LEED® and Sustainability

LEED certification is a beginning, not an end, for Berghammer Construction.

Sustainability is increasingly important to companies and organizations considering a building project. Berghammer has been at the forefront of this movement, and was the first general contractor in Wisconsin to have all its project managers and estimators earn professional LEED accreditation. But with that expertise comes the knowledge that racking up LEED scorecard points does not necessarily serve a client’s best interests.

“We understand that it’s not always about getting a plaque on the wall for being LEED certified,” says Chris Rozof, Director of Estimating. “There are sustainable practices that make sense regardless of whether you’re going to have your building certified. So we advocate for those practices because the provide they best return on investment.”

When you partner with Berghammer in the pre-construction process, a range of sustainable options are examined for their environmental impact, cost efficiency and operational practicality. The LEED scorecard provides a foundation, as Berghammer dives deeper to outline the specific strategies, and estimated costs, involved in earning points toward certification.

“By segregating the costs out by different strategies and different points, clients can pick and choose, like a shopping list, how they want to achieve their goals and what their costs are going to be,” says Rozoff.

Results of this approach can be seen in projects such as the Urban Ecology Center – Menomonee Valley Branch, and 245 Plaza in Milwaukee, the first LEED-CS certified building in Wisconsin.

Berghammer serves as the LEED administrator for all its projects, submitting paperwork to the U.S. Green Building Council for certification.