The Bedford County Board of Education met in a regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 15, to discuss the design development budget for the new Cartwright Elementary School.   

Contractors from Bell Construction along with Bart Kline, from the architectural firm Kline-Swinney, gave a brief presentation of the cost based on 50% of the building drawings and the site drawings, which are 99% complete.  

“Part of our job is to do a health check as the design’s going on to make sure we have a budget that’s tracking and that there are no surprises,” explained Glenn Moreland, Bell’s director of preconstruction.  

Based on the two types of drawings, a rough estimate for the total cost to build this school is around $39.3 million. Of that number, $34.6 million will go to building process, while $4.7 million will go to site construction, which includes asphalt, flat concrete, parking lots, and landscape.   

Falling numbers 

This $4.7 million number is lower than the $6 million the school board and the contractors workshopped several months ago.   

This total number can go down to $38.9 million with a few “cost saving” cuts (such as ‘haul off site’), according to Bell’s Eric Pyle, executive vice president of building operations.   

These numbers are based on written bids that were sent out to 96 subcontractors (about 30 of which were within 45 miles of the job site) who provided the best and lowest proposals for each grain of construction in the design development package, according to Moreland.   

The building drawings are only at 50% now as the architect goes through a schematic design phase (about 25% of the drawings) before going to the design development phase—when the engineers start drawing—until they reach the final permit drawing phase. All this takes time to get to, according to Kline.   

“So, we’re right on our schedule, right in line with the schedule from the beginning,” said Kline.   

They plan to have the full building drawings completed around the end of January or early February.  

Board member Glenn Forsee asked how much the board has already paid Kline-Swinney for their work so far, which is a separate fee. Kline said they have received 20% of their contract value, which is about $1.6 million.   

According to county finance director Robert Daniel, that money came from a bond anticipation note that allowed them to borrow the money. “Basically, we’re taking it out of the school fund balance over to the capital projects fund, and when the bond anticipation note comes in, it will be reimbursed. It will be part of the bond issue,” Daniel said.   

Kline said, “Our fee is actually locked in at a $35 million cost for the building and we made an agreement with everybody that we would keep it there because it’s the state fee schedule.” Cartwright Elementary, which will be located near the 437 Bypass between Fairfield Pike and U.S. 231, is planned to open in August 2024 and hold over 800 students.   

Other business  

In other business, the Board of Education also extended superintendent Tammy Garrett’s contract to go from January 1, 2023, to June 1, 2026.   

The board then gave a glowing report of Garrett and her work since starting with BCS in March 2021. 

“I think, Dr. Garrett, you have done a fantastic job. This is not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. You lead with integrity, you lead with vision, and you lead with an iron fist,” said board chair Michael Cook.