Facility Update

October 5, 2006

 

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Touring other Facilities

After a very successful Bond Sale, we must now get down to the business of construction (at least the planning phase of construction).  This week, Mr. Newberry and a group of faculty and staff from Dillman Elementary traveled to Littlefield ISD and Frenship ISD to tour their Elementary classrooms, cafeteria, and kitchen facilities.  Don Wood, Sam Whalin, Robin Thacker, and I went with them.  We were all gathering information and ideas to give to the architects next week about what we need in the new classrooms, kitchen, and cafeteria at Dillman Elementary.   

 

MWM Architects will be here October 12 and October 19 to get input from Dillman faculty and staff about the needs at Dillman.  The architects will then take the input from the Dillman staff back with them as they design the new addition.  In the very near future, the architects will ask the faculty and staff at Watson Jr. High the same kinds of questions.

 

Pre-Proposal Meeting

On Tuesday of this week, we had a Pre-Proposal Meeting.  It was a great meeting with prospective contractors who are interested in submitting proposals to be the Construction Manager at Risk (Contractor) for our project.  We had some of the largest and probably the best contractors in the Amarillo/Lubbock area here in Muleshoe Tuesday looking at our project.  They all have good experience in school construction and with the “Construction Manager at Risk” process; and they are large enough to handle a job this size. 

 

You may have seen us touring all the campuses Tuesday so they could get a better idea of the scope of the work involved.  They asked some good questions, and I think we have a very good chance to get some excellent proposals for Construction Manager at Risk.  

 

Date to Open Proposals

We will open Proposals for Construction Manager at Risk at 4:00 p.m. on October 12 in our Board Room.  We will spend a week or so evaluating the proposals and narrowing down the contractors.  We will check references and rank the contractors.  The Board and administrators will then interview the finalists on October 23.  We hope to select and hire a Construction Manager at Risk around the first of November.

 

Remember, they are not giving us a price for the actual construction job at Dillman Elementary and Watson Jr. High.  They are going to give us a “Pre-Construction Fee” to help the architect design the buildings (they will waive this fee if they are chosen later to actually build the buildings).  They will also give us a “Construction Fee” and “General Conditions Fee” for their profit and overhead for managing the actual construction.  That way, if things go as planned and we like what they have done, we will have that done and won't have to renegotiate their contract later for that part.  We WILL have to get bids or proposals from sub-contractors at some point to actually build the buildings.  These bids will be from electricians, plumbers, heating and air conditioning, steel, foundation, carpenters, roofers, drywall, painters, etc., etc., etc.  We will get bids from these trades sometime late spring so we can start work at Dillman by the first of June.

 

This is exciting…but remember—we have a long way to go.  Hiring a Construction Manager at Risk is a very important step in our project, but it is only one step.  There are a lot of steps to take.  So be patient.  We will get there.  We just have to take one step at a time until it is all complete. 

 

If you have any questions about the process, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

 

Gene Sheets