Learning Curve

K-12 projects face higher requirements, tighter budgets

As the school year nears its end, construction crews are gearing up for an intense summer of executing fast-tracked renovations and completing entirely new schools in time for fall.

On top of those demands, clients and project teams in Maryland’s K-12 market are grappling with other growing challenges. Tight budgets, high construction costs and long planning timelines mean teams need to expand their skills in value engineering, supply chain management and efficient (even inventive) design. At the same time, some projects require teams to meet heightened sustainability levels or deliver uncommon programming space.

Next level pre-con

“A problem we are seeing is a lot of budgets were developed years ago and prices have skyrocketed,” said Jonathan Goetz, President of Oak Contracting. “On some projects, we are faced with the need to cut $10 million or $20 million out of a $130 million project. That’s not a question of changing the floor materials. That means cutting programming, cutting square footage.”

That budget crunch is changing the nature of preconstruction work for Oak and other contractors in the K-12 market.

Early in the design process, Oak professionals explore big and novel changes, Goetz said. Those include eliminating shell space that is often included in new schools to accommodate future growth and searching for existing facilities in the community that could house some school functions. Oak also involves subcontractors in early discussions to identify cost-saving options.

“I tell my folks that when you go into a pre-construction meeting, there are no bad questions because we’re facing so many issues now that we haven’t faced before. You have to really think outside the box,” Goetz said.

Similarly, J. Vinton Schafer Construction’s team explores a broad range of project options during the design phase.

“We look at the budgets, schedules and constructability issues, and help find the better route,” said Wayne Gutermuth, Jr., Project Executive at J. Vinton Schafer.  “Does the budget and timeframe accommodate a new build or is it better to renovate a school? Does the existing school have the space, ceiling heights and structure that could meet today’s standards for teaching environments and sustainable buildings?”

For example, the structure of the1950s Homestead Wakefield Elementary School in Harford County “really wasn’t conducive to today’s teaching environments,” so school officials opted to replace it, he said.

The path to creating a viable plan for a new school or renovation/addition can generate a long progression of design changes and opportunities to save money or overspend.

“We’re part of every design meeting so we are seeing the constant iterations of the documents,” said Jonathan Dickinson, Senior Project Executive at Gilbane Building Company. “We provide continuous tracking estimates so everyone can see a running total for the job. You don’t want to go six months and suddenly discover you’ve blown the budget out of the water.”

Construction and renovation plans, Gutermuth added, must address one of the biggest challenges currently facing school systems. “They don’t have the ability to do maintenance. They just don’t have the staff or the budget to maintain their buildings.”

Given schools’ long project timelines, teams also have to exercise added vigilance in anticipating and managing materials and equipment costs, he said. “The whole industry, post-pandemic, has had to come up with new strategies on how to mitigate these risks.”

Extraordinary schools

Amid all of those challenges, teams are delivering modern, sustainable and even extraordinary school facilities.

Oak Contracting is currently building two highly specialized schools.

The 178,000-square-foot Center of Applied Technology – North for Anne Arundel County Public Schools will include modern training facilities for a wide range of trades, including carpentry, electrical, masonry, plumbing, HVAC, diesel and auto repair, aviation, robotics, pre-med, cosmetology and culinary arts.

The William S. Schmidt Outdoor Education Center for Prince George’s County Public Schools is a $55 million project in Brandywine. The complex will include student sleeping cabins, a camp center, a 275-seat dining hall, and outdoor classrooms and pavilion.

“It’s a different kind of construction with more timber-framed construction, a different kind of wood paneling called SIPS paneling and a lot of infrastructure,” Goetz said. “The site is so expansive that we are running fiber optic cable for half a mile to get Internet to the cabins.”

J. Vinton Schafer’s current K-12 projects include a 63,671-square-foot expansion of Dundalk High School/Sollers Point Technical High School. The project includes two separate building additions: a three-story classroom pod and a one-story performing arts wing.

Elsewhere in Baltimore County, Gilbane is constructing the new Scotts Branch Elementary School which will include an extra-large gymnasium, kitchen and activity room to accommodate after-school and other activities by community organizations.

 In Montgomery County, Gilbane is building the new JoAnn Leleck Elementary School, which will include an expanded gym, media center, and outdoor learning area. Like a growing number of schools in Maryland, it is also being built to much higher sustainability standards, Dickinson said.

“Recently, we are seeing a trend to go all electric with school buildings,” he said. “Maryland requires LEED Silver in new schools so that includes light-harvesting in classrooms, low-flow fixtures in washrooms. Montgomery County is doing more geothermal at schools and using white TPO roofing to reduce heat island effect. On the materials side, we are seeing requirements to buy materials within a 500-mile radius. There are also requirements to show where your demo and construction debris goes, and to make sure it is separated and recycled.”

Featured in this article: Oak Contracting, J. Vinton Schafer Construction, Gilbane Building Company