Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Construction Bids For New Wilson Station Are In

The construction bids have been opened for work on the Red Line station at Wilson, and this is what the contractors have offered. It will be interesting to see who is chosen by the CTA.  Right now the total project is projected to be just over $200 million.
  • Clark - $147,504,360
  • Walsh - $157,154,514
  • FHP - $164,790,514
  • Kiewit - $182,355,510
  • Blinderman/Judlau - $190,913,713

6 comments:

  1. My bet would be on Walsh...1.) They've got the clout; paid for many a councilman/mayor. 2.) They've got the experience and know a "bid" is a joke and will be billing at some multiple of that number.

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    1. I agree that Walsh will probably get some of the action. Didn't they do the Grand reconstruction? Aren't they currently doing Clark/Division? FHP though did a lot of the Brown Line I think, including Belmont and Fullerton, which shares a lot of similarities with the future Wilson. I also agree that there should be penalties for going over budget. If I give you $5 to make me a glass of lemonade because that's what your lemonade stand states, but then after I drink the glass you ask for another $2.50, that's me being taken for a ride. That being said, the Red Line South was on budget, so no surprise that it wasn't under budget there.

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  2. So the official estimate is $200M and all these joker's think they can come in $10M-$55M under budget?

    I think part of the bidding process should include a clause that severely penalized a company that goes over budget.

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  3. I hope the city includes a plenty or reduction in cost for every day the project is delayed or is past the projected completion date. This project is necessary for people and businesses to feel safe in Uptown.

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  4. http://www.clarkconstruction.com/
    http://www.walshgroup.com/
    http://www.fhpaschen.com/
    http://www.kiewit.com/
    http://www.blinderman.com/ + http://www.judlau.com/

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  5. Casey & bbbrad567 - You are misunderstanding the purpose and role of the bidding process from both the public and contractors perspectives. The bid is not a joke, it is the contractors quoted rate for what they will charge to do each increment of every line item (i.e. cost per foot of curb & gutter). The contractors goal is two-fold: (1) come in with the lowest possible bid in order to win the job (2) while at the same time identifying line items within the bid that were incorrectly estimated or the spec can be reinterpreted in their favor. As far as #2, they are looking through the pay items to try to find a quantity that they believe is grossing underestimated. They will then drastically increase their unit price on that item. Because the item is underestimated this often doesn't have a large effect on the overall bid (and if it does, they will slightly reduce the bid price on another large item to make up for it).

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