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Lee keeps close eye on buildingHard line taken in school construction
By Dave Breitenstein
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Originally posted on May 01, 2006
Andrew West/news-press.com
Jose Alejandro sands drywall in a new addition at Colonial Elementary School on Friday. The contractor for this project is building with material that consists of steel frame with foam insulated panels, a type of construction the school district hasn't used before.
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The smell of new paint has vanished.
Floor tiles show a few scuff marks.
Students aren't getting lost on campus anymore.
The novelty of eight new Lee County schools is wearing off — capping the most ambitious one-year building plan in the school system's history — as district leaders close out $150 million worth of contracts on these buildings.
But before they pay off the bills, officials again are running through a checklist of what needs to be completed to their satisfaction.
An independent construction auditor has begun to inspect some of the new schools. All in all, officials are pleased with what they're seeing. None of the schools has major flaws such as leaky roofs or faulty equipment, but the biggest plus might be the cost.
"They came in under our estimates," said Bill Moore, executive director for school support services.
The News-Press has reviewed thousands of construction documents from the eight schools, finding everything from permits to remove gopher tortoises and wetlands preservation requirements to types of telephone wires and windows. Documents even show how high off the bathroom floor toilet-paper dispensers must be installed.
During this round of school construction, district staff took a hard-line stance when subcontractors pieced together new buildings. They toured job sites weekly with contractors and architects, demanding high-quality workmanship and top-of-the-line materials. They adopted a no-excuses platform.
"If we agree to pay X number of dollars for a product, and if we don't get that product, we're not paying them," said Bill Moore, executive director for school support services. "We're dealing with taxpayer money here."
District staff members created a spraying device, for example, that hung above windows and doors, pumping water against the building to check for leaks. The district also purchased handheld infrared devices to gauge whether any spots in the roof or walls were prone to leaking. Mold eradication and subsequent indoor air quality problems typically caused by leaks have cost Lee County big bucks, estimated at more than $3 million for the 2006-07 school year.
The eight construction contracts gave builders less than 17 months from start to finish. Subtract several weeks lost from Hurricane Charley in August 2004, and the time frame grew even shorter.
"We got a lot done in a short amount of time," said Kraft Construction Vice President Bob Koenig, whose firm built Ida S. Baker High in Cape Coral in 15 months. "The school district got slammed with growth, but they need to allow a little more time."
Only one of the eight — Hector A. Cafferata Jr. Elementary in Cape Coral — didn't open in August. Personnel and workmanship issues with California-based ModTech caused a five-month delay, so children attended school in portable classrooms. That firm paid fines in excess of $100,000.
Skyrocketing concrete, steel and fuel prices could pose budget problems for future school construction projects, which are estimated at 30 percent higher than the latest round of new schools. For example, Harns Marsh Elementary in Lehigh Acres, which will open this fall, will cost $24 million, a $7.4 million increase from a new school built from similar blueprints that opened last August.
Lee schools are chipping away at the hefty price tags by taking advantage of their tax-exempt status. They're buying materials directly from suppliers instead of having contractors make the purchase.
"It's a savings mechanism for school districts," said contractor Owen-Ames-Kimball President Steve Shimp.
Chopping off Florida's 6 percent sales tax from $6.7 million worth of material purchases at OAK's South Fort Myers High saved $402,000 in sales tax.
A great deal of attention went into this year's schools because they will be the schools of Lee's future. The district adopted a prototypical architectural design for elementary, middle and high schools, meaning all future schools essentially will look and feel the same, minus modifications to the color scheme and building facade.
Moore said school officials, general contractors and architects continually tweaked designs and construction materials as they uncovered potential problems or plans that just wouldn't work. He estimates they made hundreds of changes.
After schools opened, however, crews weren't done making adjustments. Moore said the high school design called for a wall dividing a sink from the classroom so students wouldn't get splashed, but that meant teachers couldn't supervise students on the other side of the partition. The wall has since been removed.
Tommy O'Connell, principal of the new South Fort Myers High, agreed some classroom configurations weren't ideal, and the parking lot's design caused some traffic problems at the start of school in August.
Moore estimates architectural renderings have been tweaked hundreds of times, but that was expected.
"We knew that was going to occur because we were starting from a brand-new design," Moore said. "By the time we get to the third or fourth generation, there won't be much that needs to be changed."
East Lee County High will open in August 2007 and will be the last of the so-called comprehensive high schools that have a full slate of both academic and vocational offerings. A yet-to-be-named Cape Coral high school, now dubbed "HHH," will open in 2008 with a scaled-down academic program and smaller auditorium.
"Ida Baker and South were the guinea pigs, and East Lee County should go much better."
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