Building product manufacturers have many new specification opportunities in 2018, especially for green building projects. The USGBC has released the LEED Certification Update for the second quarter of 2018. The data suggests golden opportunities for manufacturers who are smart, proactive, and manufacture awesome products.

The LEED Certification Update details that 754 projects were LEED certified for the United States in the 2nd quarter of 2018. The gross square footage is 98,272,460. The majority of the projects attained the basic LEED certified level. These commercial projects accounted for 38% of all LEED certified projects in the U.S. However, the exciting news is that Silver and Gold projects outweighed the basic level certification projects by tens of millions of gross square footage. Simply put, there are hundreds of LEED projects and millions of square feet of projects awaiting your building product.

In the United States, LEED v2009 projects made up 95% of all commercial projects. This is a bit disappointing but not surprising. LEED v4 was launched in 2013 yet the majority of projects being certified are LEED v2009 projects. There are several reasons for this trend. LEED projects can take years to develop and complete. Many of the large scale commercial projects have been in the pipeline for years and set out using the LEED v2009 roadmap. Some design teams were reluctant to embrace LEED v4 when it launched but the tide will turn with the release of LEED v4.1.

LEED v4.1 will contain many new changes for both design professionals and manufacturers. The good news is that the changes should make many Materials and Resources credits easier to achieve by AEC firms and manufacturers. Many companies have been slow to embrace Health Product Declarations (HPDs) Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and other transparency documentation due to the resources involved. LEED v4.1 aims to make the process easier and more effective for everyone involved.

Another interesting metric from the LEED Certification Update is the certified projects by rating type. New construction accounted for the majority of the 754 LEED certified projects with over 53%. With a tight labor market, the growing automation of some jobs, and regulations being cut by the government, it will be interesting to see how the numbers stack up at the end of the year.

The tech side of the industry could help push more LEED certifications, less expensive and more effective projects, and offer more opportunities for manufacturers. Drones, 3D printing, robotics, GPS tracking, and other innovations will advance the market over the course of 2018. Urbanization and a housing shortage in several markets will help fuel new construction projects through the rest of the year. How does your company increase its specification opportunities for LEED projects?