Oh, and don’t forget the contractor will be paying a sales or use tax to the vendors.

Oh, and don’t forget the mentality of the low-bid process encourages contractors to push for acceptance of products – frequently when it is too late to do anything about it without messing up the construction schedule – that are low in price but do not meet the specified quality expectations. (But it helped the contractor be low on bid day)!  In addition, the bid-day-low-cost alternate the contractor pushes you to accept often not only doesn’t meet the needs of the school, it frequently doesn’t last as long as the originally specified product.

Lower quality product at too high prices; what can you do?

Cost saving solution: Most schools have the opportunity to take many of the project fit-out items out of the bid document and purchase them directly through the use of a contract.

Eliminate mark-ups: Contracts allow schools to take advantage of the negotiating power of a larger association to purchase products at lower, set pricing, circumventing the mark-ups of contractors. (Don’t get me wrong; contractors provide value, but make certain their payment is based on the work they do, not the mark up on products and installation provided by others.)

Eliminate sales/use tax cost: By purchasing directly from the vendor the school can provide the vendor with their sales tax exemption number and lower their cost without affecting quality. Contractors don’t get to do this.

Maintain quality: Typically the school knows what they really want anyway. By buying direct they can make certain they get what they want, not what the contractor wants to provide.

Various types of contracts exist.

• In the counties mainly in southern New York, BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) contracts are common.
• Some states have contracts, including New York, Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas as well as others. Some state contracts allow any public institution to purchase off of the contract, even in surrounding states!
• In other states, such as Minnesota and Wisconsin, a “state” contract is actually available through a major public university.
• There are also national contracts available. Some of the best known are:

1. EFETC (www.efetc.com) is the Educational Furniture, Equipment and Technology Contract. ANY educational institution can buy from this contract (public, private, charter, etc.), and it is popular in both K-12 and Higher Education.
2. E&I (www.eandi.org) is the Educational and Institutional Cooperative Service. E&I is a co-op owned by over 1600 colleges, universities, K-12, hospitals, medical research institutions and hospital purchasing organizations throughout the United States. ALL tax-exempt institutions of learning (public and private) can join the co-op. While membership only costs $5, membership in the National Association of Educational Procurement (www.naepnet.org) is also required.
3. PEPPM (www.peppm.org) is the Pennsylvania Education Purchasing Program for Microcomputers. Any public institution/department can purchase from this contract. It is popular in K-12 but not higher education. It may not be easy to use in small states because of limited distribution by some of the vendors. While it has many types of products, as you would expect from the name its’ strength lies in technology.

If as a school administrator you are trying to figure out how to build/renovate despite the economy, you need to ask more about contracts if you are not familiar with them.

If as an architect you want to get that school built or renovated, also despite the economy, you should bring the contract concept up to the schools you are working with.

A little bit of additional coordination can often provide more than enough savings to get that project moving!

- Dave

The solution: For science casework it is actually as simple as the initial question. Most vendors (as they would in any industry) try to lower the cost of their existing products, in particular searching for cheaper materials (often imported) that also cheapen the casework. This is not the solution because it lowers the value equation, giving you even less worth for the lower price.

Issues With Imported Wood Products

• Often have higher levels of added urea-formaldehyde than acceptable.
• Often are not grown and harvested in a sustainable manner.
• Typically are inconsistent thickness, affecting fit and function of cabinets.
• Are often made with lower quality glues that cause plywood to split or de-laminate during a building air flush,
  or even during normal use.
• Core voids decrease impact resistance and stability of the panels.

The solution: Start with a blank sheet of paper. Re-design the casework construction to actually maintain or increase the worth. The product below is NOT proprietary:

• The raw material is readily available in the marketplace from Columbia Forest Products, one of the largest plywood manufacturers in North America.
• There are no patents or other “protections” on the design.
• The manufacturing technology has been in place and in use for years throughout the country.
• Anyone can build this casework, so it is appropriate for public bid projects.

New Style of Science Casework Savings….

Use CAN/AM GOLD SAP plywood from Columbia Forest Products

• North American made of white hardwoods (similar in appearance but not just one species).
• Improved yield.
• Controlled moisture content for enhanced stability.
• CARB Phase 2 compliant for formaldehyde emissions.
• Dramatically cost-effective without sacrificing quality, stability or mechanical characteristics.

Use the same plywood throughout the cabinet

• Manufacturers often use different grades of material in different locations in a cabinet depending on how visible they will be. Per square foot cost of the material panel may be less, but it is inefficient and does not optimize yield, not to mention the inside of the cabinet does not usually look good. (Using the same material throughout does optimize yield while also improving the appearance of the cabinet inside and out.)
• Use a separate sub-base
  - Speeds installation. Sub-base is installed and leveled for complete elevations while other trades are still working. Cabinets can then be easily and quickly installed when they arrive.
  - Dramatically improves plywood panel yield.
  - Provides a barrier to water wicking up the cabinet in case of a water line break in the classroom.

Use a UV cure, flat line, roller-applied finish

• Manually-sprayed finished typically give poor coverage, are inefficient and even water-based versions still have VOC emissions.
• The “greenest” way to finish a cabinet, relating to emissions and material usage. (Spray flat line finishes still have reclaim issues.)
• Applies a consistent, computer-controlled thickness of finish, actually bonding it into the underlying wood veneer for improved coverage and wear.  (Spray flat line finishes do not ensure the finish actually bonds to the wood.)
• Dramatically improved chemical resistance as shown by testing to the standards of the Scientific Equipment & Furniture Association (SEFA).
• UV curing dries the finish immediately. There won’t be finger prints showing or dust trapped in the finish; sprayed finish can take 24 hours or longer to finish, especially in the humidity of the summer.

Don’t stain the wood

• Staining the wood, instead of using a natural finish…doubles the labor cost alone.
• On bid day, no one knows if a stain color or a natural finish will be used.
• Since 80% of projects end up with a stain, all quotes are assumed to include stain, driving bids up.
• OR bidders hope they can convince you not to stain; if they are wrong they will try to protect their profit in
  other ways that will affect the quality of your cabinets and/or the installation of them on the job.

For more information on this new, non-proprietary science casework (including ready-to-use specifications), just request it at: news@diversifiedwoodcrafts.com

- Dave Withee

If you have water, you have sinks. Many science classroom designs put the sinks as close as possible to where the water needs to be used. That is laudable from an “efficiency” standpoint, but it is expensive from a construction and utilization standpoint. Here are more considerations:

• Placing sinks at workstations throughout the classroom means water and drain lines must be run throughout the classroom. That is expensive.
• It’s also expensive because those sinks are not used all that often.
• Placing sinks at workstations makes those workstations permanent, so the classroom cannot be reconfigured to teach other subjects, especially outside of science. Sometimes science classrooms go unused during the day because they are not conducive to the teaching of those other subjects.
• Even if other subjects are taught in those classrooms with sinks at workstations, either the workstation arrangement itself is not conducive to learning and/or the sink (and water) offers tremendous temptation for students to perform water science experiments in non-science subjects (if you get my drift!).

Cost saving solution:  just put the sinks around the perimeter of the classroom. You can get by with fewer sinks despite the “rush hour” crunch to get glassware cleaned, etc. Fewer sinks, fewer water taps, fewer water and drain lines. Seems simple, and it is. So try it. What do you get? Less costly science classrooms, but also consider:

• Chemistry may still require running water and this idea may not work in those particular labs.
• If you are using modular buildings (another good cost saving idea), it is easier to run water throughout the classroom during “construction.” There is no need to “trench” concrete floors.

Another idea: Don’t put a lab area in every science classroom. Instead have a dedicated lab that is scheduled for all science subjects to use. Now you have fewer actual labs. Of course, a dedicated lab also cannot be easily used for actual lecture situations for any subject.

- By Dave Withee

If you grew up in the ‘60’s like I did you saw lots of portable classrooms going up as schools couldn’t keep up with the growth of the baby boomer generation. And we all know what we thought of those classrooms!

Well, Modular Buildings are not your ‘60’s portable classrooms. Consider:

• Buildings can go up 30-50% faster than traditional construction.
• You can often get as much as 10% more space for the same construction cost of traditional methods.
• Materials are not prone to job-site weather damage or pilferage.
• Quality of construction is better because of the factory environment.
• Job-site safety is better because much of the “construction” is done under the better controls of the factory.
• Health benefits are typically better if built correctly. (These are not FEMA trailers!)
• Some designs can decrease energy consumption as much as 30%.
• Many manufacturers are already set up to meet both LEED and CHPS requirements.
• Buildings are much more customizable than the ‘60’s models.

If you are looking to decrease the cost of schools in general, not just the science classrooms, it wouldn’t hurt to look at the benefits of using modular building construction.

You can “google” for info of course, but here are some web sites to help you get started:

www.case21.org

www.triumphmodular.com

www.nrb-inc.com/in-stock_pc2000.php

www.mbinet.org

The science classroom/laboratory does NOT have to be so expensive. There are ways to dramatically lower the cost…you need to think outside the box.

• Extremely cost-effective new casework that is visually appealing AND very durable
• Classroom/lab design ideas
• “Green” and cost-effective ideas
• “Shovel-ready” construction ideas
• Other cost-effective product solutions

Everyone has to find ways to help make schools more affordable and still get them to perform and last a long time. The solution is NOT to cheapen what you have but to design new ideas from scratch.

Presented at: School Building Expo
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
June 2-4, 2009 – Pittsburgh, PA
www.schoolbuildingexpo.com