Lehighton school project costs extra $375K after unexpected problems

Almost any building project brings with it unexpected costs, but Lehighton Area School District dealt with that problem in spades during recent renovations to its middle and high schools.

The district tasked Quandel Construction, the management firm overseeing both projects, to keep a running of tally of unforeseen issues and unveiled that total to the public during Monday night’s school board meeting.

“Unexpected costs totaled $375,945 and were mainly due to deficiencies in the original construction of these buildings,” Karl Kauffman, of Quandel, wrote in a letter to the district.

The big-ticket item at the high school was an exterior sheathing replacement that cost Lehighton an added $178,309.

Upon removal of the existing masonry veneer, the sheathing was found to have not been properly installed and had deteriorated, Kauffman said.

Other high school issues included waterproofing the existing gymnasium foundation, demolishing the existing chimney, repairing the existing fire-rated walls which were not sealed at the top during original construction, grouting the existing foundation walls, replacing existing insulation, patching existing CMU exterior walls, and adding perimeter drainage at the duct bank and the gymnasium.

“At the middle school, the biggest things were revisions to the front parking lot and replacing the floor slab in the kitchen,” Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. During the original installation of the front middle school parking lot, the paving binder was not of an acceptable depth. An additional 1 inch of wearing thickness was added to the entire lot and the worst areas were removed and patched.

Unsuitable soils under the floor slab of the new kitchen area led to a replacement.

“Each of those projects cost around $32,000,” Cleaver said.

With the help of Quandel, Lehighton found ways to offset the added costs.

By using its own staff to do the final cleaning at the high school and middle school, the district saved almost $100,000.

Other cost saving measures included roofing revisions at the middle and high schools, and changing the manufacturer of the exterior veneer at the high school.

“Our credits through those changes totaled $236,946,” Cleaver said. “This was extremely important because it allowed us to stay within our contingency amount for the project.”

Cleaver said all punchlist items have been completed on the renovations at both buildings, bringing the projects to a close.