PRESCOTT - A new water-main project that the city estimated would cost about $3.2 million likely will end up costing just more than half that, thanks to a competitive construction market.
Prescott's Airport Zone North and South Loop water-main improvement project attracted 23 bidders in July, with companies responding from as far away as California and Minnesota.
The amount of interest in the project obviously worked in the city's favor. All but one of the 23 bids came in at less than the $3,185,689 cost that the city's engineer had earlier estimated for the project.
The low bid came from Sellers & Sons, Inc., of Avondale, which bid about $1.9 million for the project. One other bid - from City Wide Contracting of Phoenix - also came in less than $2 million, while 19 others ranged from $2 million to $2.9 million, and two were for more than $3 million.
Noting that three of the losing bids were from local companies, Councilman Jim Lamerson quizzed city officials about whether the city could opt for anything other than the low bid, in the interest of stimulating the local economy.
Both Engineering Services Director Mark Nietupski and City Attorney Gary Kidd responded that city and state laws would not allow for favoring a local company.
"That would be illegal and unconstitutional," Kidd said.
The local bids came from: Johansen Construction, Inc. of Prescott Valley at $2,122,583 million; Fann Contacting of Prescott at $2,129,668; and LLM Earthmovers of Prescott at $2,381,157.
The project will involve installation of 16,547 feet of new 12-inch water line, as well as smaller amounts of eight- and six-inch mains, to serve the northeast-Prescott area surrounding the airport.
A city memo on the matter notes that the new water-main links would "upgrade service within the Airport Zone and further the Council's 2007 goal targeting the airport area as a top priority for proactive annexation and economic development."
The city originally budgeted about $4 million for the project. Meanwhile, it also received about $2.2 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus) money to help pay for the improvements.
The city memo notes that the federal money could go toward the design costs for the project, as well as for the construction.
The council will vote on awarding the contract at its Aug. 25 meeting.
Reader Comments
Posted: Sunday, August 23, 2009
Article comment by:
zeke
I think this is a good example of why Prescott needs to have competent people on staff. Missing an estimate by 50% is not impressive.
Posted: Saturday, August 22, 2009
Article comment by:
LOT'S OF GRAVY LOST
I agree with one thing. Just think how much GRAVY there would have been if APS hadn't bid the Side Road Project! I think the engineers estimate was $21-24 million ( granite Dells Development more than likely new this before the bid) and the bid was for $17 million. Granite Dells did everything they could to discourage bids from any other contractor than Fann Contracting due to the short bid time and the only other bidder than Fann was APS. Obviously APS isn't part of the good old boy system in Prescott. The upcoming election is a chance to get rid of the Good Old Boy network once and for all.
Posted: Friday, August 21, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
"I disagree...": thats what the whole 3/4 cent sales tax extention is about. The state gets most of gas tax revenue and little is left for Cities and Counties. The only way for most Cities and Counties to pay for street improvements is through sales tax. Thats why the County has a 1-cent (of which it is only putting 25-30% towards roads) and the City has a 3/4 cent- (which I believe 100% will go towards roads). Water and sewer are paid from your water bill.
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Gravy Train. Just remember that APS has only in the last couple of years stepped up and challenged Fann on the bigger Prescott jobs. This has made the bigger jobs more competitive...now if there was alot of gravy...it must have been more than three years ago!
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by:
I disagree with Mr.Copper Basin & Gravy Train
Dear Mr. Copper Basin & Gray Train. Before you call Fann Contracting & AP&S names, please put the following in perspective. When Copper Basin & Iron Springs Rd. were bid, these two contractors were the only bidders because everyone else was busy working, as the economy was good and why work 100 miles from Phx and home if you can get work in the valley. Today's economy is what brought these other contractors to Prescott to bid, not because they heard that Fann & APS were getting fat on Prescott work. Most contractors in the valley don't want to work up here because of the rock for one thing and why travel or pay for hotel rooms if you don't have to. Contractors as a whole do a good job and change orders are usually because there are not good records on existing underground utilities that were installed 30-50 years ago. If you made contractor's have to eat every delay that is caused by someone else, imperfect plans, utility delays, etc. you would see bids 5-10% higher than they normally are. Legitimate change orders are the only fair way of dealing with unforseen conditions without receiving higher initial bids to cover these issues. The low prices you are seeing right now will not last once the economy picks up ( hopefully and soon) and several of the contractors that bid below cost will not survive; therefore there could be a shortage of good contractors sometime in the future. One thing that I find interesting is just about every job bid this year involves water and sewer and very little street work. The last couple of years oil prices were high and the cost of re-paving streets was high, but now that oil prices are down and more stable, there doesn't appear to be any paving jobs...so this doesn't make much sense.
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
I kept up on all the articles on both these projects because I work in construction too. If you really understood construction or the challenges and surprises that come up, you wouldn't be so quick to judge. You can't possibly figure out every single issue or obstacle beforehand and if you tried then, nothing would ever get built. I've never worked on a project where the agency just gave in to every claim- they always argue about every penny. But at some point they also have to agree that the Contractor is due be paid for extra work that couldn't be foreseen. Thats the way it is in any state or city. You think Prescott is any different?
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by:
Stop the Gravy Train!
It's now apparent what I've suspected for a long time, that the few local contractors have had it their way for far too long. Competition is good for the tax payer. Rememer the Iron Springs contract? A $1million dollar change order by Fann for traffic control! Hardly a note of doubt from Ms. Maryann and Mr. Jim (public safety first guy). Did either of these two ask how many flagmen can be hired for a million.big ones? This was a $17 million project for 1 1/2 miles of road, sewer and utilities. Yes Mr. City Manager, I think that your staff should stop; 1. Over estimating projects, undoubtably an over reaction from City Council complaints of too many change orders. 2. Notify both Fann and APS that the gig is up. No more gravy train from your favorite "Home Town" admins.
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Vote yes for decent streets knows the deal. The construction at PHS came in under budget and that was budgeted a long time ago. Now is a good time to get stuff done and save some coin.
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by:
Did we forget about Copper Basin
Duh-- of course they came in low. They know they will make it up on the Change Orders. This is where the real money is at! Review the Copper Basin Project.
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Article comment by:
Vote yes for decent streets.
A good example why we should vote to approve the streets proposition on the primary ballot - to get more work done sooner at lower cost.
