$6,900 withheld for not being completed on time

Polk County is paying $61,146 less than originally expected for its new department of social services (DSS) building that was occupied on Dec. 13.
Polk County’s Construction Manager Cecil Cannon provided a project status report to commissioners on Dec. 13 stating what change orders did to the county’s bottom line. The report also states that the county withheld $6,900 in liquidated damages because the building was not completed on time. Contractors were fined $300 per day for every day past Nov. 14, the contract end date that a certificate of occupancy was not obtained.
Polk County’s original construction contract was $1,590,755. The contract amount was reduced to $1,529,609 due to change orders, according to Cannon’s report. Total change orders reduced the contract amount by $9,474 and the project only used $4,073 out of the allowed $48,845 contingency.
The new building, located off Wolverine Trail on county-owned property in Mill Spring is 11,971 square feet. The final reduced contract amount of $1,529,609 results in a final building cost per square feet of $127.78, according to Cannon’s report.
The final cost per square foot is $5.10 per square foot less than the original contract building cost of $132.88 per square foot, which equates to a 3.83 percent reduction in the cost of the work, Cannon said.
Polk County’s contractors were Able Constructors. Including construction costs and other expenses, such as grading and architectural work, the total project was originally estimated at $1,914,052. Polk approved financing up to $1.8 million to help pay for the building.
The county will receive state and federal reimbursements for the building, with more than $95,000 expected back this fiscal year. State and federal reimbursements will be received over the building’s expected life of 45 years at a 61 percent reimbursement rate. Early estimates were that the county over the long run would have spent $750,000 for the building after 45 years of reimbursements.