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Even the best efforts of the district's Construction Steering Committee, architects and professional estimators could not have anticipated the soaring prices for school construction. This phenomenon is occurring in school districts all over Westchester County and New York State. According to David Schunter of Andron, the district's construction management company and cost estimator, recent school construction bids are now routinely coming in an average of 8 to 12 percent over budget.
Bedford's projects are no exception. On May 18, the district opened bids for numerous contracts at Mount Kisco Elementary School. Those bids came in almost $2 million over the proposed budget. Thank you Mr. Betz !!!
"The cost of specific construction materials has gone through the roof," lamented Mike Wolfe, Andron's project manger for the district. Trades using metal products have been forced to significantly raise their bid quotes to reflect
The
increases for those materials.Steel costs alone have increased 30 percent in just a few short months. Materials made from petroleum projects like PVC piping and driveway, road and parking-lot blacktopping, have also skyrocketed due to the pressures on the oil market. "The 11months of waiting for State approval of the project also did not help the bidding climate," commented Mr. Schunter.As a result of what happened at Mount Kisco, the district's Construction Steering Committee had Andron re-estimate Fox Lane High Schools $33 million project, which is still awaiting State Education Department approval. Not surprisingly, that project is estimated to come in at least $2 million over budget if the district puts the current designs out to bid.
Because the district has no authority to spend more than the $67.8 million approved by the voters for its bond projects, the committee is looking at ways to reduce costs in the :HIKES and FLHS projects without compromising the specific construction program the voters approved. Some of these reductions would come from carefully reviewing and making modifications in the types of construction materials used in each project, from scaling back the amount of interior and exterior renovations; and from site modifications. Still other reductions might come from restructuring certain trade contracts to be bid in more favorable construction periods.
All these possibilities - and more $$$$$ - will be considered in the next few weeks as the Construction Steering Committee attempts to get the projects back on track. Schedules ore likely to be revised, most of the MK contracts will have to be re-bid and the HS project will not be bid until it is pared back to meet its original budget. To keep the district from losing ground in its phasing of these two construction projects, contracts for removal of asbestos floor tiles and other hazardous materials have been awarded for both Mount Kisco and the High School. Those projects, both within their budgets, will begin as scheduled as soon as schools close in June.
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