The new floor in the Cook County Community YMCA will have a heavy-duty moisture barrier protecting the wood on top of it. The county board voted on October 28 to spend $12,450 from the construction contingency fund for the heavy-duty barrier because it had not been budgeted. The county board debated whether the extra cost should have been anticipated by the building professionals and consultants involved in the project.
The county board voted October 28, 2013 to spend $12,450 of the Cook County Community YMCA construction contingency funds for a heavy-duty moisture seal for the new gym floor, but some of them were not very happy about it.
County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers told the board that in a meeting with the architects and ORB, the county’s owners’ rep, he was told that the moisture in the concrete, over 90 percent, was too high for wood flooring to be installed without a heavyduty moisture barrier. Because the bedrock is only four feet down, the architects were unsure whether the moisture content would ever get below 85 percent. If it was not below that point and the recommended moisture seal was not installed, the flooring company, Anderson Ladd, would not honor its warranty.
An October 10 update from ORB stated, “Met with Anderson Ladd onsite on Monday [October 7]. There were a few legitimate items they had pointed out regarding floor prep that they could not have known about. … Existing and new concrete still has high moisture content which will be an issue. The contractor is proposing we use an expensive vapor barrier material that will not void the warranty. There is no money in the budget to do this.”
Auditor-Treasurer Powers said that with estimated future costs figured in, the contingency fund would be down to about $11,000 if the moisture barrier were installed.
“It’s getting absolutely ridiculous,” said Commissioner Jan Hall. She has a background in construction and said that they knew that moisture problems existed in the old gym floor and that all floors need a moisture barrier. She said the contractor was at fault for not anticipating the cost earlier. “It’s more and more money,” she said. “This has to stop. …What did we hire ORB to do? …If I was running a job and this came up, I’d have to eat it.”
Commissioner Bruce Martinson commended ORB for catching the problem and not letting a cheaper barrier go down. Auditor-Treasurer Powers said that’s what they found when the old floor was taken out. Commissioner Hall said then they really should have known about this extra cost early on.
Commissioner Garry Gamble said he and Commissioner Hall are on the Arrowhead Regional Corrections board, which has authorized a renovation of the Northeast Regional Correction Center (NERCC) just outside of Duluth. He said the board brought in a consultant and a construction company and told them they don’t want to see any change orders.
If your expenses are projected high and your income is projected low, Gamble said, it will be reflected in the bids. He said ORB’s website says their role is to “avoid surprises.” Surprises should be “our savings and not continued expenses.”
Practically every renovation project involves change orders, Commissioner Hakes said. She said it was “mind boggling” to her that there hasn’t been more interest in looking at the facility as construction has been going on.
Commissioner Martinson acknowledged that the unexpected expenses have been frustrating and said he wishes they had done things differently but thought they would still have hired ORB given the same information they had when they hired ORB.
Commissioner Hall said she was “very disappointed” with how the construction process has gone.
ORB has done “a lot of hard, complicated work,” Commissioner Hakes said. “Yes, there are areas where they could definitely improve. …We made the best decision we could at the time. …I believe they really have the community’s best interests at heart.” She said the building is turning out really nice.
The board passed a motion to have the heavy-duty moisture barrier installed by a vote of 3-1, with Commissioner Heidi Doo- Kirk absent and Commissioner Gamble voting no.
Leave a Reply