CHS bids come in well under budget

“Yes sir, I do,” McCoy said. “If we had started when we wanted to, we probably wouldn’t have gotten these type of numbers. Everything worked out for the best.”

The total of the 32 apparent low bids was $14.6 million — with an eight-percent contingency — or $99.40 per square foot.”
“I was hoping to get this under $17 million. Adding the auxiliary gym (almost completed) would have put us at $18.5 million, but this is incredible,” McCoy said the day after the bids were opened.

The system benefited from a number of “hungry” subcontractors trying to ride out the recession, but also from lower materials prices.

“The biggest surprise for me was the fact that the price for steel came in $1 million under the projected cost,” McCoy said.

The bids for steel were among the first to be opened at Charles Black Construction Co.’s Gainesville office.

“Right off the bat, we were $1 million under the budget. We knew then something good was possible,” McCoy said.

Attending the bid opening with McCoy were Joy Tolbert, assistant superintendent; Anne Stokey, bookkeeper; and board of education member Rodney Gary.

“This is by far the largest turnout we’ve ever had for a bid opening,” commented Rod Nix, the project manager for Charles Black Construction.

What the under-budget total means is that the system will have the money left over to better equip the new school.

“We feel like we’ll be able to equip the school with everything we wanted to,” McCoy said. “We’ll have new furniture instead of old. It’s exciting.”