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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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It worked: New bids under $73K
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · July 18, 2012
Breaking a sidewalk-and-street project into three parts helped cut $24,000 from the first round of bids and get it under budget.
And after a closer look at the bids, the connection between Orange Street and West Branch Middle School will move forward, with the City of West Branch hoping it will get finished before the start of school.
Mayor Don Kessler opened the sealed bids 2 p.m. Friday and the lowest bidders added up to just under $61,000 — $12,000 less than budget — $73,000 — and about $24,000 less than the lowest bid — $85,000 — submitted at the June 25 meeting.
“We’re doing this for the school and trying to do it as cheaply as we can with the best work,” Kessler said. “We don’t want to use the whole sidewalk budget for one project.”
Six companies bid on the project, two for each portion — asphalt, excavation and concrete.
The lowest bidders were Hansen Asphalt of Iowa City with just over $26,000 for the asphalt, Big Timber Excavation and Grading with just under $13,500 for the excavation work, and All American Concrete of West Liberty with just under $21,000 for the concrete work.
Big Timber is owned by City Council member Mark Worrell. His bid was less than half of Lynch’s Excavation’s $27,500. Public Works Director Matt Goodale said one reason was because Lynch’s bid included costs for purchasing materials. That was unnecessary as the city is purchasing the materials in an attempt to save money. After those figures were removed, though, Big Timber’s bid was still lower.
On the concrete, the two bidders were, on the total, only $8 apart. Complete Property Maintenance of North Liberty was the lower bid, but a closer look at the square-yard cost showed All American the lower bid. All American’s bid included an additional six square yards of concrete needed for the “approach” — the ramp from Orange Street to where the flat street begins.
Goodale said that looking at the two companies’ unit price on concrete showed All American more than $50 less.
The city will also haul away the broken concrete from the existing road, which runs just east of the Orange Street water tower. Goodale thinks that will save $2,000 to $3,000.
The city council in a June 28 special meeting directed the city to call the winning contractors immediately if the total bids came under $73,000, which Goodale did Friday. At that same meeting, the council rejected all of the first-round bids, which were for all three parts of the project.
“If these bids were close to (the first round bids) we wouldn’t have done it,” Kessler said. “We couldn’t have done it.”
The mayor said that, “hopefully, we can get this done before school.” |
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