Prep bid comes in under estimate

The low bid came in more than $400,000 below the estimate.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The cost of preparing the site for the new Mary Haddow Elementary School will cost far less than the Youngstown Board of Education had anticipated.
Engineering estimates put the cost of storm and sanitary sewer drains and other site improvements needed before construction of the building at $960,000.
That included $800,000 for site work and $160,000 to move a current storm sewer.
The school board awarded a $542,027 contract to Marucci & amp; Gaffney Excavating Inc. of Youngstown this week for the whole package, a savings of more than $400,000.
Only two companies bid on the project, and Marucci & amp; Gaffney submitted the lowest, said Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent of school business affairs.
Rudzik Excavating of Struthers bid $951,500 on the job.
DeNiro said he and the school district's architectural consultant met with Marucci & amp; Gaffney and confirmed that the company was satisfied with its bid figure despite its being so much lower than the project estimate.
Work on the job should begin today, he said.
The bid came in two sections: $467,030 to do the basic site work and $74,997 to move the storm sewer line.
DeNiro said the state will pick up 80 percent of the site work, but the school district has to pay the entire tab for the sewer line relocation.
Old and new
The site is adjacent to the current building on Oak Street Extension. The old building will remain in use until the new structure is completed in fall 2007.
Construction is expected to cost about $7.2 million and is part of a $202 million multiyear project to replace or renovate 15 school buildings.
Bids on cafeteria furniture for three other schools on the project list also came in below estimate.
The district had anticipated the cost to be $340,000 for the Chaney and East high schools and P. Ross Berry Middle School.
The board awarded a contract for all three to Continental Educational Environments of Columbus at a cost of $312,648.
Chaney cafeteria
The cafeteria at Chaney is expected to open within the next couple of months, but the furniture for East and Berry won't be needed for some time yet. Chaney is a renovation project, but East and Berry are new buildings, with East slated to be completed in the summer 2007 and Berry in the summer 2008.
The decision was made to bid all three buildings at one time to create a bigger bid package in hopes of getting a better price from vendors, he said.
Continental was the lowest of five bidders on the furniture.
gwin@vindy.com