LEED certification services for homes in Quebec - Evaluation Ecohabitation? Is it worth it?
We are planning to build a new home in Quebec and would appreciate thoughts on our certification options.
We have experience with this process, having previously built a LEED Gold certified home in Ontario. However, the quote we received for LEED certification in Quebec from a company called Evaluations Ecohabitation was significantly higher than what we paid in Ontario. We were told they are the sole provider in the province, which could explain the lack of competitive pricing.
This has us questioning if a formal LEED certification on our home in Quebec is worthwhile. We are considering a few alternatives:
- Building to the same high standard as our previous home, but forgoing the official certification to save on costs.
- Hiring our previous Ontario-based LEED provider and Accredited Professional (AP) to certify our Quebec home. Is this feasible?
- Exploring Passive House certification as an alternative to LEED.
We would appreciate any insights, thanks.
Yes, you can choose LEED Providers from outside Quebec to get a LEED home certified in Quebec. There are no provincial boundaries that the CaGBC recognizes preventing you from shopping around for the cheapest way to get a LEED home certified. Here is a listing of LEED for Homes providers -
Find a LEED Home Provider in Quebec to get a home certified
But to answer your question as to whether or not it's worth the money to get LEED certification for a home - sometimes, but in general, not really. Why get a home LEED certified, what are the benefits? If your motive is to ensure a high performance, sustainable and healthy home that meets LEED for Homes standards, just build it to those standards.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a great system that promotes energy efficient design and sustainable construction practices, but there is nothing stopping you from just building a home better and not getting it certified.
If you are building a home to flip it for profit, then getting a home certification like LEED, Net Zero or Passive House could be a selling feature that makes it worth the money. But if you are just building it to live in, then getting a home certified is really just about getting a plaque on your wall you can tell your friends about. And the thousands you spend on certification could have been spent on more insulation, or it could have stayed in your pocket.
We have built homes (and gotten them LEED certified), and we documented the entire process on our web pages and in videos, so you can learn how to build a home to LEED standards for free in the Ecohome Building Guide, We also documented the entire process of Building Canada's first LEED V4 Platinum house on our YouTube channel.
We love that home rating systems exist as they drive the entire industry to more sustainable construction practices, and they also help drive building code to higher levels. But unless you have a solid reason for spending untold thousands on home certifications, there is no reason not to just build it better, or even close, which sometimes makes even more sense.
Here is an example of just such a case, where this homeowner wanted to get Passive House Certified, but in order to do so he would have had to waste a ton of money due to the rigid 'one size fits all' mentality that often accompanies rating systems. Read more here about the 'Damn Near Passive House'.
Thats all great info thanks!
I don't actually plan to sell the home I'm building so maybe getting LEED certified isn't worth it. I never thought of it that way and honestly the person that bought our LEED gold house in Ontario didn't really care that much. I wouldn't say it was a waste of money because we did build better because we were going for LEED but I see your point that we can build it that way anyway. Especially now since we did one already.
Why did Ecohome bother doing the LEED V4 house? I looked at a few of your videos on youtube, that;s a cool looking house and inspires some design ideas. I like the low flat roof a lot. Thanks for the info.
We got the Edelweiss House in Wakefield Quebec LEED certified because we knew certification would give us more traction for our content. So it made sense for us, along with creating content on how to build a passive solar home and how to get LEED certification for a home in Quebec, We were able to promote the CaGBC and green building in general.