Mashpee officials report $1.36M estimated final cost for Casey school HVAC, warn larger projects may need more funding

Katherine Lent, a Department of Public Works representative, told the Mashpee School Committee the HVAC renovation at the Casey (KUMS) school is essentially finished and the system will begin final start-up and balancing this month. "HP 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are operational," Lent said, adding that two other units are complete but awaiting start-up and that system balancing will begin Oct. 11.

Lent said the project's base bid had been about $1.5 million. With pending contractor change-order adjustments and a prescriptive rebate from National Grid of about $260,000, the town is now estimating an approximate construction cost of $1.36 million. "There was an error on the part of the contractor in what they were charging for overhead and profit," Lent said, and change orders were returned for adjustment. She estimated outstanding change orders at between $90,000 and $100,000.

Committee members pressed Lent on what went wrong during construction and who is responsible for uncovering concealed conditions. Lent said older as-built conditions did not match the plans used during bidding and that the state's requirement for an owner's project manager (OPM) applies at $1.5 million; because the next two schools'projects are expected to exceed that threshold, the town will hire an OPM for those larger efforts. "We did not have as-built drawings; existing conditions were unknown until construction began," she said.

Lent told the committee a rainstorm earlier in the summer had caused water to enter a classroom; the contractor remediated and replaced insulation at no cost to the town. She said the town's DPW asked the contractor for a credit of about $3,000 to cover DPW labor and minor expenses incurred during cleanup so custodial staff could prepare rooms for school opening; that credit is included in the pending change orders.

Looking ahead, Lent said feasibility studies for the Middle/High School and Quashnet school are due to the town this Friday and will offer options and preliminary costs. She warned that the district's existing funding may be insufficient to complete both projects and that any additional funding requests would proceed through the CIP process and likely require voter approval if amounts increase. Lent also described workforce and procurement constraints on Cape Cod: some large projects attract few qualified, pre-certified bidders, and phasing work over multiple summers could increase costs if contractors must repeatedly mobilize.

Committee members asked about oversight and whether an owner's project manager would have identified the ductwork issues earlier. Lent said design teams make assumptions from plans and perform spot inspections but do not typically open every duct; hidden conditions are often discovered only after demolition begins. "An engineering firm is not going to put their eyes on every single component; they make certain assumptions based on available plans," she said.

The committee was told the town will place a placeholder on the capital-improvement plan (CIP) for additional funding and will pursue grant options, including the "Green Communities" grant, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and offset costs. Lent said the Casey project was the simplest of the three and that the Quashnet and Middle/High School projects will present greater logistical and budgetary challenges.

The committee did not take any formal vote on funding at the meeting; members agreed to await the feasibility study and to continue budgeting and procurement discussions in coming weeks.