Contractor: New Bethel Park elementary making steady progress; several change orders mostly credits to go to consent

The Bethel Park School District's construction contractor gave the board an update Wednesday on the new K-5 elementary school and explained several change-order items that administrators recommended for the consent agenda.

The contractor, introduced to the board as RC (Rycon), said "all the steel is up" and that crews are installing roof deck, completing MEP rough-ins and pouring slabs in multiple areas. RC said the project team's near-term goal is to get the building closed in and dried in so interior finishes can proceed.

Board members asked about schedule recovery. RC said recent weather cost roughly a week but the project team is putting together two accelerated schedules and expects to present a detailed plan and cost explanation to the board next month. "We probably picked up maybe another week," RC said about recent progress; he added that administrators would vet any proposed schedule changes before the board sees a revised completion date.

RC also summarized several contract adjustments that are largely credits: removing the planned colocation trailer because the project used an existing house on site, work to install a subsurface surface drain along Boyer Avenue to address unforeseen underground water at NAMS, and a specification change to fire-alarm conduit/wiring that reduced material scope. District staff recommended moving those change orders to the consent agenda; a facilities representative told the board there were no objections to that recommendation.

No final decision on a revised substantial-completion date was announced; RC said the contractor aims to deliver updated schedule details next month and to email board members if the next regular meeting will not include the schedule materials.