The guaranteed maximum price of the Pulaski County Justice Center project is going up. During their joint session with the county council Monday, the county commissioners approved a change order raising the maximum price by more than $54,000.
Project liaison Nathan Origer said it’s to cover the cost of replacing the smaller lower roofs on either side of the second-floor mechanical room. “For reasons I’m not entirely sure of, in the conversations from my department and the maintenance department months ago to the architects, those did not get added into the original bid specs,” Origer explained. “So we had to add that.”
But he said that cost could be offset, since most of the insulation on the jail roof won’t have to be replaced and they expect to save about $20,000 on flooring costs. “In the very best case scenario, that additional $54,000 could actually come out to savings of $10,000 on the net,” Origer added.
Following Monday’s approval, Origer said that construction officials are hoping to start on the roofing work as soon as possible. “They had realized that the roof is going to be a time-consuming project, but it sounds like they’re getting a head start on it,” he said, “which I think we all like to hear because the sooner they start, the sooner they finish, and the sooner we stop the leaks into the jail blocks.”
Meanwhile, county officials reported on Facebook Thursday that crews “will be knocking a hole in the wall” just west of the main entrance. That will create a temporary entrance that will be used on and off during the course of the project while work takes place around the main entrance.
The commissioners also agreed Monday to hire Alt & Witzig Engineering for construction testing services. “So that’s checking the steel, the concrete . . . floor flatness, fireproofing, masonry, asphalt testing, all those things to keep an eye on Tonn & Blank and the subs that they have working under them on these various hard-surface parts of the project and fireproofing,” Origer explained.
He said the company’s estimate was the lowest of the three the county received, at around $30,000.
