New contracts could lower cost of building La Entrada gym New contracts could lower cost of building La Entrada gym (October 27, 2004)

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

A decision to forego the use of a general contractor could cut as much as $500,000 from the price of building a new gymnasium at La Entrada Middle School in Menlo Park.

On October 17, the governing board of the Las Lomitas Elementary School District approved about $4.4 million for 17 separate subcontracts, with 10 more subcontracts worth about $500,000 to be bid on later, said district business manager De Modderman.

Subcontractors are the tradesmen and tradeswomen -- electricians, carpenters, plumbers -- who do the actual construction work.

The board recently rejected a more costly general contractor's bid, in part because hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for subcontractor oversight would have put the project over budget, said Bracken Richardson, the district's project manager.

With the general contractor out of the picture, the job of subcontractor oversight will be the task of the overall project manager -- Santa Clara-based Blach Construction Company -- for a "minimal" extra charge, said Mr. Richardson.

Although a wave of construction worldwide is driving up costs of materials such as structural steel, concrete and plywood, the reorganization of the contracts and some earlier cost-cutting measures are likely to bring the gym project in under budget, said Mr. Richardson.

The 12,000-square-foot gym -- which will include a physical education classroom, restrooms and teachers' offices -- should be completed in December 2005. It's a high-school sized gym that is large enough to allow several different kinds of activities at once, said Mr. Richardson.

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