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Nicholas and Associates: chillers commissioned, roofing and stage work nearly complete; junior high project estimate around $4.2 million
Summary
District consultants told the Wilmette SD 39 Committee of the Whole that recently installed chillers are functioning as final commissioning wraps, roofing and stage-lighting work is nearly finished, and a preliminary junior high HVAC/classroom estimate is about $4.2 million with bidding planned for September/October.
Mike Bickler of Nicholas and Associates told the Wilmette School District 39 Committee of the Whole that systems installed over the spring are “in place, functioning, just final commissioning, test and balance, of some specific items, are being wrapped up.” The update covered chillers, major roofing work at the junior high, stage lighting aiming, and punch-list work across multiple schools.
Bickler said the junior high large-roofing project is largely complete, with remaining flashings and accessories and a goal to finish the Learning Commons roof this week. He described stage lighting as “largely complete” with a specialty lighting contractor scheduled to finish aiming and final programming shortly, and said flooring work at the junior high is complete aside from punch-list items.
A separate facilities presenter walked the board through initial numbers for the 2025 junior high HVAC and classroom work. He stated that the 60% construction-document budget estimate showed hard costs “around $4,200,000,” that the project is at roughly 85% CDs, and that some added classroom scope and construction escalation explain the increase from earlier preliminary figures. He said he expects refinement this week and that competitive bidding should help narrow the gap to earlier estimates.
The presenter outlined a procurement timeline: the project is projected to go out to bid on Sept. 13 with a bid opening in October, and he noted that recent bid openings for other district work produced favorable numbers.
Board members asked for clarification about which baseline the $300,000–$400,000 refinement referred to and whether the escalated figure was apples-to-apples with the prior $2.9 million estimate; the presenter explained that the $2.9 million figure escalated to about $3.4 million when factoring multi-year escalation and that current estimates incorporate added scope and conservative contractor allowances.
Next steps: the facilities team will finalize the control estimate this week, proceed with the public-bid timeline if warranted, and return with any adjustments after bids are opened.
