GISD locks in $19.5 million price for new CTE, Ag facilities

Gonzales ISD trustees locked in a guaranteed maximum price of $19,523,596 for construction of a new CTE building and Ag barn facility during their Monday, March 10, meeting — meaning the project could see the first shovel turns of dirt as soon as three weeks from now.

The new campus, which will be located on County Road 239, could achieve substantial completion on or before September 2026 as Weaver & Jacobs hopes to mobilize on the project within the next three weeks, said Casey Sledge with Region 13 ESC/Sledge Engineering.

In November 2023, GISD voters narrowly passed a $50.6 million measure to pay for the new CTE and Ag facilities as well as for renovations and upgrades, especially for safety and security as well as infrastructure improvements, at all five school campuses, the administration building, maintenance and transportation.

The board chose Weaver & Jacobs in February 2024 to be the construction manager at risk (CMAR) for the entire 2023 bond program. The company solicited and reviewed subcontractor bids last month for the CTE building and Ag barn and received a total of 221 bids, Sledge said.

“Certainly in this part of Texas, it's a subcontractors market, and when you see the amount of bids we got and the quality of the vendors who submitted bids, it's a testament that when you selected a firm like Weaver and Jacobs, that was a good choice, because (subcontractors)) are attracted to the leadership of those guys,” Sledge said.

The collective base bid from the subcontractors for everything needed to construct the facilities came out to $19,173,278 and Sledge also presented three alternates: $13,876 to change out paint-coated railings to stainless steel; $276,167 to construct an additional 55-space parking lot to the south of the building and $60,275 to add infill paving at the Ag barn and make it easier for cattle trailers to pull into and out of the area.

The total bid also includes about $1,175,000 in allowances for planned work items and contingencies for unforeseen items to enable the project to proceed with minimum disruption, Sledge said. That includes possible spending on landscaping as there is not a plan in place for that at this time.

“One hundred percent of the contingency money and allowance money we don't spend stays in your pocket,” Sledge said. “It’s all your money.”

Sledge said one of the most notable things is that the size of the CTE building has been increased from its original proposed size of 26,000 square feet to 31,782 square feet to accommodate an auto technology space the board had discussed wanting during schematic design that staff worried would require the district to dip into its operational funds to the tune of an additional $2 million. Instead, all costs are being covered by bond proceeds and interest earned from them.

“Your CFO (Amanda Smith) has actually done a great job investing your money, and you've earned quite a bit of interest to date already, and so you can actually afford this particular bottom line item,” Sledge said. “With some interest money, you can do all of this and end up with a larger building than what we started with. I think you're gonna love it. It's a value-based building, but we're not leaving anything out.”

The budget also still has more than $1.5 million in funds the district designated for “expected upcoming costs including permits, shop equipment, furniture, materials testing, code inspections, new marquee sign, technology items needed, new computers, greenhouse, cattle trailers, and health and nursing equipment,” Sledge added.

Michael Martinez of VLK Architects, which designed the building, went over the schematics for the CTE building and Ag facility with board members and the community, showing them the spaces for cosmetology, food science, plant science, animal science, welding, auto technology, veterinary, health careers and audio-visual technology.