News-Record.com

“The lowest responsible bidder is usually the person that made the biggest mistake” in their construction estimate.

— Commissioner Paul Gibson, chairman of the jail construction committee

Could it possibly be the bidder knows what he is doing and what price he can do it.The bottom line is the tax payers will get screwed like normal. The idiots that run the county don't have a clue how to manage anything. The worst part is the tax payers will be crying when the taxes are raised to pay for this white elephant. They seem to forget they voted and ask to raise their property taxes.

When an individual goes out to build a house, he sets a budget for that house. A "wise" individual will set the budget at approx. 10% less than his final budget allows. Why? It is because of the 10% factor. This is a common sense factor that allows you to build, but, to have money in reserve for unexpected overages, or materials price increase that may occur during the duration of the project.

So, set the budget for $105 million for the jail. When you get into the "overages" that always occur, i.e. (the 10% factor), you will still be inside the bond budget. Your article states that the plans are 70% complete. So at 70% complete into the plans, are there any glaring areas that jump out at you, that you know are going to "blow" the budget? If so, address them at this stage, not, after it is let out for bid. Are there materials that need to be substitued for less expensive, (but equal in quality)? Do it now.

Many times the designers/archtitects will design buildings that they know will be far over reaching the allotted budget, "before" letting it out for bid, If that is the case, stop it now, dead in its' tracks. Do we (Guilford County) have a supervisior of the design/build team that is in charge of keeping the design team on a "budget" track? Has the design team been given a clear and accurate description of what we want and what our budget limitations are?

There are lots of "hungry" contractors out there right now that will sharpen their pencils and take jobs for less than their normal profit margins. The economy is hurting, people are
desparate for jobs.

Greensboro has numerous construction projects coming into view with all of the school bonds, etc. This is not the time to bring out of town contractors to do this work. Use this to the city's and county's advantage and employ local commercial contractors in an effort keep the local residents working . It would have to be more practical and cost effective to use local companies.

This could be a very winning proprosition for this county "if" it is handled properly. If the citizens of Guilford County/ Greensboro are paying for these bonds, then why not let those same citizens earn a living from the same bonds they have committed to pay. Keep the work and the money flowing in a cirlcle here LOCALLY!

Now that is a "true" example of stimulating the economy!

Just a quick question. Is the old jail being torn down and a new one being built to replace it?
.....or....
Is an addition being attached to the old jail?