Masters Of Green

Building service contractors may not be ready to hug the nearest tree, but many can’t help feeling warm and fuzzy about a certain environmental initiative currently courting the commercial/institutional building market. Some industry observers go as far as to predict that BSCs are in for a business transformation unlike anything experienced in the last few decades.

The LEED™ — “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” — Green Building Rating System is a self-assessing system designed for new and existing commercial, institutional and high-rise residential buildings. The brainchild of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED encourages building owners to earn credits for satisfying certain criteria. Different levels of green building certification are awarded based on the number of credits earned.

Many industry observers feel it behooves cleaning contractors to get their arms around the concept because it more than likely will change the way housekeeping is valued and perceived by property owners. Housekeeping operations factor into a number of credits building owners are required to earn before their facilities are LEED-certified as green buildings.

USGBC was started 10 years ago in an effort to educate the public on the impact building construction can have on the environment. In addition to advocating the need to construct and operate buildings in a more environmentally friendly way, USGBC also promotes ways owners can save money and enhance building performance over the long haul by investing in environmentally friendly design and energy-efficient building systems. Building owners receive LEED certification by accumulating a minimum number of points from a checklist of items in four categories: site, water management and efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality. There are four levels of achievement: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. A minimum of 26 points is required for certification; a minimum of 52 points qualifies the building for the Platinum rating.

It’s the premiere building owners in the United States who are interested in LEED, according to Steve Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group, Bloomington, Ind.

Ashkin, a BSC with two decades of experience and a LEED committee member, adds, “These are the Class A commercial office buildings, public buildings and headquarters for multinational corporations — the prize jewels of any BSC’s portfolio.”

According to Ashkin, BSCs “need to dance to the music these guys are playing.” Ashkin feels that building owners today believe that a healthier environment can improve occupant productivity, help retain employees and extend the life cycle of the building. BSCs, he says, need to be able to present a cleaning program that meshes with and supports a customer’s overall green building strategy.

There are 53 certified buildings and approximately 800 buildings registered for certification in the United States. LEED not only is popular in the private sector — the public sector is exploding with activity. Federal, state and local governments are applying LEED criteria in new building projects as well as in their existing operations.

Building owners are going green because they now believe green buildings can save money (some estimates are as high as 20 to 50 percent over the life span of a building), help conserve private and public resources, and provide a healthier environment for building occupants — which could increase worker productivity. LEED is the framework that puts all of these issues on the table together as an integrated whole.

“As productivity benefits become clearer and clearer, only the foolish won’t do it,” explains Michael Arny, LEED steering committee chair for existing-building certification and president of Leonardo Academy Inc., a nonprofit organization in Madison, Wis., dedicated to environmental, energy and sustainability issues.

“The people inside are the biggest expense of the lifetime cost of the building — 85 percent of the cost is paychecks. A small improvement in productivity is a lot of money. A quarter or a half a percent is huge,” he says. “And 10 or 15 percent — we’re really talking! If you have to spend some money to make your building green, it’s a good investment.”



LEED for existing buildings

In addition to the original rating system aimed at new construction, a rating system for existing buildings (EB) now is in pilot phase. Based on the system for new construction and major renovation, LEED EB can serve as an upgrade guideline for existing buildings, as well as a method of re-certification for buildings built under the original LEED system.

More than 70 U.S. companies participated in the LEED EB pilot, helping to create criteria to assist owners in operating their buildings in a sustainable way over the long term. The proposed criteria are currently addressed in the following categories:

• Sustainable Sites (16 points),

• Water Efficiency (5),

• Energy and Atmosphere (22),

• Materials and Resources (10),

• Indoor Environmental Quality (18), and

• Innovation and Accredited Professional (Up to 5).

Points in these six categories can be accrued to earn a rating of Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum. The basic proposed “LEED Certified for Existing Buildings” rating may require 28 points. Of these, cleaning providers could control 12 points (see sidebar, p. 22).

The final, official version of LEED EB is scheduled to launch this fall. The first LEED EB certified buildings will be announced at the USGBC annual conference in Pittsburgh this November.

“Look at who the pilot program members are,” says Arny. “It’s a ‘Who’s Who in America’ [of] large corporations.”

“This is basically changing the whole building industry,” says Heather Rosenberg, project manager and senior ecologist with CTG Energetic Inc., an energy consulting firm in Irvin, Calif. that has consulted on two LEED-certified buildings and is currently working with 40 clients to gain official LEED certification.

“It’s important to get word out there, beforehand, because the demand will come,” Rosenberg says. “That’s what we saw with the first LEED certification – exponential growth beyond anybody’s wildest expectations. We’re definitely finding a lot of demand for LEED projects.”

Demand is being created in all services and industries and is having what Rosenberg refers to as a “mushroom effect” in the building industry — an effect across all sectors and functions, from new construction to operations and maintenance.



Marketing BSC services

Because it is so new, building service contractors can use LEED to their advantage.

“Most BSCs aren’t involved much now,” Ashkin says. The contractors who are proactive in putting together a marketing program now aimed at LEED certification will have a competitive edge, he says.

“Going to a building owner and saying ‘we can help you deliver 12 credits for LEED EB’ will get them a meeting with the owner. It’s all how they want to compete in the marketplace. They can play with the big boys,” Ashkin adds.

While there is opportunity for BSCs with both LEED for new construction and for existing buildings, Ashkin says LEED EB clients are where the action is.

“For every LEED building being constructed, there are 10 operating,” advises Ashkin, adding that any new LEED building will most likely be operated and re-certified under LEED EB.

Although details for LEED re-certification have not been finalized, Ashkin says the LEED EB committee is currently leaning toward five-year re-certification cycles.

Engaging and networking with architecture, engineering and design firms that are part of LEED building teams can be a smart move, helping a BSC get in on the ground floor.

“The opportunities for BSCs to serve on these design teams is huge,” states Ashkin. “LEED helps everyone be on same page. Once constructed, the building can earn LEED credits, and then the building owner will probably be predisposed to have it cleaned consistently with the content of the building. LEED EB is really where the opportunity is.”

Marketing LEED-accredited cleaning to building owners is the perfect example of what sales experts deem a “warm call”—contacting prospects predisposed to wanting the product. LEED-certified building owners already want what’s best for their building occupants, environment and the bottom line, and if BSCs can talk about LEED EB intelligently and show that they “get it,” they’ll appear to be be miles in front of their less savvy competition.

“Cleaning services that successfully help building owners get credits can use that as part of their marketing,” coaches Arny. “To say: ‘We are doing cleaning in 20 buildings that are LEED certified, and we’re helping them achieve the rating they want’ is powerful.”

Ashkin thinks LEED is an incredibly important opportunity for the BSC industry, which has struggled for years to improve its image.

“General growth has been two to three percent — the rate of inflation,” he explains. “So cleaning’s become a commodity. Building owners think price is the only thing negotiable, because the impression is we’re all the same. They see very little innovation, except to buy cleaning cheaper, with fewer people, doing it faster. And pressures to clean less frequently then affect health,” he continues.

According to Ashkin, now building owners will be looking at other issues – indoor health and the greater environment. BSCs need to clean more effectively, and do more to deliver a healthy green building.

Ashkin feels green building certification is the most exciting innovation in the last 20-plus years. He thinks it will change how building owners look at the services of the cleaning industry. BSCs will be contributing to the core mission of the facility itself.

“We’re fundamentally changing how our customers are seeing our industry,” Ashkin says, “and we’re no longer just an expense that needs to be minimized.”

“BSCs finally have an audience willing to listen,” says Dianna Bisswurm, director of industry outreach with the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA), Lincolnwood, Ill. “This validates our industry.”



Training and certification

Bisswurm currently is working with Ashkin to create a one-day seminar about LEED to be offered at ISSA/INTERCLEAN® event in Chicago this fall. The seminar, “High Performance Healthy Cleaning,” will be presented by Ashkin and by Barbara Sattler, Ph.D., director of the University of Maryland’s Environ-mental Health Education Center.

The seminar will cover the major elements of a healthy cleaning operation – from environment and indoor air quality to using tools and chemicals safely for the benefit of occupants and workers. There will also be discussion and thorough examination of the LEED rating system, the cleaning credits and their points.

Hopefully, the seminar will qualify and motivate attendees to return to their respective organizations and promote the merits of being LEED savvy.

“The cleaning person may be the first person to bring it up,” says Bisswurm, “or a contract cleaning operation may be the conduit: ‘I can get you 12 of the overall credits – are you interested in me setting it up for you?’”

At the very least, Bisswurm says attendees of the seminar will be able to offer higher performance cleaning.

“Unlike other green-cleaning-related issues or training, we’re not getting down to ‘chemical versus non-chemical,’” she explains. “This is about being able to explain the benefits—that cleanliness equates to health, which relates to employee productivity. Using LEED or LEED EB can be the framework to set up a healthful environment — using the credit rating as a structure to explain how to meet the criteria.”

According to Bisswurm, the seminar will be open to contract and in-house cleaners, distributors and manufacturers. She hopes the seminar will be the first of many ISSA offerings that will help BSCs and others become savvy providers of high-performance green cleaning.

“Without training there’s no way for them to achieve expertise,” Bisswurm says. “The customer knocks and they scramble. This will alleviate that.”

Architects and engineers are able to earn a designation of “LEED Accredited Professional,” through the USGBC, but so far, cleaning professionals do not have their own designation. ISSA is considering creating an accreditation specifically for cleaning and maintenance professionals, but final decisions and standards are on hold as LEED EB evolves.

Lori Veit is a business writer in Madison, Wis., and a frequent contributor to Contracting Profits.