Monday, April 15, 2019

April 15 Update

The Design Committee met last Thursday and reviewed two possible designs as well as discussing additional options to augment or depart from those designs. (For further discussion of those designs, see my previous blog post.) After some discussion of costs, it was clear that Option 6 was the only viable design that could be constructed within our budget. Option 6 will still be a tough squeeze for our available resources. We're awaiting firmer cost estimates that should be coming by the end of the month.

Here's why:
OSPI average construction costs in Washington State are: $368/sf for new construction; $246/sf for renovation. Some areas can be renovated less-expensively and we estimate these areas could be done for about $124/sf. In option 2, we would only have $75/sf for these less-expensive areas. All of these figures are construction costs only. They do not include the cost of architects, project manager, consultants, permits, or sales tax. These are called "soft costs". They are required for construction but don't show up in the building itself. These costs are estimated to be 40% of the total cost of the project. If you do the math, to build a 68,000 sf building would cost 68,000 x ($368 x 1.4) or $35 million. We don't have that much money and our educational specifications call for an additional 8-9,000 sf.

By saving the existing shops, gym and the footprint of the commons and music room and building a little over 31,000 sf, we believe we can achieve our goal of a new THS and meet our educational specifications within our budget of $26 million.

Our architects are developing the schematic design and getting firmer cost estimates. They plan to share this for the design committee's approval on April 25. We're working hard to meet this mark so that our architects have enough time to prepare all of the design and construction documents needed to go out to bid and to avoid costly change orders. Hastily-done plans create costly problems down the road.

By getting our schematic design approved this month, we'll continue to be on track to have our plans out in September. If we miss that mark, it will be the following July before we'll be able to go out to bid and we will lose an estimated 7% to inflation costs (about $1+ million)

Consultant reports continue to come in. We've gotten "green lights" from traffic and archeological/historical (no delays or additional costs). We're continuing to test the structure for composition so we know what to expect with renovation. Hazardous materials review, geotechnical and sensitive lands reviews are nearly done as is our site survey. All of those appear to be unremarkable in findings and we're hopeful for no delays or additional costs.

The committee voted on some interior finish options for carpet, tiles and paint. You can see how they voted here. Look for "Materials Voting" 1-6. While you're there, look at the additional drawings of option 6. They include a conceptual view of what the exterior of the school might look like with the included floor plan.

As the process continues, the architects will work with smaller groups to polish their designs and address cost concerns. If you'd like to participate in the work of the committee, you're invited to attend on April 25 at 6 p.m.