The most expensive project ever
In today's paper, we're doing an overview on what plans Guilford County commissioners are making to build the $115 million jail, which is the most expensive single project that the county has undertaken.
On Tuesday, the jail construction committee voted 3-1 to recommend that the county use a construction manager at-risk method to build the jail. Commissioner Steve Arnold voted against it because he was happy with the plan they already had.
In short, the recommendation is to hire contracting companty that will not build the jail themsleves, but use its contacts and expertise to pick and coordinate subcontractors who will build the jail. In many cases, if the constriction manager at-risk can use that flexibility to choose better contractors rather than the lowest bidder.
In the old way, the county just goes with the lowest bidder.
So here's some of what didn't make it into the paper:
Commissioner Paul Gibson, chairman of the jail advisory committee:
"The (construction manager at-risk) makes more sense as far as being our person to manage the construction of that jail … you get the best person and make a decision and move on."
Gibson said that the plans were being drawn for the jail long before the May bond referendum because commissioners knew that the jail was going to be built anyway. On Tuesday he said that the board even had enough support to pass a set of higher-interest bonds if the referendum failed.
"We wanted to be ahead of the curve on this and we hired an architect to start drawing these plans," Gibson said.
Arnold, who voted against the idea of the construction manager at-risk, reasoned that because those plans were already being drawn, the county should stay on track with the design build method.
"We have to make sure that those dollars get spent wisely, and we need to pick a process that allows us to do that," he said, "and thus far, we’re going to the typical, tried-and-true way, and we’ll have the drawings and put them out to bid."
On Thursday, Arnold seemed to believe that the process is out of his hands. He said that a little confrontation can be good on a project, which supporters of the construction manager at-risk say is minimized.
"You need a little bit of animosity, because we all have different goals," he said, "And a general contractor will try to build something like the Mayberry jail for $115 million."
Comments (5)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Gerald:
I hate to be the guy crashing the "new jailhouse party" but I have some serious reservations about the proposed construction costs for the new jail.
FYI, the frugal folks in Des Moines, Iowa are completing the construction of a new jail for Polk County this year that has 1,500 beds. The cost? $68 million.
Yet, good old Guilford County has allocated a price tag of $114 million for a new jail that will have only 1,000 beds.
It's simply amazing what can be done to save taxpayers some money when local government officials are worried about raising property taxes.
Apparently, the county commissioners in Lincoln, Nebraska were impressed with the low construction costs of the Polk County, Iowa jail project.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported on 1/18/08: “Commissioners are making plans to visit the Polk County, Iowa, jail to see how officials there have managed to build a 1,500-bed jail for $68 million. That project is due for completion later this year.”
Guilford County Jail; 1,000 beds: $114 million
Polk County Jail; 1,500 beds: $68 million
Humm...I think that we should pay for some airfare and send our commissioners on a little trip to Des Moines. But, I doubt there would be much interest in such a journey. Guilford County has money to burn on this project. After all, raising property taxes in Guilford County has become a time-honored tradition.
Posted on July 10, 2008 10:15 PM
Be a Good Steward of the Bond Money said:
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!
Posted on July 12, 2008 5:25 PM
The voters were split almost down the middle about the jail bond. Almost half the voters were against it. I expect that a significant number of the "yes" voters would have voted against the bond if they were aware of:
Guilford County Jail; 1,000 beds: $114 million
Polk County Jail; 1,500 beds: $68 million
Posted on July 13, 2008 1:46 AM
If you're interested in seeing what $68 million can do in Des Moines, cut and paste the following and check it out:
http://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/Sheriff/Pages/newJail.aspx
After examining that big, new 1,500-bed jail that is under construction in Polk County, Iowa, ask yourself this question: Why does it cost $114 million for the construction of a 1,000-bed jail in Guilford County?
Posted on July 14, 2008 12:26 AM
Steward -
You raise some points that have also come up in the jail committee meetings. Re: using local contractors, several of the people with understanding of the project's scope have said that there may not be any in-town contractors that could handle the job, but that there are contractors within the state that could do the work. Now, to the issue of subcontractors for things such as plumbing and electric, there are some local businesses that could pick up those contracts.
Also, if an outside contractor does get the bid, then they could hire local laborers and subcontractors.
One large difference between the design-build and CM at-risk methods is that while the design-build hands things off to a contactor (which would then potentially hire local laborers), the CM at-risk allows the option to use local/minority subcontractors.
Posted on July 15, 2008 9:19 AM