Fort Worth Project Substantially Under Estimate

Today the Fort Worth Press indicated construction costs are down on current projects:

Stakes marked the ground March 3 for the pending Will Rogers parking garage in Fort Worth and some city officials couldn’t help but think they got a steal of a deal on the project, which locked in a winning bid of nearly $4.5 million less than engineering estimates drawn up last fall.

A steal or not, engineers for the Western Heritage Parking Garage at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum estimated the project would cost about $21 million. But with a winning bid of $16.5 million, the garage is just the latest example of public projects saving a bundle as construction prices drop. W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. will be building the garage.

“Those estimates were based on a garage that was done last year before things really turned in the real estate industry, but there was concern that [$21 million] wouldn’t be enough,” said Randle Harwood, program management office director for the city of Fort Worth. “This is about a 25 percent savings for us and that’s a big difference that can make a big difference. And other bids weren’t far off – the next one was $17 million – and when bidders are close like that, it’s the right price, which is great for us because this will allow us to stretch those dollars allocated to get more roads and better buildings.”

Harwood said the costs of construction products such as steel and asphalt have gone down because of a combination of lower diesel prices and the global economic slowdown that has put many commercial projects on hold, which has increased competition among contractors.

For entities such as the city of Fort Worth, this means a trip back to the drawing board. “As we move forward we’ll continue to see this impact from the pressure on bidding and it’s forcing us to go back and re-look at all of our cost estimates,” Harwood said.

For entire article go to www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=9710

Fort Worth Business Press
BY ALESHIA HOWE
March 09, 2009