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Onley council seeks bottom-line prices after design costs spike in town office RFP review
Summary
Town Manager Jamye L. Salazar told the Onley Town Council that architectural proposals lacked firm total prices; council authorized staff to request bottom-line pricing from three timely respondents after staff and a council member removed the highest-hourly proposal and discussed PMA Architecture's site visit.
On April 22, 2026, the Onley Town Council voted to ask three responsive architecture firms for bottom-line pricing after staff identified wide variability and missing total-cost figures in proposals for a new town office.
Town Manager Jamye L. Salazar said the four timely responses included standard materials—firm background, resumes and rate tables—but did not include final cost estimates or a 'ballpark' total. "While the hourly rate is included for services — we need to know how many hours the job will take to estimate costs," Salazar said. She and Councilman Brian Corbin removed the proposal with the highest hourly rate from consideration and followed up with PMA Architecture, the one firm that visited the site, to clarify questions about scope.
Salazar presented the council with a rough cost framework: constructing an 1,800-square-foot commercial building at about $500 per square foot (roughly $900,000), a likely contingency of at least 10% (about $90,000), and an estimated architect fee in the $180,000–$200,000 range for design services — figures that cover design only and not construction. The council discussed modular-building options; members noted that a separate procurement would be required to pursue modular bids.
Council agreed by motion to ask the three remaining respondents for bottom-line pricing so the town can compare like-for-like proposals. The motion passed on a roll-call vote with Councilmen Daniel Bloxom, Jason Campbell, Brian Corbin, Bill Ferguson, Rodney Lang and Woody Zember voting yes.
Next steps: staff will request firm total-price proposals from the three respondents and report back; if council wants to consider modular buildings, it will need to terminate the current procurement and issue a new RFP.
