Last Monday night, the San Angelo Independent School District Board of Trustees received their first of many bond construction updates. Parkhill Architecture representatives R.J. Lopez and Alan Wolf laid out the proposed timeline for surveys, plans and construction.
Bond Construction Four Year Plan
Initial projections are for all aspects of the proposed projects to be completed sometime in 2029.
The majority of the work that will take place during the rest of 2025 will be a lot of planning and design. The District will also being to address the critical safety and capital renewal improvements.
Planning for the Crockett Elementary renovations actually began in April because this was a renovation the District would have to do regardless of whether the bond passed. Construction on Crockett will hopefully begin in August.
The renovations to Crockett Elementary will be completed in 2026. The District will also be addressing the non-critical safety and capital renewal improvements.
The turf replacement and lighting at Lake View will be finished that year as well.
The renovations of Fannin and McGill Elementary will be completed in 2027.
Glenn Middle School is projected to be completed by 2028 and the demolition and construction at Central High School are expected to be finished in 2029.
Faster Construction Brings Less Risk
The timeline is exciting, but may seem ambitious. Lopez said, “There was some discussion about delaying some of the projects, and potentially waiting. But the longer you wait to start a project, and the the longer you wait to bid a project, the more risk for inflation and volatility in the market.”
In response to a question for Board Treasurer Bill Dendle, Parkhill said it had asked for updated qualifications from local architects and engineers to be involved in these projects. “They are excited and they are looking at the projects right now.” Lopez said.
“There’s many projects here that there is going to be a little bit for our smaller contractors, your smaller architecture firms, and your small engineers, your mid size engineers. So there is a lot for everybody.” Lopez explained.
Superintendent Dr. Christoper Moran, reiterated this point. “And Mr. President and Board, we made an intentional effort to do exactly what you are talking about. Because I think everybody recognizes that we can do this project but if we leave out our locals we are not doing ourselves a favor. So we are going to do all that we can to involve those qualified subcontractors, and people that can get involved and really support the effort.”
Construction Delivery Methods
Alan Wolf with Parkhill also presented different construction delivery methods options for these projects. The means the methods by which the District would engage contractors on the various projects.
The first is by the traditional method of competitive sealed proposals.
The second is called Construction Manager at Risk. This method brings in a construction manager in early to work with the architect and engineer on the design. They can consider early things like materials, phasing of the project, which parts of the project to start first.
The benefit is the contractor is involved in the actual design process, so you get the final price after bid. You can also get a guaranteed maximum price on the project. It provides flexibility to start the project with protection on final price.
Construction Manager at Risk is normally used on large, complicated projects of $25 Million or more. It also is good for mult-site construction project. The Competitive Sealed Bid is good for projects on one site with a well-defined scope. Both have full-time supervision by the contractor on site.
There are a wide variety of options available to manage the bond construction. The Board will have to consider which are most advantageous for which projects. Parkhill will be providing regular updates at future school board meetings. The next step will be surveying and soil testing for the projects and beginning planning.
