The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – Waitsburg School Board opened bids for the 2017 Bond Project on March 6 and received a pleasant surprise. The project, which includes work on all three district buildings and a new field house at the athletic field, was awarded to DGR Grant Construction, which came in well under the projected cost.

Besides DGR, the district received competitive bids from Wellens Farwell Construction and Total Site Services. Base bids ranged from $2,169,000 from DGR to $2,383,897 from Wellens Farwell.

“Traditionally, it is considered a very competitive bid result when the spread is anything less than ten percent. The result of three very close bids is an indication of the lowest fair market value for this work,” said Design West Architect Ned Warnick, in a letter to the District.

DGC was also the lowest combination for bid alternates, which include HVAC updates to the high school auditorium, masonry on the base of the field house, HVAC upgrades on the high school lower level, and HVAC upgrades to Preston Hall.

Design West recommended acceptance of the base bid and all alternates at a total cost of $2,829,000. With sales tax added, the cost to the district will be $3,060,978, which is $432,335 under previous projections.

“We have worked with DGR in the past and had favorable results. They have done a number of public projects in our region over the past several years and are well suited to this type of work,” Warnick said in his letter.

Board members, who unanimously approved notifying DGR of bid acceptance, were pleased that the company will used local subcontractors, including Alden Plumbing, Total Energy Management and Walla Walla Electric.

Work on the project is expected to begin later this month. A link to the project schedule can be found on the school district website, at waitsburgsd.org.