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The LEED Application Process Flow Chart – How Submittals Work

The submittal process is very important to understand no matter which LEED exam you plan on taking. Below is a LEED Application Process flow chart that you can easy see to visualize how the whole process works.

LEED APPLICATION PROCESS FLOW CHART
1. Project Registration
•Access to LEED-Online
-LEED Score Card & Credit Forms
-Cost depends on USGBC membership ($450 for members, $600 for non-members)
2. Design Application Phase (optional)
•Submit via LEED-Online
-Comes back "Anticipated" or "Denied" (25 days)
-No points awarded
•Clarification Request (25 days)
•Final Design Review (15 days)
-Project team can:
-ACCEPT: goes to Construction Application Phase
-APPEAL: goes to Design Appeal Phase
3. Design Appeal Phase
•$500.00 per appeal
•Changes made and submitted once again
-Comes back "Anticipated" or "Denied" (25 days)
•No clarification requests
•Final Design Review (15 days)
4. Construction Application Phase
•Submit via LEED-Online (both design & constrution)
-Comes back "Anticipated" or "Denied" (25 days)
-No points awarded yet
•Clarification Request (25 days)
•Final Construction Review (15 days)
-Project team can:
-ACCEPT: goes to Certification/Denial Phase
-APPEAL: does to Construction Appeal Phase
5. Construction Appeal Phase
•$500.00 per appeal
•Changes made and submitted once again
-Comes back "Anticipated" or "Denied"
•No clarification requests
•Final Construction Review (15 days)
6. Certified / Denial Phase
•After Final Construction Review is ACCEPTED:
-LEED certified: Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum
-Denied: project closed (appeals should be done in prior phases)

*note: Certification fees are paid during the design and/or construction submittal. Certification fees depend on project size.

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6 Comments On This Post

  1. Is this the same process in Canada for the CaGBC?

    Reply
    • Hi Cindy, I’m almost fairly certain that it’s almost the same, although in Canada there may be different entities besides the USGBC and the GBCI that are involved. It’s probably only the CaGBC that the applications and submittals go through, but you may want to double check that.

      Reply
  2. LEED APPLICATION PROCESS FLOW CHART
    for Leed Canada N.C 1.0 ?

    Reply
    • I’d love to find one too!

      Reply
    • Hi Ravi, and Caroline – the LEED application process flow chart for version 3.0 is basically the same for the version that you are taking. The only difference is the CIR database, which has since been updated for LEED 3.0, to be only project specific, meaning that new projects (for 3.0) cannot go into the CIR database and use those as precedence for their projects. In your current version, they can.

      Reply
  3. Thanks Pat! But is the application process the same as above for LEED Canada N.C 1.0 ( like the timeline, fees etc) i read 2 CIRs are free and included in the registration fees and each additional CIRs cost CAD $310.

    Reply

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