High school expansion bids come in at $10.9M

ROYERSFORD » The bids for the proposed expansion project at SpringFord Area High School were opened Tuesday and came on at $10.9 million — on the lower side of estimates offered a year ago which had gone as high as $12 million.

The school board is expected to vote on whether to accept these bids at its meeting Monday night, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.

The results of the bid opening were presented to the school board’s finance committee on March 13, according to Erin Crew, the district’s manager of communications and marketing.

The proposed project includes three additions: a 10,700-square-foot performing arts expansion, a 17,200-square-foot physical education expansion, and a 6,900-square-foot corridor expansion.

James Fink, the district’s financial officer, recapped the estimated numbers from the town hall meeting conducted on March 23, 2017, and said the all-in cost range at that time for all three additions was $10.5 million to $12.1 million. He further shared that with the bids received put the cost of the three projects at $10.9 million.

“I was surprised to see the bids come in at the lower end of the estimated ranges from a year ago. With the improvements in the economy over the past year, I expected them to come in at the higher end,” Fink told the finance committee meeting, according to Crew.

The project has been under discussion for several years and at the end of 2016, the school board began the first phase of the project, hiring an architect.

In the following phases, the Board approved the architect agreement, approved designs, sent the project to bid and opened bids. The next phase requires a School Board vote to move forward with the project prior construction, Crew explained.

If approved, the project is expected to take 18 to 22 months to complete.

Fink also outlined the district’s debt service payments Tuesday, explaining that the budget currently has $14.9 million designated for debt service payments.

“Due to refinancing a portion of the district’s debt last year at lower interest rates, just like a homeowner would do with their mortgage to reduce the payments on his home, the district’s current annual debt payments total $14.2 million, leaving a favorable gap of $700,000 per year,” Fink told the finance committee, according to Crew.

Debt service payments need to remain under $14.9 million per year in order to not increase the budget, and he estimates the district’s total payments to be approximately $14.5 million leaving room to spare.

Bruce Cooper, the district’s director of planning, operations and facilities, provided the school board’s property committee with the following bid tabulations: then presented the Property Committee with an Expansion Project Bid update. Mr. Cooper shared the following approved bids for the general contractor (GC), HVAC (HC), plumbing (PC), electric (EC) and fire protection services (FPC):

• Perrotto Builders: $6,465,000 — general contractor

• JBM Mechanical, Inc: $893,000 — heating, ventilation and air conditioning

• Stan-Roch Plumbing: $184,000 — plumbing

• McCarty & Son, Inc: $580,652 — electric

• Anchor Fire Protection Co., Inc: $149,850 — fire protection services

Construction Total was set at $8,272,502, which does not include “soft costs” like architect and engineering fees, permits, furniture, legal fees and contingency, which add another $2,616,000 to the total.

“I was surprised to see the bids come in at the lower end of the estimated ranges from a year ago.” _ James Fink, Spring-Ford’s chief financial officer