One of the primary advantages that I see for LEED projects is the level of collegiality that is required between the Owner, the design consultants, and the Contractor (once one has been selected). It is the kind of collaboration we all talk about as a good thing, but which never seems to happen on most project. It is a process very suitable for CM-At-Risk, but can be accomplished on design-bid-build projects as well. By choosing to “go green” at this point, the Owner has
If the project has already gone through a “greening” process, especially with the design and selection of efficient MEP systems, then significant redesign should not be required for basic certification. IMHO, we should be designing our buildings to that level anyway (this does not always work in every case). I should note that this was true with previous LEED certification programs. Under LEED 3.0 this may be more difficult.
There are, however, prerequisites that must be met, and some of them will required additional time by other consultants (especially MEP). I would agree that getting the job of greening the specs in 2 weeks is doable, but this does depend largely on how you and your client select and specify the project.
If the LEED consultant can drop everything right away, they may be able to complete a review in a week. It will probably take another week for the Owner to determine how aggressive they want to be (basic certification? Silver? Gold? Platinum?). Anything beyond Silver will almost certainly required MEP redesign and detailed energy analysis. At that point, a realistic schedule can be established (MEP may need six to eight weeks to do an ASHRAE 90.1 analysis and any necessary redesign.
Generally, depending on location of project, recycled and regional materials are doable or not doable and it is a simple matter of inserting appropriate requirements for submittals and products (think easy stuff like cement, CMU, steel–both structural and non-structural items, and gypsum wall board). Low-emitting materials are a bit trickier; your paint sections may need major rework. You may want to select a new roof. The specification part is the easy part (easily done in a few days), getting decisions on just what changes need to be made will be much more difficult.
All in all, it is highly likely that the entire process will take a minimum of 8 to 10 weeks, and most likely, it will take at least half again as long. Depending on how you work with the team, the specifier’s portion of that time may be minimal (a few days) or, if the specifier is actively participating on the design team researching and selecting products, it may take several weeks.
If the project is located where there is a rigorous energy code in place, then some of this may not be necessary. You may have to insert requirements related to products you are already using.
Can’t help but wonder, as other are, about the spread of bids. We are seeing very agressive pricing in the Houston area as people are trying to shore up any backlog for 2010 and 2011 (existing backlogs for those periods has virtually dried up), but 50% under seems extreme.