THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 6, 1995 TAG: 9504060453
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Advertising again for a builder to erect a high school in Barco paid off Wednesday for Currituck County officials.
The low construction bid for the project - the most expensive county building ever - came in at $13.9 million, about $1.2 million less than the last low offer in December.
Bids were unsealed Wednesday afternoon and duly recorded by about 25 county officials and construction company representatives in the Knapp Junior High School media center.
``The taxpayers ought to smile,'' said John Barnes, a member of the Currituck County Board of Education. ``We're going to save them a lot of money.''
Part of the savings for the project, to be built with voter-approved school construction bonds, came from a revised set of plans that the newest offers were based upon.
Schools officials were shocked last year when bids came in millions of dollars more than expected. They worked to reduce costs by eliminating some features and substituting less costly materials for others.
The Board of Education decided to re-bid the project after general contractor J.H. Hudson Construction Company of Greenville was let go by its parent company.
County officials and a school facility review committee had hoped to receive bids of around $13.9 million. The contract, led by general contractor Trafalgar House of Morrisville, N.C., was for $13,893,614.
Trafalgar House submitted a bid of about $9.8 million. Other low bidders were Baker & Company of Norfolk, which offered $1.9 million for mechanical work. Virginia Beach's ZBZ & Associates Inc. bid $607,000 for plumbing, and Pitt Electric of Greenville tendered a $1.49 million offer for electrical work.
``I feel, at this point, pretty good - much better than the last time,'' School Board member Garry Owens said after the session.
All of the contractors, including Trafalgar House, said the new high school could be built in about 15 months. That should enable school doors to open by the September 1996 target date.
Mike Ross, the chief architect for the project, will verify all figures and make recommendations to the School Board in a couple of days, Schools Superintendent W.R. ``Ronnie'' Capps said. by CNB