Adaptive method

Other assessment methods

Portability of using overall performance to assess items requirements

The assessor may choose from several alternative approaches to assess the items requirements of a same function, the preferred alternative is to assess the overall performance of the building to achieve that function (by using a simulation program for instance), while assessing each sub-item separately is the least preferred.

There are usually no alternatives for the approaches used in assessing the items, and in exception of some functions like those related to the energy efficiency, the items are assessed separately by the usual and well known ways of each producing country for each method.

Portability of using questionnaires to assess items requirements

Questionnaires are one of the choices that the assessor may choose from several alternative approaches to assess items requirements, and it may be used during all or certain building life stages besides repeating it during different time periods according to the environmental variation types associated with items.

Questionnaires are used to complete assessing some items after the construction stage and during operation.

Portability of using text expressions to assess items requirements

Text expressions can be used to describe the levels of assessing and achieving the requirements of some items when the quantitative expression is difficult. The assessing score in these cases is given upon answers for a series of questions that experts develop.

Rarely the items that are difficult to be assessed using quantitative or mathematical equations are considered, except in some methods such as CASBEE.

Portability of changing the calculations accuracy degree

Different items importance (estimation weights) may have a different accuracy degree for the calculations used for their assessment. Therefore, experts at the level of each item can determine its required accuracy degree to save their time and effort if the accuracy of an item doesn’t show an impact on the final building result due its low estimated weight.

The calculations in these methods may be considered simple compared to those in the adaptive method, thus there is no great need to change the degree of accuracy of the various items included within them. In GBC method the degree of accuracy can be changed in the overall method by reducing the number of items and choosing limited ones, however, that way reduces the accuracy of the final assessment result not just the accuracy of the internal calculations.