School general trades bids close enough?

Van Wert independent

The second time appears to be the charm, as new bids for the general trades construction portion of Van Wert City Schools’ grades 1-5 elementary building project were within parameters needed to accept the project.

Kevin Straub of Richard L. Bowen, construction manager for the project, noted after bids were opened that it looks like all of the four bids would likely allow the project to come in within 10 percent of Ohio School Facilities Commission-approved estimates for the project.

Straub said it appeared as if the base bids received on Tuesday brought totals for the project to about 8 percent over the design estimates. He added that the base bid would also likely allow acceptance of two of the nine alternates bid with the project. Those would involve installing a wood floor in the gymnasium and terrazzo flooring in high-traffic areas.

Bids for the project are as follows:

• Fetters Construction of Auburn, Ind. — base bid, $11,122,000; total of alternates, $856, 650; total bid, $11,978,650.
• Ferguson Construction of Sidney — base bid, $11,140,000; total of alternates, $729,000; total bid, $11,869,000.
• Reece-Campbell of Cincinnati — base bid, $11,252,000; total of alternates, $755,500; total bid, $12,007,500.
• Charles Construction Services Inc. of Findlay — base bid, $11,076,000; total of alternates, $821,000; total bid, $11,897,000.

Helping the general trades portion stay within the range of estimates was the fact that four of the five other bid packages, all of which were accepted, were under estimates, with a net total of approximately 9 percent under estimates for those packages.

Also beneficial was the fact that the estimate for the general trades portion of the building was increased from $9.3 million to $10.2 million.

Straub said after the bids were opened that, to move the process forward quickly, he would be interviewing the two apparent low bidders on the general trades portion of the project this Thursday afternoon. The building is scheduled for completion in July 2012.