$10 Million Dollar Gym

[mikewj]

On today's Big Island Video News there is an item about the ground breaking for a new gym in Pahoa. Cost is stated to be ten million dollars. (Before cost overruns and change orders?)
Can anyone shed light on the reason why costs for public structures are so very high? As I recall a gym is a fairly simple structure, with high ceilings, showers, locker rooms, steam and weight rooms and possibly a pool.
For comparison, check out MLS 223711, a property for sale on Onomea Bay. 14 acres of developed land, a tissue culture lab, outbuildings, 2 pools, 5,000 square feet of living area and over 13,000 square feet under roof. Built in 1998, asking price under three million dollars ($2,950,000) Also includes all the furniture, by the way.

Maybe taxpayers dollars are only worth around 30 cents when used to build public structures? If I'm missing something, please help me to understand.

[JerryCarr]

Public contracts for construction in Hawaii are a witches brew (no offense to any witches out there) of inside deals, ridiculous union wage scales, cost over-runs that often exceed 75%, and the high cost of materials due to the mid-Pacific location. Only the last of those points has any legitimacy, and sometimes that is taken farther than the simple economics would dictate. Efforts to reform the contracting process have been stymied at every turn by the entrenched triad of good old boy politicians, greedy contractors, and unions. Not all contractors function on this level, however, and we hear good reports on Punawebber Kahunascott's employer. This is exceptional, though.

[Rob Tucker]

In all reality it should be thought of as a $5 million gym which just happens to cost $10 million.

On a parallel Hawaii is, I believe, in the top ten for dollars spent per pupil by the DOE. Hawaii is also #40 in the nation in student achievement.

Where does the money go?

I have reason to suspect that some sizable chunks fall back into the hands of people making the decisions and contract awards. Would not surprise me in the least.

[Bob Orts]

Government buildings are nothing like civilian building of a similar use. You can not compare the cost of construction of a private development project to that of like government project, especially when children are involved.

This is a public project and the documents are all public. Go down and get a copy and go through it and find the waste. When you do, take it to all the media outlets for them to expose it to the taxpayers.

Now I am curious, how much should this project cost if 10 million is too much?

[Rob Tucker]

It would be interesting to do the math. Been there, done that.

Recently in Nahalehu the D.O.E. built five new classrooms. No bathrooms or plumbing as I understand it. Just five classrooms.The cost was just over $500 per square foot.

I am sure there are explanations. There are always explanations.
$500 psf is the price range for high end remodels in the Hollywood Hills.

More recently and more locally I tracked the renovations of the Pahoa Neighborhood Center. Paint in and out. Roof repairs and new septic system. P&R budgeted it at $600,000. Which as a contractor myself I saw as a profitable figure. Contract went out the door at $1.1 million. The Parks & Rec guy just shrugged his shoulders and said that's the way it goes with our procurement system.

Equally recently and equally locally the CoH has been doing ADA curb cuts in downtown Hilo. Cost per curb corner (about 2 yds or less of concrete) is $35,000 each. Cost for the same job in Honolulu = $9,000. Cost of the same job on Maui = $7,000.

How many times do we have to do the math before we understand what is going on?

Not trying to be argumentative Bob. I love the way you think.

[Bob Orts]

The Naalehu cost does sound high but I thought there are restrooms in the project along with special needs classroom, special ADA requirements, admin space, computer lab, faculty rooms, and a bunch of other things that were not just "classrooms". Isn't the cost also inclusive of the solar/green requirements? And what does a LEEDS silver certification demand of construction? All these are not just building six simple classrooms. The cost also, from my understanding, not only includes all the associated design and consolidation cost into the existing campus, but it includes all the cost associated with dealing with Hawaii's County transfer of their land to the State of Hawaii. Wasn't there some issues related to the deed that cost money to resolve so the State could move forward?

In looking at the gym project, there are anticipated environmental expenses far above what any similar civilian project requires. Safety and health is also an expense above civilian projects. I'm sure some contractor is inflating cost, but usually I find government projects cost more because they have specific requirements (almost always due to citizen demands) that requires 3 steps for everything a civilian project can accomplish in 1 step. Lets say your building your house, nothing requires you to go through 30 steps for fiscal approval, 20 steps for design approval, 25 steps for competitive bidding, or all the other things that laws and regulations require government to do that civilians don't have to do. Not to mention if anyone in the process feels something isn't right they can challenge the financials, design, studies, planning documents, bidding, bid awarding, etc., etc., etc. As a civilian you tell the other contractor "buzz off" and that's it. Government can't do that. Many times excessive items are in a project because the people demand it. How many want solar/green/renewable stuff to be used by government? Or they expect a certain amount of items to be local? or any number of other design, material, and methods that cost more than what they would pay if it was their house?

Another way to look at this is you need to buy a truck for work, what is your process? Now what is governments process to buy a truck? They just don't tell some road worker to run to a dealer and find something good, used or new and whatever will work for them. Government needs to develop specifications for that vehicle. they need to prepare bid documents. They need funding approval. It has to go before a review to avoid conflicts of interest. They need to follow a specific process for the bidding. They award the bid in a specific manner. And they hope another dealer doesn't claim the specs or bidding process were designed to favor that manufacture or was in violation of Title this and Section that, screwing everything up. They also have to contend with the possibility that after buying the vehicle somebody sues because it's not handicap accessible, or a organization sues because it's not environmentally this or that, or some Council person doesn't force the truck to be parked until the government can resolve the issue that the color of the seats is an offense to that person's religion.

Cost adds up on public projects that have nothing to do with inflated cost, just that the process itself is expensive.

Now we're all saying gym, but is it just a gym?

[john the architect]

The builder is beginning the planning and construction of a luxury home overlooking Honolulu. So the job is definitely being done for a profit. Having experience in this area from working on military base projects and some city-funded buildings, it boils down to the checks and balances designed to keep the public from being screwed are so cumbersome all design innovation, efficiency, and cost savings are doomed from the start. Anyone care to run for public office on a campaign to fix this delivery system?