New High School One Step Closer to Reality

The High School Building Committee is able to check one more thing off its "to do" list.

The file subcontracting bids, which should make up slightly less than half of the total cost of the $82 million project, were unsealed Wednesday and reviewed by the building committee at its meeting Thursday night.

While an exact comparison to the original estimated costs was not available for Thursday's meeting, Peter Collins, senior associate with Heery International, the project management firm, and Lorraine Flanagan, senior associate with Symmes Maini and McKee, the designers of the project, were both pleased with the file subcontractor bids.

"We are on budget," said Collins.

Next up will be the unsealing of the general contracting bids, which will take place on Sept. 29. According to Collins and Flanagan, if all continues to go smoothly, contacts should be signed and actual work on the new high school should begin by mid-October, with a ground breaking ceremony to take place the last week of October.

"We're looking at the 26th, 27th or 28th of October at 10 a.m.," said Collins. "We're waiting to hear from the (Massachusetts School Building Authority) for which date works best for them."

The MSBA is committed to paying $44.2 million of the total cost of the new high school project. Voters approved funding the remaining cost in a ballot vote last spring.

The construction is expected to take close to two years and the new school is projected to be ready for occupancy in September 2012.

While members of the building committee had questions regarding the details of the bidding procedure, they were pleased, overall, with the progress being made.

"Everything is looking good right now," said committee Chairman Jamey Cutelis. "The next big date is the 29th when the general contractor bids are opened. We hope that they're favorable. With the current (economic) climate, we feel pretty good about it."

Now that the file subcontracting bids have been made public, general contracting bidders may use any of the qualified bids in each category as part of their overall bids. However, Flanagan said choice is generally very simple for the contractors.

"I've never known a general contractor not to take the lowest bid (in each category)," she said.

The file subcontracting bids will account for about 40 percent of the general contractor's overall bids. The other 60 percent will include the general contractor's own fees, combined with additional estimated subcontracting costs.

Low bidders and their bids in each file subcontracting category are as follows:

Acoustical Ceilings: K&K Acoustical Ceilings, $561,750

Electrical: Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc., $5,450,000

Interior Glazing: Prudential Door&Window, $66,476

Masonry: D'Agostino Associates Inc., $2,476,000

Painting: King Painting Inc., $359, 900

Resilient Floors: Capital Carpet & Flooring, $443,998

Water Damproofing Caulking: Chapman Waterproofing, $208,000

Metal Windows: R&R Window Contractors Inc., $1,840,000

Roofing and Flashing: Greenwood Industries Inc., $1,437,000

Plumbing: Grasseschi Plumbing & Heating Inc., $1,464,000

Miscellaneous Metals: V&G Ironworks Inc., $528,028

HVAC: N.B. Kenney Company Inc., $5,509,000

Elevators: Delta Beckwith, $181,970

Ceramic Tile: Bonomo Tile Company Inc., $990,400

A virtual tour of the new high school project can be found here.