• News Overview
• Welcome Letter
• Solar Thermal Making a Difference
• Part 2 of The Bainey Group
• How We Started
• Instructor Spotlight
• Certification Success Story Zachary Bidle
• We Want to Hear from You!
• Green Tips from Chap Vail of New Jersey
• DSIRE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy?
• New to the Green Scene?
• "Business as Usual" Energy Efficiency Decision Approved
• High Performance Building Requires a High Performance Team

Transforming Your Corporate Culture with Green Advantage Certification. First introduced to LEED and green building by Liberty Property Trust, Brad Bainey wanted to be the first to obtain a Green Advantage LEED Innovation Credit. “I asked how can we get green real fast?” said Bainey, president, The Bainey Group, Inc. (www.bainey.com), a full service general contractor in Plymouth, Minnesota. It was suggested he first look at the Green Advantage and United States Green Building Council (USGBC) websites. “What I read about at the Green Advantage site got me really excited; especially when I understood that getting a LEED point by having certified practitioners on a project had not been accomplished yet,” he explained.

Bainey immediately went to work and sponsored a seminar for 40 people. “It is an incredible way to mainstream green construction knowledge for construction people. And I mean everyone, from foreman and superintendents, to project managers and company owners, to property managers, owners and construction representatives,” he listed.

“In one day we went from knowing nothing, to understanding green building goals and how to achieve them,” said Bainey of the one-day Green Advantage training delivered by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

The Bainey Group is very fortunate to be awarded another LEED certified project that is much larger than their first project in Eden Prairie, Minnesota at the Smetana Business Center, a 56,000 square foot office building. “The first thing we did when we knew we won the second project was to set up another 40 person seminar,” said Bainey. “The end result of two exams and seminars is that we’ll have about 45% of our staff Green Advantage Certified,” added Bainey who already has another 40 person seminar scheduled in early 2008.

“Although the driving force for me was to be the first to obtain a Green Advantage LEED point, I now know that the most important aspect of having a large percentage of Certified Green Advantage Practitioners on a project is to get the job done and done right,” said Bainey. Speaking of the things he learned, “surprise is too mild, some of the things we learned were absolutely somewhere between surprised and astounded,” he added with awe.

One rough number Bainey shared was the fact that of 300,000 pounds of construction debris, 270,000 was directed to recycling and re-use with only the remainder making its way into a landfill.

In the long-run, the Green Advantage Training and Certification has changed the way The Bainey Group runs their business. “This whole office became a recycling company and we do everything, everything that doesn’t cost us more,” said Bainey. Following the training, “people really got into it. We were sucked in immediately. The benefits are immeasurable both in cost savings associated with training staff as a group and the impact green practices had on our projects,” he concluded.

Bainey is quick to give credit to the architect who first directed him to Green Advantage’s website, to learn about training and certification. Scott Kelly, principle, Re:Vision Architecture in Philadelphia, who suggested Bainey look into certification said that he has Green Advantage Certified Practitioners working on more than one-third of their projects. “Green Advantage makes sure that the contractor is familiar with the philosophy and has the technical ability we need them to have to execute one of our green projects,” Kelly stated. “I don’t have to go in and teach a contractor the things they need to know. I can count on them having the general knowledge they need to have about relevant issues and they can add value to the team,” he added.

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