November 25, 2021 Update
November 25, 2021
Status and Recommendations from Co-Project managers, Sheila Wappel-McLean and John Bueller:
Plans for the outside, west end of building
After an update to the board of directors in June 2021, we proceeded with the design development approved at that point. The board approved an amount of 1.4 Million in June, 2021 assuming that scope changes were occurring at the time as plans were being further developed.
At this point in time, architectural drawings are complete and the consultant drawings for electrical, mechanical and structural will be complete in a matter of days.
We had hoped the drawings would have been done earlier, but more time was needed to ascertain and confirm the church’s requirement for lighting and power for audio/visual and security issues. Also, structural capacity of the roof had to be evaluated to determine what could/and could not be put on the roof or suspended from the roof. Determinations also had to be made about the current state of plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems and what would be required to replace systems that have exceeded their lifetimes. The initial decision to change the kitchen also had many implications on what was needed for these systems.
The design of the church annex renovation will be an exciting, visual change both inside and out with many functional improvements in many areas. The front entry will be fresh, bright and welcoming, washrooms will be new and all gender, the kitchen is all new and the event space will be a more joyful space to use and to attract new rental revenue.
The scope of the project has changed dramatically since the initial pricing was done last November based on what we knew at the time.
As you all know, the last year has altered our world in many ways due to the pandemic. The construction world is no different. Costs of materials and labour have increased about 20 percent overall with some materials increasing 150 percent (lumber and steel). We are also seeing some very long delivery times for many materials.
We met with our general contractors, Ryan Murphy Construction (RMC), to go through an exercise of what the current pricing would be based on the original scope of work that was used last November. The pricing for construction and consultant fees that we now have based on the original concept has increased by 35 percent from 1,105M to 1,481M.
We are now going to start the final pricing process with RMC based on the completed drawings and that will take about two to three weeks. We do expect the project to exceed previous estimates due to the above items and also, an expanded scope of work. This is attributed to:
Additions to the scope
Items which needed more work than originally thought
As a renovation project - new items are discovered through the development of the design which can cause increases to the scope.
Our current recommendations at this point are to:
Proceed to a final cost estimate based on the increased scope and current pricing. This should be completed by Dec 31 and available to the congregation in January.
Be prepared to evaluate options (with RMC and Studio Presber) for pricing, including:
Look at areas where cost savings may be achieved, if needed
Evaluate separately priced items that could be implemented later or removed, if needed
Look at the possibility of phasing the project, if needed
Given that we are in a very volatile period with shortages and increased construction costs the number from November 2020 of $1,105,000 has increased to 1,481,000 or 34 percent, that we not proceed with construction until prices stabilize.
While current economic indicators show a decline in construction pricing this current number of 1.481M does not include increase in scope as explained above. The increase in scope is likely to take the total number to well over 2M at current pricing levels. Evaluating cost vs value is not in the project managers scope of responsibility.
The design of this project has been done in a thoughtful way and our approach will be to gather this information on pricing and then carefully evaluate the elements in order to determine the best ‘go forward’ approach.
Thank you,
Sheila Wappel-McLean and John Bueller