Here is where the United States Green Building Council rewards itself. You get a point toward certification if you have on your project team “a professional who is credentialed with respect to LEED for Homes as determined by the U.S. Green Building Council.”
At the time we started our project, there was not a specific LEED for Homes for credential — there was only a LEED for New Construction. So, I signed myself up for a LEED for New Construction workshop, bought the reference guide, and signed up to take the test a few months out. Once I started studying for the LEED-NC exam, though, I quickly realized how geared toward commercial buildings it was. While the categories were basically the same, under water efficiency, for example, you had to know how many showers a facility needed to have for its employees, how many parking spots needed tobe saved for carpooling and bicycle racks, etc. All of these are good things to know if you are developing an office building, but really have very little relevance to a residence. I stopped studying for that exam/credential and ate the cost.
Now, luckily, the USGBC has created a credential specific to LEED for Homes. One of the prerequisites of a person getting that credential is that you work on a project that gets LEED certified. So here I am, wanting to become a LEED accredited professional (and get a point for our project), but this is the project I am working on in order to become a LEED accredited professional.
Our project architect and builder have both expressed interest in taking the LEED exam and becoming credentialed, but the truth is, even if anyone got the credential now, the project is complete and we could not honestly try to claim a point in this section. Just to be clear with LEED, though: projects get certified, people get accredited.
Innovation & Design Process points so far: 1
Cumulative points: 1
Additional points needed to get to Gold: 87