News
Nevada County's building industry stands to reap a significant economic boost this summer, with last Saturday's official awarding of two major construction contracts at Sierra College's Nevada County campus.
Bids totaling $13.2 million for new construction and remodeling projects were awarded during a weekend college trustees' retreat. Work on some of the remodeling and new construction could start as early as next week, said local contractor Keoni Allen, who is focusing on the remodeling portion of the multi-faceted project.
Allen, owner of Sierra Foothills Construction, and Grass Valley-based Tru-Line Builders will be working with construction manager Clark and Sullivan of Sacramento on the projects.
Allen's portion of the contract is $3.7 million in renovation and modernization, including painting, heating and air conditioning and reconfiguration of some of the buildings.
“What this does is spread several million dollars around this community, starting this month,” Allen said.
Tru-Line Builders will be working on building a gymnasium, multi-purpose facility and wellness center, representing 22,000 square feet of new construction. The projects are due to be completed next year.
“This is terrific,” said Tru-Line's owner, Tim Brady. “We're extremely excited for the opportunity to bring local participation into the project.”
The contracts were awarded under a “guaranteed maximum price” process, which eliminates costly change orders. Traditionally, public works projects like this one are done using the lowest bidder on a project.
Trustees made a pledge to include local bidders on this phase of construction, Nevada County-area trustee Aaron Klein said. The process, which began in February 2008, included an audit of potential local bidders and meeting with the Nevada County Contractors Association to determine if local contractors could handle such a bid.
“It created a climate to give local contractors a chance to bid,” Klein said. The addition of Clark and Sullivan, a construction firm with offices in Reno, Las Vegas and Sacramento that has an extensive background in building educational facilties, helped the process.
At first, Klein said, “We didn't think there would be a local general contractor that had the scale and the school construction expertise to win this contract.”
The scope of the new construction at the Nevada County campus, Brady said, is nearly identical to the size of projects the contractor completed recently, including BriarPatch Co-op and Community Market and AJA Video's new headquarters.
Brady said he and Allen are still sorting out local subcontractors who will work on the project.
“It's a greater percentage than what was done previously,” he said, noting that the first phase of construction afforded by the passage of a 2004 bond measure yielded no local work.
The project will require the use of union carpenters, as pledged by Clark and Sullivan, and is subject to the requirements of the federal Davis-Bacon Act, which requires workers to be paid prevailing wages for their trade.
Exactly how much economic activity the local contracts will provide is still being analyzed, said Barbara Bashall, executive director of the Nevada County Contractors Association.
“To some (businesses), it means staying in business,” she said. “There was a huge commitment on the college's part to keep this as local as possible, and I'm very excited. ... A lot of locals can continue working.”
Brady estimated that for every dollar spent by Nevada County residents, 60 cents of it is used locally, and that 60 cents is “rotated” five times among the county, which boost the county's economic fortunes.
The Sierra College construction is the largest active construction project in Nevada County, Bashall said.
Bashall said she wants to work with local governments to create a “local preference” clause in public works contracts in part to keep local contractors and suppliers competitive in the bidding process.
While it doesn't mean local contractors will automatically get work, it created a level playing field for the Sierra College process, Klein said.
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
Bids totaling $13.2 million for new construction and remodeling projects were awarded during a weekend college trustees' retreat. Work on some of the remodeling and new construction could start as early as next week, said local contractor Keoni Allen, who is focusing on the remodeling portion of the multi-faceted project.
Allen, owner of Sierra Foothills Construction, and Grass Valley-based Tru-Line Builders will be working with construction manager Clark and Sullivan of Sacramento on the projects.
Allen's portion of the contract is $3.7 million in renovation and modernization, including painting, heating and air conditioning and reconfiguration of some of the buildings.
“What this does is spread several million dollars around this community, starting this month,” Allen said.
Tru-Line Builders will be working on building a gymnasium, multi-purpose facility and wellness center, representing 22,000 square feet of new construction. The projects are due to be completed next year.
“This is terrific,” said Tru-Line's owner, Tim Brady. “We're extremely excited for the opportunity to bring local participation into the project.”
The contracts were awarded under a “guaranteed maximum price” process, which eliminates costly change orders. Traditionally, public works projects like this one are done using the lowest bidder on a project.
Trustees made a pledge to include local bidders on this phase of construction, Nevada County-area trustee Aaron Klein said. The process, which began in February 2008, included an audit of potential local bidders and meeting with the Nevada County Contractors Association to determine if local contractors could handle such a bid.
“It created a climate to give local contractors a chance to bid,” Klein said. The addition of Clark and Sullivan, a construction firm with offices in Reno, Las Vegas and Sacramento that has an extensive background in building educational facilties, helped the process.
At first, Klein said, “We didn't think there would be a local general contractor that had the scale and the school construction expertise to win this contract.”
The scope of the new construction at the Nevada County campus, Brady said, is nearly identical to the size of projects the contractor completed recently, including BriarPatch Co-op and Community Market and AJA Video's new headquarters.
Brady said he and Allen are still sorting out local subcontractors who will work on the project.
“It's a greater percentage than what was done previously,” he said, noting that the first phase of construction afforded by the passage of a 2004 bond measure yielded no local work.
The project will require the use of union carpenters, as pledged by Clark and Sullivan, and is subject to the requirements of the federal Davis-Bacon Act, which requires workers to be paid prevailing wages for their trade.
Exactly how much economic activity the local contracts will provide is still being analyzed, said Barbara Bashall, executive director of the Nevada County Contractors Association.
“To some (businesses), it means staying in business,” she said. “There was a huge commitment on the college's part to keep this as local as possible, and I'm very excited. ... A lot of locals can continue working.”
Brady estimated that for every dollar spent by Nevada County residents, 60 cents of it is used locally, and that 60 cents is “rotated” five times among the county, which boost the county's economic fortunes.
The Sierra College construction is the largest active construction project in Nevada County, Bashall said.
Bashall said she wants to work with local governments to create a “local preference” clause in public works contracts in part to keep local contractors and suppliers competitive in the bidding process.
While it doesn't mean local contractors will automatically get work, it created a level playing field for the Sierra College process, Klein said.
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
