Earning Your LEED Associate's Credential

In an effort to keep pace with current trends in green construction, Mike Pearson Construction had their senior estimator (myself) register for and take the LEED Green Associate’s exam, which I (fortunately) passed.

Having a LEED Associate on staff helps companies become more competitive in a number of ways, so for our newsletter this month, we thought we’d share the process of registering, studying, and taking this exam with you.

First of all, what are the benefits to having a LEED Associate on staff? There are a number of practical advantages. Almost all of us are bidding on, working on, or will work on LEED projects. The LEED Associates exam focuses on the LEED rating system, how projects are registered, how credits and prerequisites work, minimum program requirements for LEED projects, and the details of each of the credit areas. Having a LEED Associate on staff will aid your company in navigating the LEED process by having a solid grasp of the basic concepts in the LEED process, some knowledge of techniques, and an understanding of the administrative work flow. The LEED Associate is also the first step in attaining the LEED AP credential. Project teams that have a LEED AP involved in a LEED project can earn one point under Innovation in Design, (Credit 2.) In addition, it is simply good PR to have an individual with a LEED credential on your staff.

How do you go about perusing your LEED Associate’s credential, or having one of your staff do so? First, go to the following link on the GBCI website, and register:

http://www.gbci.org/main-nav/professional-credentials/credentials.aspx

The registration fee will vary for USGBC or non-USGBC members. Our fee was $150.00. You’ll be asked to provide a letter stating that the person registering for the test is involved in the green construction field in some form or fashion.

Once the exam registration is complete, you’ll need to select a third party entity to provide the study materials. The Green Building Certification Institute does not provide study materials for this certification, so you’ll need to choose from one of the many outside parties that provide study materials for this exam on your own. I used the study materials created by a company called Green Building Education Services (www.greenexamprep.com).

The Green Building Education Services provides a printable study guide (approximately 200 pages long,) and several online tests and flash cards. The study materials are downloadable PDF’s, which must be printed. I cannot say how these materials compare to other study materials on the market, but I can say that I was very well prepared for the exam when I took it, and I scored 92%. I felt that the materials from GBES were somewhat poorly organized, and I had to read and re-read several sections of the study guide to answer what I felt were relatively simple questions. I felt that they could have done a better job of highlighting important concepts. As a result, the online tests that they provided were fairly difficult, and I had to study much harder than I had anticipated. I wouldn’t give GBES my highest grade in terms of clarity of presentation. However, the overall result was that I had to scour the materials and think critically about the concepts in order to do well in their online practice tests, which meant that I was very well prepared for the test.

The exam itself must be scheduled through another third party company called Prometric. (www.prometric.com). The exam was slightly less difficult than the practice exams. I generally scored about 85% on their practice exams, and I scored 92% on the real exam. (They advertise that if you score 80% or more on their practice exams, you should be ready for the real test, which seems to be correct.) You need to score 85% or more on the real exam, so the standards for certification are somewhat stringent.

The exam itself is 100 multiple choice questions, and you see your score as soon as you complete the test (which is a relief….or not, depending on your score!) It takes about an hour to complete the test. Once you pass the exam, you can use the LEED Associate designation after your name in professional publications and other documents.

Electing to have one of your staff earn his or her LEED Associate’s Credential is a good investment. It brings practical knowledge and good P/R to your firm. The fees for exam registration and testing materials will only total a few hundred dollars. The larger investment will definitely come from allowing your employee time to study. I would suggest allowing three months to prepare for the test. It is approximately the equivalent of a three unit college class, so use that as a rule of thumb.

John Classick – LEED Associate

Mike Pearson Construction, Inc. – Concrete Contractor Los Angeles

www.mikepearsonconstruction.com

818-999-6780

Mike Pearson Construction has been performing residential and commercial masonry and structural concrete in Los Angeles for over thirty years.

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Your Local Business Listing on Page One of Google - Part 1

Getting your website listed anywhere on page one of Google is a feat, but we’ve managed to do it for a number of search terms relevant to our industry (hardscape, brick, stone, and masonry,) so we’d thought we’d share some of our search engine optimization tactics with you.

First of all, the first page of Google search results are divided into three major categories: Local search results (which appears at the very top of the page,) organic results (which appear as a list underneath the local results,) and paid advertisements (which appear either highlighted at the top, or in a column to the right of the page.)

It’s a god idea for any regional business to focus on a local business listing, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the local results appear at the top of the page, which means that there is a higher likelihood that they will be clicked. Secondly, the competition for local results is significantly less than the rest of the organic results. If someone is searching for hardscape, the organic results produce all the matches for hardscape in the world. The local listings only return results that are centered around the location of the computer in question. (How does Google know where your computer is? At some point, most of us set our location based on a query from our computer, or we allowed a search engine to determine our geolocation, even though we probably don’t remember doing this.) In addition, through habit, when we search, we often include a location tag in our query, like “Masonry Contractor Los Angeles.”

Most businesses already have a local business listing placed through Google. If you don’t, set one up through “Google Places.” It’s a very easy process. You’ll essentially fill out a form, and then google will verify your listing via phone or postcard. Make sure to fill out the listing entirely, and use all five listing categories. Put up photos, a link to your website, and videos if you have them.

Once this is done, what then? How do you get that ad to appear on the first page of the search results? First of all, if you’d like to verify that we have some experience with this, try searching for: Stone Mason Los Angeles, Stonemason Los Angeles, Masonry Contractor Los Angeles, Masonry Los Angeles, Brick Contractor Los Angeles, or Stone Contractor Los Angeles. Mike usually shows up in the local listings at the top (and usually in the organic results, too. (We’re still working on Concrete Contractor Los Angeles – at this point, we’re on the second page of local listings for that term.)

How did we do this? What are the factors that push a local listing to the first page of Google? Well, there are a couple, but for this part, we are going to focus on what is probably the most important: Having your local business listing substantiated by other local business listings.

When Google crawls the web, and sees that your business listing is substantiated by other, trusted sources, it pushes your listing higher in the search rankings. So, when we are focusing on our local business listing, the first thing we want to do after we create our initial listing is to create other listings with the same information in free or paid directories.

Once we created the ad for Mike Pearson Construction, Inc. (Concrete and masonry contractor extraordinaire) we went and listed him again in all of the following directories. (This list we’re about to give you is SEO gold.)

AboutUs
AT+T
Brownbook
CityVoter
Insider Pages
Clush (paid)
DirectoryM
Dmoz
Hot Frog
Kudzu
listown
Local_com
losangeles.com
manta
MerchantCircle
MojoPages
Rate It All
Smartviper
SuperPages
Yelp
Service Magic
Magic Yellow
findlocal.latimes.com
salesspider
Jihoy
Insider Pages
Landscaperesource.com

These are all free. You can also add listings from paid directories, if you wish. It’s a good idea, but we’ll give you more on that in the next post!

Do It Your Self Search Engine Optimization Mike Pearson Construction Blog Mike Pearson Concrete and Masonry Contractor Los Angeles

Your Local Business Listing On Page One Of Google - Part 2

Last time we talked about creating a local listing in Google, and then listing your website in free online directories in order to push that local listing up through the rankings. We'd like to take a moment to review this concept, re-iterate its value and importance, and refute some common misconceptions about this practice.

Let's start with the things we'd like to refute. Good backlinks (from places like reputable directories) will NOT hurt your website ranking. Having someone put thousands of links on websites that have nothing to do with your website may hurt you, but listing your business with places like Yelp and MerchantCircle is not going to cause your website any harm. In fact, it will help more than you might expect. The links that you can get from good online directories, and directories that are directly related to your business are great for your website ranking. Every business should have one of their employees take a day or two and create listings in at least 20 or 30 online directories.

Now, the review of the the topics we covered in the last post: It is possible to have your local business listing appear on the first page of Google. You need three things: A Google local business listing, a healthy website (more on that later,) and good backlinks to your website. (We've provided a good list of online directories in the previous post.) If you create this local listing, and you have other listings that substantiate it linking to your website, your local listing will move up through the rankings, and eventually appear near the top of search results.

We should add that the same process can be done with Yahoo and Bing. Both Yahoo and Bing have a "local business center" of some kind (Yahoo is: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/, and Bing is: https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx)

Why does this work? Why does listing your business in online directories boost your website ranking, and therefore your local business listing rank? It's because search engines place quite a bit of emphasis on the number of quality backlinks to your site. If you have a healthy website (full of original content,) and your website has a large number of quality backlinks, your website ranking will be substantially increased. If your website ranking goes up, the ranking of your local business listing goes up. However, the local business listing has a special advantage. It is competing only with other local listings. The competition for that top slot in the local listings is significantly less than the competition for the first spot in the regular organic listings.

So, put in the local listings, and go list your business in the online directories that we gave you in the previous post. It works! If you don't believe us, Google the following terms:

Stone Mason Los Angeles
Hardscape Los Angeles
Masonry Los Angeles
Brick Contractor Los Angeles
Stone Contractor Los Angeles
Masonry Contractor Beverly Hills
Masonry Contractor Santa Monica
Masonry Contractor Calabasas
Masonry Contractor Hidden Hills
Masonry Contractor Pacific Palisades
Masonry Contractor Malibu
Barbecue Contractor Los Angeles
Structural Concrete Los Angeles

Next time, we'll examine this process a bit further, and take a look at how to create a website that is viewed favorably by search engines.

www.mikepearsonconstruction.com
www.seoinlosangeles.org

Structural Technologies - Green Building

Article by: Alan Bernstein AIA, ASLA, LEED AP

October 1, 2009



Jonathan Wirthlin, Structural Engineer, AIA Member, Structural Engineering Association of Southern California Sustainable Design Committee, and LEED AP with Coffman Engineers did an outstanding job presenting at the AIA COTE Committee Meeting of September 3, 2009, on how structural engineers can make a project green.



Wirthlin focused on commercial buildings. The Engineers role creates a substantial cost impact on all projects and there are very few LEED points associated with structural engineering. By savings on materials, additional engineering calculations and changes to the building code, the engineering for buildings can become greener. Wirthlin promotes the Green Globes approach rather then the LEEDS, because it is more comprehensive in its approach.


Greener Concrete

Currently a lot of concrete products that are not “green” still have some fly ash content in them. By increasing the fly ash content to 20 to 70% of the cement mixture we are reducing the amount of fly ash that goes to landfills. Fly ash is a byproduct of burning coal for energy, it use to be sent up into the sky before environmental regulations finally stopped or reduced the fly ash into the atmosphere. As a result there is a lot of fly ash in the chimneys coal fire plants. (The best way to reduce fly ash is to reduce coal fire plants.) If a 50% fly ash mixture where used widely, it would reduce the world’s CO2 production by 4% (that is big).



By adding fly ash to the concrete mix we are creating a concrete that works differently than regular concrete, it does not make it worse, and it is less expensive than cement. It takes longer to set and dry- so the engineer needs to create a time line for the “working strength” of the concrete so the job can continue while the concrete is still curing. It takes less water, requires different admixtures, and can have more shrinkage cracks.


Material Reduction

By using fewer materials we can reduce the environmental impact. But there will be more labor involved in carefully calculating each beam individually, as opposed to the current standard of consistent and repetitive beam sizes. This could also reduce the quantity of bolts, welds, reduce shear wall length, and change stud spacing to 24 or 32” on center.



By use of a higher strength concrete, material can be reduced by thinner slabs, shorter and thinner shear walls, reduce deflection, and ultimately building weight.



Using high strength steel is not very practical. Standard steel shapes usually use standard steel strengths. It would be better to reduce the steel weight by increasing the depth of the beams for less deflection and widths of the posts for more efficient strengths.



Less material can reduce construction cost. There will be a learning curve for labor to be more attentive to small and frequent detail changes. More detailed plans will require more construction management and coordination. Wood projects or advance framing techniques will probably benefit the most from these changes. Concrete would benefit the least.


Advanced Systems

Advanced systems like energy dissipaters, system isolators, buckling restrained braced frames and steel plate shear walls can reduce materials and effects of earthquake damage on buildings. These systems require additional engineering and cost.



To justify these costs we need to consider the Life Cycle the building? How long is the building to last? Would it be better to spend more on materials and have a longer building life? Can the building adapt to other uses? And what will be the impact on the building when the earthquake hits – tear it down or replace some isolators?


Green Aspects of Structural Materials

Current LEED credits for engineering are gained in these areas:

Fly ash counts as pre-consumer recycled content, MR4.

Significant use of fly ash has been awarded Innovation in Design credit, ID1.

Crushing existing concrete for aggregate counts as post consumer recycled content credit, MR4.

Using special aggregates, pozzolans and add mixtures can help achieve Innovation in Design credit, ID1.

Showing the extended life of the building may also help achieve Innovation in Design credit, ID1.

LEED does not look at the life cycle, flexibility or reuse of a building.



Recycled wood can go into particleboard, mulch, fuel and firewood. Larger members can be reused, but smaller members like 2x4s will split apart when nailed. Windows and doors can be recovered and reused. Wood is easily deconstructed and reused in some manner. Wood is the greenest building material. Trees store carbon. Wood comes from a “rapidly” renewable resource. The creation of lumber uses relatively low amounts of energy sometimes their own sawdust (biofuel) creates the energy to mill the timber.



Steel is the most recycled material in the world. Over 80% of the steel comes from recycled product. Reusing steel beams is fully practical. Steel can be constructed with deconstruction in mind by using less weld and more bolts. Avoid unusual or custom shapes that are more difficult to reuse. Steel is the strongest per volume building material used. Steel manufacturing has been dramatically cleaned up, most hazardous waste associated with manufacturing is being recovered and used beneficially. Steel is produced more efficiently yet still takes a lot of energy to melt.



Concrete can be reused as base material, gravel, aggregate for new concrete, and the steel can be recycled. Concrete slabs and walls cannot be recycled for structural use. Concrete has the largest carbon footprint. The production and pouring of one ton of concrete creates 1.25 tons of CO2 and significant heat. One 90-pound bag of cement creates 22291 cubic feet of CO2 (a volume equivalent to 28 cubic feet).



Using an existing building can be greener then building a new green building. When we consider all the waste from demolition, existing embodied energy in materials, labor, transportation and time in an existing building we can save more energy through reuse.

Reusing a building has social, economic and cultural impacts. Adding life, strength and safety to an old building often has less impact on the environment. Building design and structural systems should allow for easy reconfigurations and different uses. The envelope or curtain wall system should be removable to allow future renovated or modernized exterior. Simple building shapes would save in renovation costs.



Again special thanks to Jonathan Wirthlin of Coffman Engineers for his presentation.

Thanks to Jonathan Vogel, President of Spectra Contract Flooring for hosting our meeting and providing food. We are always looking for new attendees, please contact Blaire Seibert, AIA, LEED AP, Verde Concepts via email blair@verdearchitects.com for the date and time of our next meeting. Looking forward to seeing you there.



Reminder, The Greenbuild 2009 International Conference and Expo will be held in Phoenix Arizona, November 11 –13. This is a great conference and an incredible number of exhibits about all things green. It attracts a mix of people from all aspects of the construction industry and related fields. Visit www.usgbc.org for further information.





Alan Bernstein is a licensed Architect, licensed Landscape Architect, U.S. Green Building Accredited Professional (LEED, AP) and Certified Green Building Advisor. For questions or comments contact Alan Bernstein at (818-707-9215) or email at alan@abarchitects.com



http://www.concretecontractorlosangeles.wordpress.com



http://www.mikepearsonconstruction.com

Mike Pearson Masonry Contractor Los Angeles

CMU Walls - Concrete Masonry Units

The Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association (CCMA) was established in the year 1979. It includes concrete block providers in southern Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and companies supplying cement, mortar mix, aggregates, equipments, services to the masonry industry and admixtures. Its objectives are creating a superior standard in the manufacturing of concrete masonry, collecting information and publishing bulletins of educational and promotional character, and encouraging the use of concrete masonry products.

The Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association is an important trade association. It is devoted to encouraging the use of concrete masonry products. It also supports its members by giving them opportunities for networking, as well as support in marketing, research and government relations. This association focuses on the enhancement of product knowledge of masonry block applications in the industry for concrete retaining walls and commercial buildings. The CCMA website is an important resource for builders, architects and engineers. More and more people are using the website for this purpose.

Concrete masonry units are in great demand because of the durability, structural advantages, economics, energy efficiency, minimal maintenance and fire-resistance that they provide. Brick, marble, concrete block and limestone are the common materials used in masonry construction. Masonry contractors use this kind of material for constructing steps, walkways, durable brick patios, walls and masonry structures. Masonry construction is highly durable, but many factors can affect the durability and appearance of the masonry construction including the quality of material and mortar used, the quality of the workmanship, and the way the materials are laid.

Retaining walls are also built by residential masonry contractors. These walls are vital for proper drainage as well as maintaining a level grade for your landscape. By using cement blocks, concrete or any kind of field and rock stones, masonry contractors can provide a wide variety of landscaping choices. Retaining wall blocks provide great compressive power. Some concrete blocks offer even greater power for masonry structure as they have cores with steel reinforcement.

Concrete masonry units are large rectangular blocks utilized in the construction of retaining walls or other structures. Concrete blocks make laying the block walls much quicker as these units are much larger than bricks. In addition, concrete blocks have lower water absorption rates than bricks. Concrete blocks are used as a structural core for the walls of factories, garages and industrial buildings. Sometimes, river rock can be utilized as a surface layer.


Mike Pearson Construction, Inc. - Decorative Concrete and Driveway Contractor Los Angeles

Mike Pearson Construction, Inc. - CMU Wall and Retaining Wall Contractor Los Angeles

Mike Pearson Construction, Inc. - Masonry and Brick Contractor Los Angeles

Concrete Masonry and Sustainability

CCMA stands for Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association. It is a non-profit trade organization. This association focuses on promoting the premium utilization of technical information, masonry materials, the benefits as well as economics using masonry and codes for the commercial and housing construction markets.

Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association offers not only education but also promotional assistance and advocacy to all its members. Concrete masonry product has advanced characteristics. It does not have any negative impacts on the environment. Furthermore, it has insect and fire resistant characteristics.
Using this environment friendly product for creating new looks become superior. There are couples of reasons why to use concrete masonry. First, one is the Green building and another is Sustainability.

First, we will look at what is the sustainability. It is the tolerance capability to experience, suffer or undergo without yielding or surrendering. Throughout its all the stages in the life span from raw material manufacture to destruction, concrete is an ally of the environment. Concrete masonry builds the rust free structures that will never burn or rot. They help to build long-lasting structures having great durability. It is very amazing to know that concrete building products have twice or thrice times the life span as compared to other building materials. That is why they are used for sustainable house construction. Day by day, these products are gaining increased popularity.

Another interesting thing about concrete masonry is it stays cool in the summer season and hot in the winter season. This is because the thermal mass of concrete permits it to store up the energy. Furthermore, utilization of concrete masonry products can help to save the utility bills over than 3%. Limestone is the most significant raw material used in the cement of concrete masonry. Moreover, the mineral ‘limestone’ is found in great quantity in nature. However, various waste by-products from different steel mills, manufacturing units and power plants can be used for the production of concrete.

Like wood, when exposed to the elements, concrete does not rot or warp. Its sustenance capability to all weather damages makes it to have a longer life. With concrete masonry used for building house, there are fewer chances of termites, rodents and ants to invade your home.

Sustainability of the concrete masonry makes it useful for long lasting and resistant construction. CCMA provides assistance to enhance the entire industrial viewpoint and knowledge towards the use of masonry products. It focuses on the use of block masonry applications for concrete viable buildings, paving walls, concrete masonry, retaining walls, etc. for further enhancement in the construction sector. It has helped to change our vision towards the utilization of several products, which are environment friendly.

Mike Pearson Construction - Hardscape Contractor Los Angeles

Mike Pearson Construction - Concrete Contractor Los Angeles

Rethink Recycle Rebuild

Rethink Recycle Rebuild
Article by: Alan Bernstein AIA, ASLA, LEED AP
September 1, 2009



“A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff”
George Carlin, “A Place for your Stuff”, Braindroppings, 1977

During World War II we created an industrial and manufacturing machine. The machine after the war needed to continue to feed and support the growing population. These industries changed from wartime to peacetime. Air bombers became passenger planes, nitrogen bombs became fertilizer and tanks became tractors. Designers of the war machines became industrial designers.

In the 1950’s designers developed the idea of planned and perceived obsolescence. This would keep the industrial machine operating producing goods. The machine is still running, it has expanded to Japan, India, China and elsewhere. Every year there is a new faster and neater cell phone we have got to have!

Annie Leonard, in the “Story of Stuff” processes simply moves along these stages: “extraction to production to distribution to consumption to disposal. All together, it’s called the materials economy.” It is a linear process and we are running out of materials very quickly. “We live on a finite planet and you can not run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely”. Paul Hawkin, Armory Lovins and Hunter Lovins say “In the past three decades, one-third of the planet’s resources, its ‘natural wealth’, has been consumed.”

Mining for iron ore, drilling for oil and harvesting trees that destroy large tracks of land. Transporting materials all over the world leaves a trail of pollution and smoke. Processing the raw materials dumps waste products in rivers and dumpsites. Manufacturing creates all sorts of toxic chemical waste and products that are indefinitely in the web of life such as dioxin and DDT.

Labor paid at minimum wage receive no health insurance or any other benefits to support their family or later years in life when they are sick from the toxic work or manufacturing in poor conditions destroys eyesight and health.

Big box stores then sell the product for a very low amount like $5.00 for a portable radio or CD player at Radio Shack. Do you ever ask how can they make that product so cheaply? The cost is being deferred in planet health and resources. We look at these products as low cost one time consumption products. When they are done we throw them away and add more to the garbage dumps. Someday soon I think we will start mining the dumps.

“To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.”

Theodore Roosevelt, Seventh Annual Message, December 3, 1907

In “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things”, by Architect William McDonough and colleague German chemist Michael Braungart, there is a call to transform industry to a more ecological design. Carpet manufacturing has a huge impact on our garbage dumps and toxic waste. Interface Carpet has rethought the life process of carpet tiles. At the end of the tile’s use they can be easily pulled apart rubber backing from fabric and made into new tiles. McDonough and Braungart call for a process to rethink this and make carpet so it can be recycled and made into a new carpet and given life again. Companies like Interface Carpet, Steel Case and Herman Miller are changing the way we think about manufacturing so less ends up in the trash and has less toxic materials.

The authors “insist on the rights of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse, and sustainable condition”. And that humans can live beneficially with the environment.


Alan Bernstein is a licensed Architect, licensed Landscape Architect, U.S. Green Building Accredited Professional (LEED, AP) and Certified Green Building Advisor. For questions or comments contact Alan Bernstein at (818-707-9215) or email at alan@abarchitects.com

www.mikepearsonconstruction.com