St. Joseph Contractor Gets R-9 Construction Project Bid

Lawhon Construction of St. Joseph has been chosen as the general contractor for the Trenton R-9 School District construction project that will be taking place over the next two years.
During a meeting on Wednesday, the board of education voted 7-0 to accept the Lawhon bid of $6,608,500, which was the lowest among four received. The bid included a base bid of $6,275,000 as well as seven alternates totaling $333,500.
The three other bids submitted were all over $7 million, alternates included, and came from Lee Grover of St. Joseph, $7,179,756 ($6,807,370 base); PSR of St. Joseph, $7,201,000 ($684,824,000 base); and Allison Alexander of the Kansas City area, $7,439,000 ($7,085,000 base).
Three of the four companies have done projects for North Central Missouri College, with Lawhon having been the contractor for the Ketcham Community Center. Lee Grover constructed Cross Hall and PSR was the contractor for the Geyer Hall renovation. Lawhon also constructed the Trenton Family Aquatic Center as well as the recently-completed elementary school at Chillicothe.
Dennis Gutshall, who is serving as the project manager, said contract work will take up the next two to three weeks, with R-9 finalizing its agreement with Lawhon. Lawhon will then need to enter into contracts with its sub-contractors, of which there are 15 to 20. One of the sub-contractors will be Roberts Roofing of Chillicothe (formerly Peyton Roofing), which has done roof work on other R-9 building projects in the past.
Gutshall said he anticipates Lawhon to have equipment on site once the contracts are finalized, with initial dirt work taking place sometime in early October. He added that some site preparation will need to be done prior to that.
Gutshall said he was pleased with the bids and credited the architects, Ellison-Auxier, for getting the district construction estimates in line with what the actual bids were. Gutshall said that the base bids actually came in 1.7 percent lower than what the project cost had been estimated, which he said “is a testament to the good work of the architects.” He noted several of the alternates the board was able to accept were added after voters last April approved a $7 million bond issue for the project.
The initial work will be done at the high school/middle school campus, where a new performing arts center will be constructed. The center will include hallway areas to connect all buildings on the campus.
Construction work on a new concession stand/restroom facility at C.F. Russell Stadium is anticipated to begin after the last football game this fall while renovations at Rissler Elementary School, including upgrades to the entry way and additional storage space, will be done once school is out next May.