"GreenPoint Rated" Q&A

Property Pro’s offers Certified Green Building Professional Consultants, GreenPoint Raters for new home construction projects, and GreenPoint Advisors for existing home remodel projects. The GreenPoint Rated program, through Build It Green, is an excellent way to quantify your green building achievements.

The following questions and answers will help you better understand the GreenPoint Rated program. If you have additional questions or would rather talk to one of our staff, feel free to pick up the phone or shoot us an email. We are full of good information.

WHAT IS GREENPOINT RATED?
GreenPoint Rated is a program of Build It Green – a non-profit professional membership organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy and resource efficient buildings in California.

Think of GreenPoint Rated as a report card for home construction. A GreenPoint Rated home is graded on five categories: Energy Efficiency, Resource Conservation, Indoor Air Quality, Water Conservation, and Community. If the home meets minimum point requirements in each category, it earns the right to bear the GreenPoint Rated label. Because GreenPoint Rated homes are evaluated by independent, certified raters, building professionals and homeowners can feel confident that the rating has integrity and value.

WHO IS BEHIND GREENPOINT RATED?
The components of GreenPoint Rated have been developed and refined since 2000 by a diverse set of residential building stakeholders, including production builders, contractors, architects and designers, multifamily home developers, state and local government leaders, utilities, regional and national building science experts, suppliers, and green building advocates.

WHY SHOULD HOMEOWNERS USE GREENPOINT RATED?
GreenPoint Rated removes the guesswork from evaluating a home’s green features, allowing homeowners and homebuyers to compare homes on a level playing field. The GreenPoint Rated label verifies that the home exceeds state building and energy code requirements for health and environmental performance, giving the homebuyer assurance that he or she is getting a healthier, more environmentally responsible home.

HOW DOES GREENPOINT RATING HELP THE BUILDING PROFESSIONAL?
GreenPoint Rated rewards building professionals who design and build green homes by allowing them to brand their products with a recognizable, trustworthy seal of approval. GreenPoint Rated provides validation from a trusted, independent source to support marketing efforts as a green project. Participating in GreenPoint Rated helps builders meet growing consumer demand for green homes as well as outpace their competition.

HOW DOES GREENPOINT RATING HELP LOCAL GOVERNMENTS?
Build It Green is working with over 180 local governments throughout California on program and policy development. Build It Green’s GreenPoint Rated climate calculator and inspection tracking system provides local governments and policy makers a means of tracking the number and types of green homes built in a particular community. The climate calculator and tracking system qualifies the associated resource benefits (tons of CO2, gallons of water, KWH of energy, tons of waste, etc.) and provides reports on the associated benefits for the community.

WHO ELSE BENEFITS FROM GREENPOINT RATED?
Real Estate agents, financing specialists, appraisers and others who work in fields related to home construction and sales can rely on GreenPoint Rated for assurance that a home is healthier and more environmentally friendly.

WHAT TYPES OF HOMES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR GREENPOINT RATED?
Newly constructed single family and multifamily homes in California are currently eligible for participation in GreenPoint Rated New Home. GreenPoint Rated Existing Home which launched in July 2008, is the first green home ratings program with a consumer brand in the U.S. for remodeled and existing homes, and is available to homes of all vintages.

WHAT DOES THE RATING PROCESS INVOLVE?
The GreenPoint rating process is a non-invasive physical examination of the building systems, structures, materials, and components to assess energy and water efficiency, indoor air quality, resource efficiency of materials, construction methods, and construction quality. The rating process is not intended to be technically exhaustive and should not be relied upon to identify potential construction defects.

WHAT ARE THE POINTS BASED ON?
The points in GreenPoint Rated correspond to the recommended green building measures in Build It Green’s Green Building Guidelines. Point values are assigned based on their benefits to the homeowner and the environment, and reflect construction practices that exceed California’s building and energy code requirements. Any eligible project that achieves the minimum total points and meets the category-specific point thresholds earns the right to bear the GreenPoint Rated label. Builders that exceed this minimum are rewarded by a higher grade on their projects.

WHO DOES THE ACTUAL RATING?
Build It Green trains and certifies independent GreenPoint Raters who are prepared to team up with you to maximize home performance and green features and compile supporting documentation for the rating process. The rater submits verification results on your behalf to Build It Green.

HOW DOES GREENPOINT RATED COMPARE TO LEED FOR HOMES?
GreenPoint Rated and LEED for Homes offer complementary opportunities to the California residential building industry.

GreenPoint Rated provides a credible yet accessible point of entry for builders embarking on green building. LEED for Homes offers a national brand for environmental leadership targeted at the top 25% of green home builders, providing market differentiation for the greenest builders.

All LEED for Homes projects in California will be able to receive an equivalent GreenPoint Rated score and take advantage of dual branding. Together, the two programs strengthen one another by encouraging increasing levels of builder participation and greater adoption of green building practices. They provide a local support infrastructure, combined with national recognition.