The Habersham County Commission approved the construction company Sunbelt Builders out of Covington, GA as the Construction Manager at Risk (CM) during the commission meeting Monday night. With the hiring of a CM, the animal shelter is one step closer to being constructed.
However, the vote was not unanimous. Commissioner Bruce Harkness had some reservations about the cost. “Why are we looking at having to pay half a million dollars if they’re the builder?” Harkness asked Finance Director Tim Sims. Sims explained that no matter which way the project was bid, this cost would be in the price. “I’m not trying to be hard to get along with, but I don’t understand paying somebody half a million dollars if they’re going to contract to build something,” Harkness said.
Sims explained to the commission that the CM will work with the architect and finish the design of the new animal shelter and the central fire station as well as value engineer both projects to reduce costs prior to construction.
Sunbelt Builders will also be the builder and be involved in the bidding process for the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and other trades as needed to get a guaranteed pricing for both buildings. “They will also use as many local subcontractors as possible. That was one of the things that we stressed in the interviews,” Sims told the commission.
Contractors
According to Sims, Sunbelt Builders was one of seven companies that responded to a request for proposal (RFP) to be hired as the CM at risk for both projects. Sims explained that the bidding process in this instance weighted 80% on qualifications, experience, and references. The remaining 20% was relative to pricing.
Though not the lowest bidder, Sunbelt Builders had a comparable price when compared to five other companies. One company, Scroggs and Grizzle out of Clermont, GA, was the highest price bidder at just over $1.2 million. Sunbelt Builders came in at $489,870. The lowest price bidder for the project was Cooper and Company out of Cumming, GA with a price of $445,000.
Pricing was not the only factor that the committee considered. As a matter of fact, it was the last thing considered before creating a short list of contractors to be interviewed.
The review committee was made up of six members. The members from Habersham County were Public Works Director Jerry Baggett, Assistant Public Works Director Jared Beaudoin, Contract Service Engineer Michael Gardner, and Public Facilities Director Mike Bramlett. The other two members of the review committee were Oscar Herrera and Kip Stokes from the design firm CROFT and Associates.
Scoring criteria
The committee reviewed each responders qualifications, experience, and references. Those three variables were scored and tallied. Once those scores were recorded, the committee opened the pricing bids and scored the prices. The committee reviewed the scores and created a short list of contractors that would be interviewed. The interviews were scored. The four companies that made the shortlist were Sunbelt Builders, Charles Black Construction of Cleveland, GA, Cooper and Company, and Hogan Construction of Norcross, GA.
Sims stated that the Sunbelt Builders stood out among the other contractors due to the experience in building animal shelters in the past.
The commission approved Sunbelt Builders as the Construction Manager at Risk for the animal shelter and the central fire station with a 3-2 vote. Harkness and Commissioner Jimmy Tench were the dissenting votes.
With the commission’s approval of the CM at Risk, it moves the county one step closer to breaking ground on two of the SPLOST projects. According to Baggett, the county could break ground for the animal shelter as soon as August. The central fire station would follow later in 2025 or early 2026.
After the meeting, Harkness stated that he wished that the issue had been tabled so he could have had more time to ask questions.
