By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays school board heard a report on the progress of the bond issues projects at its meeting Monday.
Preston Moore of Nabholz Construction, which is the district's construction manager at risk, discussed his company's role in bidding and managing subcontractors and vendors on the project.
The designs for the new high school, as well as the renovation projects for the current high school, middle school, Roosevelt and O'Loughlin have not been completed.
DLR, the district's architect, is meeting regularly with district staff to define schematics. Superintendent Ron Wilson said district staff members are having several discussions a day with the architects as the designs progress.
Moore said schematics will give the district a better idea of what the buildings will look like but are not the drawings from which contractors build.
As the designs are finalized for the project, Nabholz will send specifications to the local vendors and contractors and come back with a guaranteed price.
It's Nabholz's responsibility as the construction manager at risk to manage the project's budget and stay within that guaranteed price for both individual building work and the project as a whole.
Moore said local contractors have expressed excitement about the project. Local contractors will be given invitations to a summit to get the first look at the specifications for the projects.
Nabholz will write a contractor manager's manual to clarify the specifications of the bids, and they will work to further ensure that no work is duplicated in the bidding process.
Once the bids are opened, Nabholz will bring a list of preferred contractors back to the school district. This is a combination of both the low bidders and those that best meet the full specifications of the projects, Moore said.
Because multiple buildings are involved in the larger bond project, Nabholz will be bidding the projects in phases. Nabholz will come back to the district with regular reports on the budget as the projects reach design milestones, Moore said.
Moore said no final budgets have been determined at this time, but he estimates his company will be ready to start releasing numbers by late October or early November.