to go about getting practical experience as a LEED consultant or doing LEED buildings. I'm a sole practitioner. Any suggestions would really be appreciated.
No suggestions here yet, but I will be very interested to see how the USGBC is going to try to enforce this requirement in the new accreditation system.
Your case is a perfect example: how can a sole practitioner working on small projects gain official experience on a LEED project?
fuck LEED
so you are a LEED AP but have no experience??? WTF???
It is a situation where you need experience before anyone will hire you on a project but somehow you have to get the experience first. A larger firm would offer this kind of opportunity but for small firms I think you have to be creative.
I understand that cow (specifically male bovines) manure is very useful in getting green things to grow.
As citizen points out, LEED AP's with no experience is not uncommon. Sole practioners and small firms are potentially in the same boat in terms of trying to get experience.
tnarchi -- our small firm had partnered with a larger LEED experienced firm. Worked well.
There are a lot of LEED consulting firms out there. Our firm used one for a few jobs until we got the hang of it. Now we are capable of going through the process on our own.
you need to work on your persuasiveness and sales pitch for LEED certification. First figure out how certification benefits your clients. As a sole practitioner, you have a direct line of contact with your clients. Use it.
You have a choice of either billing for the services or providing the services gratis to compensate for your learning curve.
then again, LEED isn't the only game in town. Energy Star, Green Globes, state building codes and other rating systems have their advantages and market niches that might better serve your client/project types. If you're not already, become an expert on all the Tennessee rebates, incentives, and design assistant programs.
Points are not the point. You can design a sustainable project without the red-tape of certification. the cost of certification is significant - I'd rather spend the $$$ on another PV panel or an enthelpy wheel, then a plaque to hang in the lobby.
ps- I've been a LEED-AP for three years, never certified a project and don't care if I ever do as long as we get the performance.
it would seem partnering with a larger firm would be the way to go
maybe one where you are the LEED consultant or something?
that way, you take care of monitoring all the credits and the whole certification process while the larger firm takes care of the actual design and documentation
then you will have the experience to put on your resume, to hopefully gain more projects on your own
it seems LEED AP's with little practical experience on LEED projects is very common and not really a negative on the person at all and shouldnt be viewed that way.
everyone has to start somewhere
good luck!
i agree, sustainable projects are very possible without LEED certification. i suppose it all depends on who your clients are. the cost of certification can be significant, though a lot of times i see that if the certification is too costly, then sustainable features in a project will also become too costly as well.
or at least the first to be VE'd out of the project
that is a good suggestion, offering the services of certifying the project for free to compensate for it being your first project. hopefully you would only need to do it for one or 2 projects, then you would have sufficient experience to charge correctly for it.
"Green Globes" ...isn't that the Martian movie awards show?
I wonder what “experience” means? I think you can just go and certify a project or two, and gain experience, you can even retroactively certify some projects. Experience might be a measure of how many projects in your portfolio are certified LEED Gold or whatever. One measure is the percentage of your work “70% of projects” or dollar figures “we have over $20,000,000 in LEED certified work.
fuck leed
sorry, i just saw mdler's post
what's up with the "fuck leed" people, something wrong?
it seems some architects have a real big problem with LEED that causes them to rant to no end on the internet claiming LEED has ruined any chance sustainable design will ever have
i always find it amusing to read
LEED will not save the world, nor is it destroying sustainable design
architects tend to get really worked up with these things
yeah. at 7 this morning before class, i began to make a reply to PL's post, but there were so many conflicting arguments and confusing ideas i have surrounding the issue, so didn't want to post anything wrong.
you all know how people like to crucify each other on this website.
should you go through the political propaganda to claim a building is a certain thing that was established by other people's opinions, most likely in a gesture of capitalism? if you are a competent Architect who knows his/ her role, would a building function as it is supposed to, without needing to pay further fees and seek superficial approval? it is in a positive effort that leed was created, but has it been raped to death as a marketing tool rather than a progressive movement it was claimed to be created as?.................................................
apparently something is wrong
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