Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Since the Jeffers High School, in Painesdale, was built in 1909, it has experienced several additions. Construction of another addition, a weight room – baseball facility, on the south end of the building, will begin this summer.

ADAMS TOWNSHIP – Contract bids for one of three phases of the Adams Township Schools bond project came back over budget.

Superintendent Tim Keteri said contract bids for the project came back well over the projected budget.

At the regular March School Board meeting, Keteri said that a walk-through for contractors had been scheduled for that month. Three contractors subsequently submitted bids, all of which were significantly higher than the projected budget, but only for the addition of the weight room-baseball facility.

“We did have a contractor that was a low bid, but with the amount of money that needed to be value-engineered, it was too much,” Keteri said. “We just felt that we could reach a place where we had the funds and contingency, and what we needed on the project.”

Keteri said that rather than working with the low bidder on a Value Engineer Proposal (VEP) to bring the costs down, the district instructed the architectural firm to redesign the facility plan. A VEP is a post-award proposal made by the Contractor which includes changes to work that may result in cost or time savings, without impairing essential functions and characteristics of the project.

“We had three general contractors,” Keteri said. “They all came back and they were all significantly over budget on just that one phase, just the weight room-baseball facility.”

Rather than award the bid and work with the contractor to reduce the cost, Keteri said “it was only fair to all the contractors to redesign it to bring the cost down, so that the contractors can re-bid on the project equally.

“Since it is a significant redesign,” Keteri said, “we just felt that it was necessary to be fair to all contractors.”

Keteri said the original plan was simply over-designed in terms of the structure of the building. One example was the plan for the masonry foundation.

Some cost-saving alterations to the plans included relocating the footprint of the 40 by 92-foot building away from an embankment on the south end of the school, have already been made.

“The building will still be attached to the main building,” Keteri said, “but rather than be straight, we moved it 20 feet, so we stayed off the hillside.”

Shifting the location of the building saved an estimated $250,000 in excavating costs.

“So, the location, just moving it forward,” said Keteri, “that’s what gave us a huge amount of projected savings.”

Keteri said the good news is, the redesign will impact construction dates.

“Nothing has changed in terms of the projected start and completion of the project,” Keteri said, “so, there’s no delays on that.”

“The masonry was a big part. Removing the facility, just moving it up.”

Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette
Since the Jeffers High School, in Painesdale, was built in 1909, it has experienced several additions. Construction of another addition, a weight room – baseball facility, on the south end of the building, will begin this summer.