Construction bids on MSU projects $4 million over budget

By GAIL SCHONTZLER, Chronicle Staff Writer

Montana State University officials are trying to figure out what went wrong after construction bids for the major renovation of the Strand Union Building and building a new Black Box Theater came in $4 million higher than expected.

Architects had estimated the two projects would cost a combined $11.4 million, and the low bid came in at $15.5 million -- 36 percent higher, said Bob Lashaway, MSU facilities director.

"It's the most unusual bid circumstance I've ever seen," said Lashaway, who has worked at MSU for 15 years. "I've never seen one this far out."

Asked whether the explanation might be high prices for steel or concrete, high energy prices or high demand for building materials from China, Lashaway said they don't really know.

A&E Architects of Billings, the architect hired for the SUB project, is trying to discover what the answer may be.

"I think contractors may be too busy to bid on it," Lashaway said. "We have about two weeks to get really good information on what the heck happened."

The two bids came from Dick Anderson Construction of Helena, which is building the new chemistry building on campus, and Sletten Construction of Great Falls, which submitted the lower bid.

Their two bids were only $86,000 apart. No bids came in from Bozeman contractors.

One especially puzzling part for Lashaway is that MSU had sought bids last spring for the new Black Box Theater alone. The low bid then came in at $2.9 million, substantially higher than the budgeted $2.1 million. The architects worked with the contractor to simplify the theater and shave $300,000 from the cost.

Still not satisfied with the $2.6 million price for the theater, MSU officials rejected the revised low bid and then combined the theater with the SUB project, thinking it would save money to have one contractor do both jobs.

But in the Nov. 10 round of bids, the theater portion by itself came in at $3.5 million -- nearly $1 million higher than the revised bid MSU had in hand last spring, Lashaway said.

Bids for the chemistry building also had come in higher than expected, but only 15 percent higher.

The big jump in construction bids casts doubts over what will happen when MSU seeks bids in January for major renovation of the Student Fitness Center, and also for with Bozeman School District's plans to renovate Bozeman High School, which Lashaway worked on as a community volunteer.

"If bids have gone up 36 percent just since March, we're in for a long ride of escalating prices," Lashaway said.

"At some point, we won't be able to do projects in that environment. This will test us severely."

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