How many specification opportunities did your company lose last quarter because you didn’t have a compliant HPD? The building products industry is experiencing a seismic shift toward transparency and sustainable materials disclosure. At the center of this transformation is the Health Product Declaration (HPD)—a critical document that can make or break your ability to be specified on green building projects. Yet many manufacturers find themselves overwhelmed, confused, and racing against deadlines to produce compliant HPDs.
Why Manufacturers Are Struggling
Building product manufacturers today face an unprecedented challenge. They’re being asked to complete Health Product Declarations, but many don’t know where to start. The questions come fast and furious: What information needs to be included? How do we get confidential data from our suppliers? What makes an HPD “LEED compliant”? And perhaps most pressing of all: Who has the time to figure this all out?
The reality is stark. Manufacturers are under intense pressure from architects, specifiers, and project teams demanding HPDs for LEED and WELL projects. Deadlines loom. Internal resources are stretched thin. The risk of publishing an incomplete or inaccurate HPD—and the reputational damage that could follow—keeps executives up at night.
This is why leading companies like National Gypsum, DuPont, Cosentino, and CEMCO have made a strategic decision: they’ve sought out experienced HPD consulting firms to help them publish LEED compliant HPDs. These industry leaders understand that HPD preparation requires specialized expertise—expertise that makes the difference between missing opportunities and winning specifications.
The Solution
An HPDC Approved Preparer like Elixir Environmental provides end-to-end HPD project management that transforms the complex process into a streamlined, efficient experience. Here’s how the process works:
Complete Ingredient Identification
The foundation of any HPD is a complete and accurate inventory of all ingredients in your product. An HPDC Approved Preparer conducts thorough analysis to identify every component, ensuring nothing is overlooked that could compromise compliance or accuracy.
Supply Chain Coordination
One of the most challenging aspects of HPD preparation is collecting information from your supply chain. An experienced preparer manages these relationships, working directly with your suppliers to gather the necessary technical data while maintaining your business relationships.
Confidentiality Protection Through NDAs
Suppliers are often reluctant to share proprietary formulation information directly with manufacturers. HPDC Approved Preparers can obtain data through independent Non-Disclosure Agreements, creating a confidential pathway for information flow that protects everyone’s interests.
Data Review and Evaluation
Raw data from suppliers requires expert evaluation to ensure it meets HPD Open Standard requirements. An HPDC Approved Preparer reviews and validates all supplier information, identifying gaps or inconsistencies before they become problems.
LEED Compliant
The ultimate goal is publishing an HPD that meets LEED requirements and serves your specification needs. An Approved Preparer ensures your HPD is formatted correctly, contains all required disclosures, and aligns with the latest version of the HPD Open Standard.
Knowledge Transfer
The best consulting relationships don’t create dependency—they build capability. A quality HPD consulting firm educates your team throughout the process, positioning you to develop future HPDs more efficiently.
Verification Coordination
For manufacturers seeking third-party verification, an HPDC Approved Preparer can coordinate this process, though they cannot verify HPDs they’ve helped prepare. They can, however, ensure your HPD is verification-ready, streamlining the independent review process.
Working with an HPDC Approved Preparer Matters
Not all HPD consulting is created equal. The distinction of being an HPDC Approved Preparer carries significant weight and provides tangible benefits to manufacturers.
An HPDC Approved Preparer is a consulting organization that has demonstrated the knowledge and experience necessary to provide assistance to manufacturers in the preparation of accurate and complete Health Product Declarations. Unlike Third Party Verifiers, who provide independent review of completed HPDs, the preparer consults with the manufacturer during the preparation of the HPD to provide additional resources and technical expertise to execute the HPD as accurately and efficiently as possible.
HPDC Approved Preparers can assist with getting content information from suppliers through independent Non-Disclosure Agreements when suppliers are reluctant to directly share the necessary information with manufacturers. This capability alone can be the difference between completing an HPD or abandoning the effort due to supply chain barriers.
The requirements and approval process for HPD Preparers are nearly identical to those for Third-Party Verifiers. HPDC Approved Preparers can also be HPDC Third Party Verifiers but are restricted from verifying HPDs that they have helped to prepare—a safeguard that maintains the integrity of the verification process.
The Business Case
Here’s the bottom line that every building product manufacturer needs to understand: without a compliant HPD, you will have difficulty being specified on LEED and WELL projects. This isn’t a future concern—it’s today’s reality.
Green building isn’t a niche market anymore. LEED-certified projects represent billions of dollars in construction value annually. The WELL Building Standard is rapidly gaining traction in commercial real estate. Architects and specifiers are increasingly required to select products with transparent material disclosure documentation. If your product isn’t represented by a quality HPD, you’re simply not in the conversation.
The cost of inaction is measured in lost specifications, declining market share, and missed revenue opportunities. Meanwhile, your competitors who have invested in HPD preparation are winning the projects you’re losing.
Making the Strategic Choice
Manufacturers that want to save time, reduce costs, and increase their specification opportunities should work with an HPD consulting firm like Elixir Environmental. The investment in expert HPD preparation delivers multiple returns:
- Time savings by leveraging specialized expertise instead of learning through trial and error
- Accuracy that prevents costly revisions and protects your reputation
- Efficiency through established processes and supply chain relationships
- Competitive advantage by getting to market faster with compliant HPDs
- Specification wins on the green building projects that represent the future of construction
The question isn’t whether your company needs HPDs—that ship has sailed. The question is whether you’ll struggle through the process alone or partner with an HPDC Approved Preparer who can help you navigate it successfully. Your specification opportunities depend on making the right choice. Contact Elixir Environmental today.