Once all documents are uploaded, the project administrator should perform a thorough quality check before submitting them for review in WELL Online. The project team can submit documentation for review in WELL Online under the Reviews tab.
After a project submits the comprehensive documentation, the WELL Reviewer will begin the preliminary documentation review. The project administrator is notified when all documents are reviewed by the third-party reviewers. Project teams have the opportunity to address any review comments from the WELL Reviewer to resubmit for a final documentation review.
The process and timeline differs depending on how you are engaged in WELL. Select the correct tab below to learn more about the review process for your project. WELL Community projects should refer to the WELL Certification tab.
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As a WELL at scale subscriber, you may submit up to two review cycles per subscription year. Each cycle consists of up to two review rounds. Milestones like WELL Precertification, WELL Certification or a WELL Rating are only awarded at the end of a review cycle (i.e. after round two, or after round one if you choose to accept that review as final).
The process is the same for both review cycles. See the flowchart below, then keep reading for more information:
Review process
- Submit your documentation, including the WELL at scale review form, and performance testing results (if applicable) for review.
- Allow approximately 20-25 business days for review. You can use this calculator to estimate your review timeline.
- During the review, you may receive a request from the reviewers for mid-review clarification. The project administrator will receive an email notifying them of this request, and the status of your review in your WELL at scale account will change to ‘Require clarification’. Respond to this request as quickly as possible and re-submit for review. Your review will be on hold until your response is received
- After round 1 of the review is complete, view your review report.
- Decide whether to accept this review as final–in which case you will waive your second review round. You may not accept round 1 as final if you have uploaded any additional documents since the initial review submission.
The overall process for both the preliminary and final rounds of review is identical.
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The third-party WELL Reviewers conduct two rounds of review of submitted documentation: preliminary and final.
Preliminary review
This is your first round of review. WELL Reviewers may flag areas that require attention from your project team. If this is the case, your project team can address any feedback and resubmit your documentation for the final round of review.
- If, after the preliminary review, the project is determined to be in compliance with WELL criteria, the reviewer will notify you of your project’s success.
Final review
This is the second and final round of review. If the project is determined to be in compliance with WELL criteria, the reviewer will notify you of your project’s success.
- If the required number of features have not been met (15 for the WELL Health-Safety Rating, 21 for the WELL Performance Rating or WELL Equity Rating), review the technical advice provided and submit for appeal review. There are additional fees associated with appeal review.
- For more information, see the WELL Program Guidebook and WELL Health-Safety Rating pricing or WELL Performance Rating pricing.
Review timelines
For both preliminary documentation and final documentation review, you can expect a response from your WELL Reviewer within 8 to 10 business days for WELL Health-Safety Rating and WELL Equity Rating projects or 20-25 business days for WELL Performance Rating projects.
For multiple-location submissions, review timelines may be longer, with a maximum of up to 25 business days.
If you are seeking to pursue both a WELL Rating and WELL Certification, Certification can be pursued concurrently with a WELL Rating. When you submit both reviews together, they will be returned together. The review timeline for WELL Certification is 20-25 business days for each review.
If you submit for preliminary review concurrently, when you submit for final review, it should also be submitted concurrently. Submitting final reviews separately will trigger an additional review fee.
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For both the preliminary and final rounds of documentation review, the WELL Reviewer will return the review within 20-25 business days after documentation is submitted. Once all documents are verified as satisfactory, then the project may proceed to performance verification.
If you are seeking the WELL Health-Safety Rating and WELL Certification, both can be pursued concurrently. When you submit both reviews together, they will be returned together.
It is important to remember that select WELL features require annual submissions to verify the continued implementation of WELL requirements.
More information on Performance Verification and WELL Certification can be found in the Performance Verification Guidebook and the WELL Program Guidebook.
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In order to achieve WELL for residential Certification, your project must prepare and upload documentation, then undergo review by a third party. This article will explain the review process.
During the review process, third-party reviewers will examine your documentation and onsite testing results, if applicable, to ensure that your project complies with feature requirements. Reviews consist of review cycles. Each review cycle contains a preliminary phase and a final phase; each phase is 25 business days. The number of review cycles and allowed feature sets your project receives depends on whether your project is a single enrollment or subscription. In addition, for a single enrollment, all units must be located in the same building or community while subscriptions allow multiple buildings or communities.
Single enrollment Subscription Number of review cycles Two (one for precertification review and one for certification review) over a three-year term Two per subscription year Number of buildings/communities One building or community Multiple buildings or communities Number of allowed feature sets in a review Same set of feature parts for all units Up to 5 sets of feature parts Before starting a review, all dwelling units must be associated with a set of features and meet the following criteria:
- Each dwelling unit pursuing a feature must consistently implement each feature part being reviewed. For example, if a feature part requires a specific design or product specification, the same design and/or product must be utilized in each dwelling unit pursuing that feature part.
- Where the feature part offers multiple options for compliance, all dwelling units must use the same option.
- For tiered features, all dwelling units must target the same tier. If units achieve different tiers, all units will be awarded the lowest tier achieved by that grouping of units.
- If an auditable feature is pursued in some, but not all, of the dwelling units, audit selection in excess of the minimum may be required to ensure that each audited feature is represented.
The review process is as follows:
Pre-submission
During this phase, you will complete and submit the unit details sheet through the “Get Help” button in the support tab of your WELL for residential account.
Audit requirement (for enrollments with more than one unit)
After your unit details sheet has been submitted, you will receive your audit list. See (insert audit article here) for more information about the audit process.
Preliminary review phase
During this phase, you will submit all documentation for review, including both location-specific (audited) documents and shareable documents. The reviewers will conduct their preliminary review and respond with comments indicating any issues with your submission, including missing or unsatisfactory documentation.
Upon submission, a documentation review invoice will be generated and available in the Billing tab of your WELL for residential account. The invoice must be paid in order to receive the review report.
Final review phase
After you have received the preliminary review results and addressed any issues the reviewers identified (e.g., by providing additional documentation or corrections to existing documents) , you will submit for your final review phase. The reviewers will then conduct their final review and issue their final review report. This report will indicate the number of points earned by each unit and award the WELL Residence certification to all qualifying units.