Introduction
This survey is intended to assess the Canadian Part 9 residential construction industry’s current capacity to undertake embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions assessments, including:

· Product stage assessments (A1–A3)
· Upfront carbon assessments (A1–A5)
· Whole building life cycle assessment (wbLCA)

The respondent should be a member of your organization who has some familiarity with embodied GHG emissions in the residential construction industry.

The results will support recommendations for workforce development, policy implementation, industry readiness, and economic impact assessments across Canadian provinces and territories.

Number of questions: 45

Confidentiality: All results will be aggregated and anonymized
Background
The Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes is developing a tiered performance framework for embodied greenhouse gas emissions in Part 9 buildings for the 2030 National Building Code. This tiered framework will allow jurisdictions to adopt changes at a pace that suits their needs, while aligning on the overall approach and objectives. The 2030 Code will include performance requirements for life cycle stage A1 to A3 for structural elements, and if practical, the building envelope. Prescriptive options for housing will also be developed.

More information can be found here: https://cbhcc-cchcc.ca/en/phase-1-embodied-ghg-policy-positions/

For this survey, “embodied GHG assessment” refers to the estimation of greenhouse gas emissions associated with building materials and construction processes, excluding operational energy use. The survey distinguishes between:

· A1-A3 product stage: raw material supply, transport to manufacturing, and manufacturing.
· A1-A5 upfront carbon: A1-A3 plus transport to site and construction/installation processes.
· Whole-building life cycle assessment: a building-level assessment that may include product, construction, use-stage replacement/maintenance, and end-of-life modules, depending on the defined scope.

These lifecycle stages are shown in the graphic below.
The survey focuses on Part 9 residential buildings, including houses and small buildings.
Section 1: Organization Information

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1. Organization Name (optional)

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2. Province/Territory of primary operations

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3. Type of organization:

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4. Number of employees

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5. Approximately how many Part 9 residential projects does your organization directly design, build, assess, review, or support annually?

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6. What types of Part 9 residential projects does your organization mainly work on? Select all that apply.

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7. Which of the following markets does your organization serve? Select all that apply.

Section 2: Organization Experience

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8. How would you describe your organization’s knowledge of the following topics?
1 = No Knowledge, 5 = Expert

  1 2 3 4 5
Embodied GHG emissions in construction materials and houses
Product / building life cycle assessment principles
Building product EPDs
Embodied GHG emission reduction strategies
Low-carbon product selection
Quantity take-offs
Construction cost estimation
Construction budgeting and tendering
Value engineering

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9. What is your organization's current role in embodied GHG assessments? Select all that apply.

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10. Which types of assessments does your organization perform or procure? Select all that apply.

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11. Approximately how many embodied carbon assessments has your organization completed in the past 12 months?

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12. What is the motivation for conducting embodied carbon assessments? Select all that apply.

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13. Which software tools and database does your organization use for embodied GHG assessments? Select all that apply.

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14. What information is typically available when an embodied GHG assessment is started? Rank 1-5 (1- never, 5- always)

  1 2 3 4 5
Architectural drawings
Structural drawings
Energy model
Bill of materials
Cost estimate
Supplier quotes
Product data sheets
EPDs
Construction invoices / delivery tickets
None of the above / varies by project

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15. Does your organization prepare a Bill of Materials (BOM) or quantity take-off for residential projects?

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16. What methods or tools are primarily used to prepare Bills of Materials or quantity take-offs? (Select all that apply)

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17. Is your organization involved in projects that specify or procure low-carbon building materials?

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18. If yes, which low-carbon materials or products have been specified or produced in your projects? (Select all that apply)

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19. Rank the difficulty of assessing the following material categories. (1 - easy, 5 - difficult)

  1 2 3 4 5 N/A
Concrete and cementitious materials
Wood framing and engineered wood
Insulation
Gypsum board
Windows and doors
Roofing
Cladding
Flooring and finishes
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing

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20. Please elaborate on any of the difficult material categories listed above. What makes them difficult to assess?

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21. Does your organization use benchmarking or reference data sources to validate embodied carbon assessment results? If yes, what data source do you use?

Section 3: Staffing and Expertise

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22. Does your organization have dedicated staff or teams focused on embodied carbon or LCA?

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23. If yes, how many team members are dedicated to embodied carbon or LCA work?

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24. How would you rate your organization's internal capacity to perform embodied carbon or LCA work on a scale of 1 to 5? (1 = unprepared, 5 = very prepared)

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25. If yes, what are the primary disciplines completing this work?

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26. If no, who completes the embodied carbon work?

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27. What training has your staff completed for embodied carbon modelling? Select any that apply.

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28. Does your staff have any certifications related to whole-building life cycle analysis modelling or upfront embodied carbon calculations?

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29. What training delivery methods would be most effective for increasing your organization’s capacity to undertake embodied carbon and life cycle assessment (LCA) work? (Rank from 1 to 5: 1 – not effective, 5 – very effective)

  1 2 3 4 5
Online self-paced courses
Live virtual workshops or webinars
In-person workshops or seminars
Certification or accreditation programs
Peer learning or industry knowledge-sharing groups
Mentorship or on-the-job training
University or college courses
Guidance documents or technical manuals
Case studies and example projects
Software-specific training

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30. Which training topics would be most useful for improving your organization’s capacity to undertake embodied carbon and life cycle assessment (LCA) work? (Select all that apply)

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31. What support would most help your organization build capacity to undertake embodied carbon assessments?

Section 4: Readiness Assessment

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32. On a scale of 1 to 5, how prepared do you believe your organization is to meet future mandatory embodied carbon requirements, recognizing that the specific requirements have not yet been proposed? (1 = unprepared, 5 = very prepared)

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33. How is your organization currently preparing to align with increasing requirements for embodied GHG assessment and reporting? (Select all that apply)

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34. Rank the following drivers based on their importance in increasing demand for embodied carbon assessments. (1 = most important, 7 = least important)

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35. What are the biggest barriers to adoption? (Select up to three)

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36. What do you perceive as the biggest benefits to your clients from embodied carbon assessments? (Select up to three)

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37. How many years do you think it will take for the industry to be ready for mandatory embodied carbon reporting?

Section 5: Cost of Assessments

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38. What is the average cost of embodied carbon assessments for Part 9 residential projects? Please specify which type of assessment this cost applies to.

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39. What percentage of the total project budget is allocated to embodied carbon assessments? Please specify which type of assessment this percentage applies to.

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40. At what project stage are assessments typically initiated?

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41. How does the timing of assessments affect the costs?

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42. What project impacts do your clients most commonly associate with embodied carbon assessments? Select all that apply.

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43. On average, how much additional calendar time is required to complete an assessment after drawings / specifications are available?

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44. Approximately how much internal staff time is required to support the assessment? (Include activities such as data collection, quantity take-offs, modelling, coordination, review, and reporting.)

Section 6: Feedback

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45. What would improve industry capacity for embodied carbon assessments? Please share any additional comments or information that was not captured in the survey questions.

Thank you for your input.

Your responses will help shape national strategies to strengthen Canada’s embodied carbon capacity in the residential construction sector.

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