Many comments were made online regarding a recent article about the Henderson County School Board’s approval of an $18-plus million bond to help pay for an HVAC project at South Middle School.
The most common comment questioned how an HVAC project could cost so much while others wondered if—or stated that—a new school could be built for that type of money.
We at the Hendersonian thought the questions were legitimate and contacted Henderson County Schools to learn more. We sat down with Superintendent Dr. Bob Lawson and Assistant Superintendent Chad Thompson on Friday.
Many pieces to it
The project is not just an HVAC project, according to Thompson, but in fact several projects rolled into one. No doubt the HVAC piece of the project is the biggest and reason the project is labeled as such. But several other side pieces contribute to the project’s $21.4 million total cost, they say.
Lawson said that when big projects are undertaken, officials look at other connected projects that could be attached to it. That’s because many times some level of deconstruction needs to occur to get into a space to repair something, he said. It makes sense, Lawson said, to inspect other pieces of infrastructure and determine if other repairs need to be made at the same time, instead of coming back a few years later and conducting the same deconstruction for repairs that could have occurred the first time around.
That’s what happened in this project, the administrators said. Last summer, the $213,750 Phase 1 of the project occurred, when Logan & Logan Construction LLC conducted demolition.
Lawson said after the demolition, school officials analyzed what was found and determined other repairs and renovations were needed. The big part of the project, Phase 2, didn’t go out to bid until this fall when officials determined all that the bid would contain.
Aside from the main piece of installing an HVAC system, the bid also included work for new roofing, new window installation, ceiling work, new carpet in the auditorium, painting, a fire suppression system—sprinklers—and all the electrical work. (See list off the winnings bids and explanation at the end of this article.)
Geothermal HVAC
The school system is not replacing the current traditional HVAC system with one that is the same. Instead, it has elected to install a geothermal HVAC system that has a lifespan of 30-50 years, Thompson said.
Thompson said it wouldn’t make sense to replace the current HVAC system with a boiler and water tower HVAC system with a life expectancy of 20 years.
Additionally, he said the geothermal system saves a great deal on energy costs. “It saves a whole lot of energy,” Thompson said.
With a geothermal system, the earth cools or heats treated liquid pumped through pipes deep in the ground, where the earth’s temperature remains relatively constant between 50 and 60 degrees, Thompson said.
The piping will be under the SMS football field. (The field’s turf has already been peeled back in preparation.) To install the piping, workers will drill 112 bores that will reach depths of between 500 and 600 feet, Thompson said.
Liquid will run through 8-inch diameter pipes deep in the earth and when it returns to the school, the liquid is further converted to the proper temperature to either heat or cool the school before being pumped through pipes throughout the building.
Thompson said new pipes will be installed all through the 122,699-square-foot building.
The administrators say it’s more expensive to install this system—the bid came in at $10.79 million—but both said less energy use and longevity will provide greater savings in the long run.
Building costs
Finally, construction costs have inflated so much in the past few years that building anything new the same size as the current SMS building is not a possibility.
“It would take all our money and then what would happen it there was an emergency at another school?” Lawson said.
By selling bonds for $18.69 million, the school system is able to pay for the project, and according to officials with Baird, which is handling the bond sale, HCS has $30 million in bonding capacity remaining.
Thompson added Tarrant Architects, a firm that works with HCS, told him last week that current construction costs for a middle school range from $400 to $500 per square foot.
“And that’s just construction costs,” he said.
That’s up significantly in just the few years since the new Jefferson Elementary School was completed. Thompson said construction costs have more than doubled since then.
The SMS building, at 122,699 square feet, would come with a price tag of $49 million-plus at $400 per square foot, Thompson said. At $500 per square foot, it’s $61 million.
Those costs don’t include fees, inspections, site planning if necessary, architecture work, dirt work and other associated fees, he said.
Thompson said the total cost of a new building with a size similar to SMS would be anywhere from $70 to $90 million.
Below see the different bid packages, winning bidder, cost and work to be done. All information comes from HCS records and Thompson.
Another piece to note is that the associated costs, such as architect/engineer fees, construction contingency, construction manager fee and more, are not included in the information above. Those fees total more than $3 million.
