The Hamilton County Commission on Wednesday approved a payment of nearly $500,000 to cover additional construction costs of the recently opened East Ridge Elementary School, part of nearly $2 million in contract overruns in less than a year.
Since December 2009, commissioners have approved nine construction contract increases totaling $1.8 million, county records show.
The extra $467,698 commissioners paid EMJ Corp. on Wednesday for East Ridge Elementary went to cover costs of "bad soil" found during the project, commissioners said.
Gary Waters, Hamilton County Schools assistant superintendent for auxiliary services, said that, with the additional money, the total price for East Ridge Elementary is $15.3 million.
Waters said the county didn't foresee the increase, though Commission Chairman Fred Skillern said increases for construction are common.
"If we're building, we're approving them," Skillern said. "Generally speaking in the school system contracts, you can anticipate 6 or 7 percent increase of the original bid price, especially when you're building on reclaimed property, especially when you go out on a field [where] there's nothing been there before. The odds are the ground hasn't been disturbed."
The contract increases came about because of unanticipated building conditions, records show. In a typical example, in December 2009 the county gave $356,160 more to Steve Williams Construction for infrastructure improvements for Gestamp, a Volkswagen supplier. The extra payment brought the total cost to $1.2 million.
Records show that the extra money was needed to take care of problems with the site that cropped up after construction started.
"The request for change order is due to unforeseen undercut and replacement of unsuitable material on site," the Gestamp project engineer wrote.
In all cases, Skillern said, the engineers and architects bring the requested change orders to commissioners for approval. He said trying to engineer a project to anticipate site conditions would be more expensive than approving change orders after a project has started.
Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey said the county is unable to estimate how much site conditions will drive up the cost of a project.
Commissioner Jim Coppinger, the commission's Finance Committee chairman, said the county does set aside extra money to cover potential change orders on some projects.
"It's not that any of us like it," Coppinger said. "It's just something that has to be dealt with."
In other business Wednesday, commissioners approved an agreement with the Hamilton County Railroad Authority for $6.6 million worth of railroad improvements at the new Volkswagen auto assembly plant at Enterprise South industrial park.
County Administrator of Finance Louis Wright said $2.2 million would come from the $20 million set aside by the county for incentives to entice Volkswagen to build in Chattanooga. He said $2.2 million would come from CSX railroad and $2.2 million from the state.
Construction contract increases approved by Hamilton County Commission
Date: Dec. 2, 2009
Increase: $356,160
New contract price: $1.2 million
Contractor: Steve Williams Construction
Project: Gestamp infrastructure improvements
Date: April 7, 2010
Increase: $150,000
New contract price: $1.3 million
Contractor: Kay & Kay Contracting
Project: Bridge replacement over Bonny Oaks Drive
Date: June 2, 2010
Increase: $118,135
New contract price: $1.19 million
Contractor: Bradanna Inc.
Project: Sheriff annex expansion
Date: June 16, 2010
Increase: $74,566
New contract price: $22.28 million
Contractor: Sain Construction Company
Project: New Hixson Middle School
Date: June 16, 2010
Increase: $265,366
New contract price: $42.25 million
Contractor: Rentenbach Constructors Inc.
Project: New East Hamilton School
Date: July 21, 2010
Increase: $196,500
New contract price: $2.95 million
Contractor: East Tennessee Grading
Project: Enterprise South Industrial Park railroad support yard
Date: Aug. 4, 2010
Increase: $60,028
New contract price: $1.43 million
Contractor: Kay & Kay contracting
Project: Bridge replacement over Bonny Oaks Drive
Date: Sept. 1, 2010
Increase: $144,967
New contract price: $2.75 million
Contractor: Construction Consultants
Project: Courthouse renovations
Date: Oct. 20,2010
Increase: $467,698
New contract price: $15.3 million
Contractor: EMJ Corp.
Project: New East Ridge Elementary School
Total increases: $1.8 million
Source: Hamilton County government