HOT SPRINGS -- Construction of the Garland County jail is posing some challenges for masons that are jeopardizing the lockup's anticipated Sept. 30 completion date.
Dennis Pascarella of J.P. Masonry Inc. said he and County Judge Rick Davis agreed Tuesday to a stepped-up work schedule.
The latest construction report shows that the jail is more than 15 percent behind schedule. That report is based on invoices that the project's 28 contractors had submitted through the end of June. Using that metric, the jail was 68 percent complete as of June 30, with invoices submitted totaling about $23.9 million.
Pascarella's Texarkana-based company had submitted invoices to the county through June for $1.5 million of its $2.2 million contract, the price after five change orders added $109,091. He said 33-37 workers have been at the site since the spring, but several problems have prevented them from making headway.
A single access point to the jail's interior has been the primary impediment, Pascarella said. Precast walls around the perimeter of the 156,000-square-foot facility enclose all but one section, which has become the only entrance for workers moving in materials for interior walls.
Pascarella said it's forcing workers to move forklifts filled with concrete blocks along a narrow path that winds along the building's interior. He said other detention projects he's done have had entries at opposite ends, aiding the flow of materials and allowing for simultaneous work in multiple locations.
Pascarella said crews will begin working weekends, and workers finishing the split-face exteriors that will frame the inmate exercise area outside the building will soon start working on the interior. Masonry is to be completed within 30 days, he said.
Progress for bricklayers, he said, has been slowed by the logistical difficulties and the exacting specifications mandated by jail accreditors. Voids in the blocks of interior walls have to be reinforced with rebar and mortar, bolstering the facility's numerous walls with close to 1,600 yards of concrete, Pascarella said.
Two to three loads of blocks from the ABC-Central Block and Brick Hot Springs location arrive at the site daily, he said. His company will have fit together about 180,000 blocks before the project is finished. Those blocks will be reinforced with $250,000 worth of rebar, he said.
The contractor installing the secure doors had submitted invoices through June covering less than 50 percent of its contract. CCC Group Inc. of San Antonio had billed the county for about $730,000 of its $1.65 million contract, the amount after six change orders added $81,258 to the costs.
Security systems contractor Accurate Controls Inc. can begin wiring the doors for remote control after they're installed. The electrical contractor, Nabco Mechanical and Electrical, has been positioning wires that Accurate Controls Inc. will connect to control panels. Accurate Controls, of Ripon, Wis., has invoiced the county for about $1 million of its $1.63 million contract, which five change orders increased by $81,496.
Through June, 103 change orders totaling $1,919,679 have been issued, leaving $31,818 in the construction contingency fund. It had a $713,756 balance when construction began last year, said Project Manager Jerry Pogue, accounting for slightly more than 2 percent of the $35,155,862 in the construction fund.
Most of the change orders are related to the addition of a $1.53 million courtroom. A $1.4 million transfer from the bond contingency fund to the construction contingency fund offset most of the cost. According to the latest jail report, the bond contingency fund had a $656,547 balance as of July 29.
Pogue said he expects to draw against the bond fund again to supplement the construction contingency reserve.
Metro on 08/08/2014