Posted:12/21/2010 07:10:21 PM PST
GRAND TERRACE - Construction on Grand Terrace High School could be complete as early as next December if the school district pays for overtime and other catch-up measures.
However, the school will likely not open until the 2012-2013 academic year, according to the company responsible for building the school.
Representatives of Vanir Construction Management presented three construction schedules at a special school board meeting Thursday. The school board will choose one of those options Jan. 13, after its facilities committee reviews the options and their price.
Completion dates ranged from Dec. 20, 2011 to April 30, 2012 depending on how hard - and therefore how expensively - contractors push and when additional amenities such as the swimming pool are added.
Furnishing and testing will push the first day of class back about four months from the time construction ends, according to Darryl Taylor, director of facilities, planning and construction for the Colton Joint Unified School District.
Several members of the public and school board members said they had lost confidence in the company and thought it should pay at least a portion of the extra expense.
"I'm really anxious to hear what our attorneys have to say (and) if we as a board added anything (to contractually demand payment) in case the time line wasn't met," said Pilar Tabera, a newly elected member.
DeVries said unexpectedly heavy rains, employment problems and discoveries while digging knocked construction behind schedule in the spring, but he did not want to announce the company had "given up" until he was sure time could not be recovered.
Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_16915312#ixzz18q2cERIN
Gramps says:
A good contractor should know and plan for delay caused to weather. Our weather last year was not outstandingly wet. Nor is the rain we are getting now. We have had in our history winters where we had 40 days of rain back to back. Unusual but possible and should have been calculated into the contract bid and time line requirements.
Both the contractor and the CJUSD failed in writing a good contract if there are not such conditions as cause for time line slips and who is responsible for making up the slippage, and so forth. The City of Grand Terrace can learn from this and make sure not to repeat the same kind of contractual folly as we are seeing regarding the High School. Let's hope both the new city council and the new school board will demand better contracts from the staff.
Paying overtime to be on schedule is usually the cost of doing business as a contractor and the incentive is to not have to pay penalties for not meeting a stipulated completion date. Early completions to contract may even stipulate a bonus for early completion after final inspection is finished. These protections should be included in all CJUSD Contracts and City Contracts.
