Bids on materials for the new high schools are telling a story and those close to the projects are cautiously optimistic that the final cost of the schools won’t be anywhere near the $400 million being bandied about.

So far, the steel and concrete for Pilgrim, which the School Committee awarded to Manafort Brothers of Cumberland for $16.2 million is $718,000 less than budgeted. Manafort is also the low bidder at $18.8 million for site work at Pilgrim, coming in at $2.3 million less than what was budgeted.

Bids of elevators for the two schools are less than what was budgeted. Schindler Elevators and Escalators of Providence is the low bidder in each case. The Toll Gate elevator was budgeted at $505K and came in at $288.8k. A total of $375k was budgeted for the Pilgrim elevator and came in at $259k.

The only project to come in over budget was for the demolition of the former Drum Rock elementary school on the Toll Gate campus. The job was projected to cost $471k but came in at $90k more.

Collectively the bids thus far are $3.5 million less than what was projected.

Why?

It’s not because inferior materials have been substituted for what was originally planned as speculated in some social media posts, says David Testa, a member of the School Committee and chair of the School Building Committee.

“[The cost of] steel has always concerned me,” said Testa. He was pleasantly surprised. Steel for Pilgrim was budgeted at $9.1 million. The low bid was $8.4 million.

“The demand for steel is soft,” he said. This is US steel, too.

Chris Spiegel of LeftField Project Management, who is overseeing the school projects said last week what Warwick is seeing is not unique. At this time, he said, LeftField has been retained to manage more than $4 billion of school construction projects in the northeast. They are finding strong competition for jobs with construction companies anxious to nail down contracts in this unsettled time over tariffs, interest rates and markets.

At this time, Spiegel said about 30 percent of the Pilgrim project and 20 percent of Toll Gate have been bid. What he is seeing is strong subcontractor competition, with as many as nine contractors bidding on Warwick jobs.

He reasons contractors are anxious to get public jobs since “the private work is more risky.”

Testa is optimistic.

“The trend lines are favorable and continue to look favorable,” he said.

Will it be enough to bring the schools in at the $350 million approved by voters?

“If everything broke our way we’re getting pretty close to budget,” said Testa. But that’s a long shot and Testa thinks 3% to 4% over the $350 million is more realistic.

“LeftField is a very professional company. They’ve done an exceptional job. Everybody wants this project to succeed,” he said.  Nonetheless, he added, “we’re going to be over budget.”

In anticipation the $350 million won’t be enough, the Mayor and City Council are seeking General Assembly approval of a special election asking voters to approve an additional $50 million for the schools.  The House Finance Committee is scheduled to hear the bill this afternoon.  

If approved by the House and Senate, Mayor Frank Picozzi would like to see the election held this year. Should the question fail, the city would then have time to explore other options to completing the schools.

At a meeting last Thursday night at Pilgrim High School, Spiegel and Steve Gothberg, manager of school construction projects, reviewed the results of Pilgrim soil tests compiled from more than 40 borings on the site to detect contaminants as required by the Department of Environmental Management.  Levels of arsenic, which apparently is common in Rhode Island soils were detected and the building committee has allocated $2 million from contingency for remediation at Pilgrim and Toll Gate. A $2 million contingency for soil remediation was built into the budget. The contingency budget for the two schools is $145 million.

Should the DEM require soil remediation, Spiegel says the $2 million contingency is more than adequate.  

Testa said that the state’s allowable threshold for arsenic is so strict that if the schools were being built by Massachusetts standards, it wouldn’t be an issue.

Although not all phases of the projects will have been bid, the School Committee plans to go ahead with ground breakings at both schools set for June 9 and 10.