Middle school building on time, on budget

By Amie Johansen

amie@charlescitypress.com

The new middle school building rapidly taking shape behind the Charles City High School is “on time and on budget,” district officials say.

Charles City Community School District Business Manager Terri O’Brien and School Board President Scott Dight explained Thursday exactly what “on budget” means.

Roughly five months from being finished, the project remains within the budget set at the beginning. According to O’Brien and Dight, so far $7,073,519 has been paid of the $19,055,000 budget.

“Current projections have us completing the project at or under budget,” they reported.

Part of the ability to stay on budget was to financially plan for the unexpected.

“We have had some changes and some are expected in the normal course of the project,” O’Brien and Dight said. “The extent of those changes has not been a surprise and there were monies set aside in the original budget to accommodate them.”

Unexpected expenses cost the district $156,225.

“Unsuitable soils that had to be replaced, additional scope items to improve the project in security, access and communications areas, telescoping bleachers and gymnasium equipment, additional structural at south elevation exterior wall,” were listed as a few of those unexpected items.

It was noted shortly after the competitive bid openings the project could come in under budget.

“Original competitive bids came in below budget, and Estes and BLDD Architects generated additional savings through their value engineering effort,” O’Brien and Dight said in an email to the Press. “Those two savings sources allowed CCCSD to purchase all of the alternate bid items we originally hoped for except for an alternate for some additional sound equipment. Dr. Cox and the board elected to forego that alternate until a later date due to the fact digital equipment is changing so rapidly and costs are actually trending lower.”

Because of value-added engineering and bids coming in lower than expected, $152,236 in alternates were approved, they said.

Once every month, the District directly pays the contractors, Estes Construction and BLDD Architects. So far $7,073,519 has been paid.

The construction project is more than an expense to the school. Since the beginning of the build, the project has proven to have a positive economic impact on the community. According to Estes Construction Senior Project Engineer Scott Sheller, there are seven prime contractors with roughly 12 actual contractors and subcontractors that have been employed by the new middle school building.

“As a minimum, there are 50 to 60 workers here (utilizing local hotels),” Sheller said. “They are buying fuel here, lunch, and sometimes dinner.”

The project is on track to finish in time for students to begin the 2016-17 school year in the new building, officials said.