Few construction firms knew what a corporate sustainability statement was in 2002. But after completing Philadelphia’s first two LEED-certified projects,
W.S. Cumby, Inc., Springfield, Pa., knew it was time to make a formal commitment to building green.
“It was eye opening to be exposed to the impact of our industry on the environment and the future, and it changed the culture of our organization,” says Mike O’Brien, vice president of business development for the 29-year-old family-owned business. “We started to be concerned about the long-term effect of what we were doing.”
Many contractors have come to the same conclusion during the past eight years, realizing the need to develop training programs specific to sustainable building practices. Not only are companies working with groups such as the
U.S. Green Building Council,
Green Advantage and
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) to achieve their training goals, but they’re also offering in-house programming.
W.S. Cumby requires all company executives, project managers, estimators and project engineers to be LEED Accredited Professionals (APs), and all field and administrative personnel to be Green Advantage Certified Practitioners.
“We’ve always strongly encouraged continuing education; this is an extension of that philosophy,” O’Brien says. “We decided that if we wanted to focus on providing green building services, then anyone who touches a project needs to develop expertise on a personal level."
W.S. Cumby’s Green Leadership Committee is charged with organizing in-house training for the firm’s roughly 50 employees. Seminars and lunch-and-learn sessions on new green technologies, products and systems are held regularly, as are study sessions for the LEED AP and Green Advantage exams. Staff members also are encouraged to participate in programs offered by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, as well as trade shows and conferences focused on sustainability.
As the general contractor delved further into training, it saw a need for subcontractors in the field to be brought up to speed. Upon awarding contracts for a green project, the company hosts Green Advantage training sessions for the subcontractors’ foremen, estimators and project managers.
“All this effort goes into the education of design professions, but really the work happens in the field with the guys swinging the hammers. A lot of them are working with new materials for the first time, and we want them to understand the motivation behind doing things differently.”
Support System
In an industry known for its aversion to change, green training mandates can be a tough sell to some employees. Though most are enthusiastic about being exposed to something new, others find the learning curve overwhelming.
“Some employees in their 50s haven’t studied for quite some time, and some aren’t college educated. If you’re not a studious person, it can be pretty nerve-racking,” says Jason Ellis, director of construction for
Keystone Construction Corporation, Indianapolis. “You have to take a soft approach and support them.”
With about 35 employees, Keystone Construction focuses on local multifamily, medical, mixed-use and government work. Ellis’ goal is to have all project managers and superintendents become LEED APs through training provided by the ABC Indiana Chapter. To date, about four employees have passed the test.
“We tried to be at the forefront and get all management LEED accredited, but found that some were capable and some weren’t,” Ellis says. “It is expensive to have employees retake the class and test, but you have to continue giving encouragement and moral support.”
Additionally, Keystone Construction places employees who are struggling with the course material on LEED projects so they can use on-the-job experience to prepare for the exam. The firm also brings in outside experts for lunch-and-learn sessions, and is willing to purchase additional study materials—anything to make it easier for employees to be successful, Ellis says.
Time and Cost Implications
In this economic climate, it’s tempting to question whether the billable hours of training are worthwhile. Smart contractors make it work by leveraging inexpensive resources and existing professional development budgets.
With offices in Bedford, Mass., and Middletown, Conn.,
C.E. Floyd Company developed its green training curriculum as part of ABC’s Green Contractor Certification program, which documents open shop contractors’ efforts to cultivate sustainable workplace environments on and off the jobsite. Along with meeting a series of prerequisites for environmental practices, firms must comply with education and training requirements for craft professionals, management and staff. (For more details on the program, visit
www.greenconstructionatwork.com.)
“We had been training on and off, but we wanted to put together a curriculum that we could build upon in the future,” says Chris Floyd, who handles business development for the 21-year-old company. “We wanted to make sure everyone had a basic level of knowledge in a world where sustainability is the norm.”
Floyd reached out to the firm’s 50 employees through four in-house training sessions led by project managers, the safety director, the operations director and other staff members with practical green building experience. One project engineer presented a system for tracking the company’s waste recycling rates, which eventually turned into a new corporate policy of exceeding 50 percent recycling on every project.
This basic curriculum is now part of new employee training, and it’s supplemented with guest speakers on more specific topics, such as opportunities for solar hot water technology in commercial buildings, an indoor environmental quality plan’s effect on sequencing a project, and what the Environmental Protection Agency’s new stormwater regulations entail. C.E. Floyd also welcomes participation from expert subcontractors and consultants.
“For the most part, especially now, guest speakers will come to the office for free. They have a service they want us to know about in case we are in a position to hire them or recommend them,” Floyd says.
The company also is covering the costs of its eight LEED APs to achieve 30 hours of continuing education during the next two years—a sizable financial commitment that’s well worth it, according to Floyd. “If we don’t try to improve our knowledge base, we won’t be competitive in the long term,” he says.
The Green Advantage
As more owners heed their corporate footprints, construction companies must be prepared to provide valuable information about the benefits and challenges of building green. Having a trained, knowledgeable staff is a major component of that effort.
“The LEED process seems very cumbersome to inexperienced companies but, like most things, the fear factor goes away once you understand the process,” O’Brien says. “Some companies may bid higher to cover the costs of a sustainable system they don’t understand. It’s an advantage to have more experienced people on staff who are familiar with these systems.”
Anchored by the goal of delivering the most efficient building yielding the smallest impact on the environment, W.S. Cumby seeks to ensure its staff can educate clients about the short- and long-term effects of building sustainably.
“Especially in this economy, we need to demonstrate why it makes sense environmentally and financially. We’ve developed a cost database of green strategies that we can now share with our clients in terms of life cycle analysis. If a strategy affects first costs, we can identify what the return on investment will be,” O’Brien says.
However, getting owners to look at projects holistically has become a major challenge given the construction industry’s lending crisis.
“Contracting is revolving around price right now,” Floyd adds. “We want the final decision to be made based on quality, but that’s a hard sell.” Still, he says, “many of our institutional clients want to be able to show the community what they’re doing sustainably, so we need to provide information that is valuable.”
Even if clients choose not to pursue certification, investing in green training allows employees to gain expertise that can be applied in the office and at home, and it compels businesses to take a fresh look at operational efficiencies.
While going through ABC’s Green Contractor Certification process, C.E. Floyd developed internal policies focused on improving both the environment and the company’s bottom line. For example, the firm switched to an electronic project management process that uses PDFs to review and share shop drawings, reducing shipping, copying and printing costs. Other small, but effective, initiatives include using recycled toner cartridges (which actually cost less), copying on both sides of paper, and stocking the office with real plates, silverware and glasses.
“There’s a misperception that everything green costs more, but that isn’t always the case,” Floyd says.
W.S. Cumby has had success improving internal efficiencies by participating in the Greater Philadelphia Green Business Program—receiving a Gold rating in recognition of its green operational practices. Foremen complete weekly green jobsite inspections in conjunction with safety inspections, regardless of whether a project is seeking LEED certification. In addition to creating purchasing and building maintenance policies and adopting stricter mileage standards for vehicle fleets, the firm began evaluating its carbon footprint and started recycling, on average, more than 80 percent of jobsite construction waste.
“These steps have helped us reduce costs internally,” O’Brien says. “Then when things start to pick up, we’ll have a staff that’s ready.”
The Obama administration has made “greening” the American economy a priority on its domestic agenda.
The federal government signaled its desire to promote green workforce development by appropriating $500 million for green job training through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. More recently, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the
Home Star Energy Retrofit Act (H.R. 5019), which would provide up to $3,000 in rebates to consumers that invest in energy-efficient building supplies or appliances. The program, commonly called “Cash for Caulkers,” is designed to create green jobs in the residential construction sector by incentivizing energy-efficient home improvements.
Similar legislation—the
Building Star Energy Efficiency Rebate Act (S. 3079)—seeks to create rebates for energy-efficient products and services in the commercial building sector.
State lawmakers nationwide want to make sure their constituents are not left behind by the “green wave” sweeping America. In 2010, every state legislature that conducted regular legislative sessions considered legislation promoting green investments. In New York alone, lawmakers introduced more than 115 bills on green issues that could affect the construction industry.
As the federal and state governments continue to consider ways to expand green workforce development programs and sustainable construction, it is vital that all public initiatives be open to the entire construction industry—regardless of workers’ labor affiliation.
While many open shop contractors and chapters of Associated Builders and Contractors were able to tap into funding from the Green Jobs Act of 2009 through their states, federal law essentially required all recipients of direct federal grants to collaborate with a labor organization’s training affiliate in order to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. As a result, many contractors were unable to access green workforce development grants, regardless of their past experience in advancing sustainable construction.
Federal and state governments must ensure that any green workforce development funds yet to be distributed—and all future opportunities to promote sustainable construction and green job development—are available to the entire construction industry. Legislative requirements that restrict open shop workers’ access to green projects and training opportunities only limit the impact of the government’s efforts to green the economy.
In the face of unprecedented environmental and economic challenges—including 21.8 percent unemployment in the construction industry—the administration and Congress must ensure all contractors are given the opportunity to create green jobs.