If you have ever submitted a building permit application in DC then you have already ran into the Green Building Fee. This fee is based on the Green building Act and was put in place to maintain the Green Building Fund. Here is a break down from DCRA website as to the fees.

• New construction at a rate of $.002 per square foot.
• Alteration and repairs ranging from $1001.00 to one million dollars is 0.13 percent of construction value.
• Alteration and repair ranging greater than one million at the rate of 0.065 percent of construction value.

When you pay a fee you may be wondering where does that money go and what is it used for? The green building fund is managed by the Green Building Advisory Council and is collect from DCRA and DDOE to fund various aspects of the growing green building program.

Here at DC Permit Solutions we are available to help our clients figure out their fees and deposits that will be required throughout the building process. We find it’s extremely helpful during the design and budget phase to meet and put together estimates for your next project. There is nothing worse than getting ready to start work and you have missed several important details which take months to completed or major deposit in the budget to get started. With over 14 years of experience in all aspects of permitting our team will make sure to keep you on track.

On October 28,th we sent out highlights from the DCRA Stakeholder meeting. Below is a email directly from DCRA with additional details from that meeting including the new Energy Code plan review process. Please let us know if you have any questions.


DCRA - Green Building and Energy Efficiency...

Dear Stakeholders,

Thank you for attending the DCRA POD Stakeholder’s Meeting on October 27th. DCRA greatly appreciates your participation and input.

As mentioned during the meeting, the District has long been a national leader in green building and energy efficiency. As the District continues to lead the country, DCRA is placing a greater emphasis on compliance with the DC Energy Conservation Code. A recent internal audit of energy code compliance across construction projects in the city, it has come to our attention that the majority of projects are having difficulty complying. This can have significant implications for projects including delays in construction and the issuance of certificate of occupancy.

To address this issue and make it easier for projects to comply with the Energy Code, DCRA is standardizing and clarifying the Energy Code plan review and inspection process by requiring new Energy Code Verification Worksheets at permitting. The new requirements kick in starting December 1st, 2014.

Please note that while it is permissible to use COMCheck and RESCheck for compliance, it should be provided in addition to the Energy Verification Sheets. Energy Verification Sheets provide a transparent method of communication between the designers, code reviewers, and inspectors and will be critical to ensuring fast review times and compliant buildings.

The new documentation will be required for the following project types:
· Residential 3 stories or less and Single Family Homes that are either Level 3 Alteration, Addition AND/OR New Construction

· Residential buildings 4 stories and greater and commercial buildings that are either Level 2 Alterations, Level 3 Alterations, Additions AND/OR New Construction

Projects with a small scope of work defined as level 1 and 2 alterations (e.g. decks, stairs, patios, fences, driveway refinishing, small kitchen and bath renovations, repair of equipment) do not need to provide the Green Building Submittal Forms or Energy Verification Sheet. However, these projects must comply with the energy code as related to their scope of work.

To download the Energy Code Verification Worksheets use the following link - http://dcra.dc.gov/pa…/green-building-documents-publications - They are currently under Green Building Submittal Templates header. There you can find the guidelines for how to use the documents as well as the actual documents for each building type. Additional instructions about process are forthcoming and will be published on the website soon.

If you would like to have a version of the Energy Code Verification Worksheets in a CAD file (.dwg) or if you have any questions, please let the Green Building Department of DCRA know at green.building@dc.gov.

Best,
DCRA Green Building Department