High School Roof Project Expanded, Will Replace Larger Area

A partial roof replacement at Hillsborough High School has been expanded to include portions of the school’s music hallway and one of the gyms.

The extra work would cost the district an additional $375,000 on a project bid at $748,000— the bid amount includes a full roof replacement at Triangle Elementary School and the partial roof replacement at the high school.

The two projects were initially estimated at costing $953,000, however, the lowest bid came in below that mark, according to District Superintendent Jorden Schiff and Business Administrator Aiman Mahmoud. 

“When we originally went out to bid, we bid at $953,000 out of surplus and got county approval,” Mahmoud said.  “The bid came in at $748,000, so we got a very cheap price.  We’ll take the balance of that money and spend it on the additional roof work and we’re also going to take next year’s budget, the $250,000 we have budgeted to complete the job.”

“A combination of the excess money we have from the savings we bid out plus next year’s $250,000 will give us the opportunity to get this project done,” he continued.

The district would use about $190,000 from the 2010 surplus proposed for the project, while the remaining $250,000 would come from the 2011 school budget.  It would be the only capital project completed during the school year and would include a 20-year warranty on the work.

“When the project was originally developed by the architect, we did not anticipate the bids coming in as low they came in,” Schiff said.  “As a result, they looked at the highest priority areas of the roof when they put the plans together.  When the bids came in so low and were close enough that we could actually do more roofing projects .  .  .with the advantage of having a 20-year warranty rather than just patching a high-priority area.”

“I asked the architect myself, what is our highest priority, and he said, the high school roof, so it would have been our next project anyway,” Schiff added. 

Under the district’s initial plans, the project replaced the portion of the roof over the school’s commons, which is where students eat lunch and also hold various school events.  However, the leaks in the roof extend beyond the originally proposed area, as at least one high school student noted at the March board meetings.