Robbinsville – The Graham County Board of Commissioners and Project Manager Jason Marino plan to negotiate with a contractor, to further lower a bid for a metal building to be used by the Graham County Department of Recreation.
The lower bid was for $341,442, from the Robbinsville-based Aldridge Brothers. A second bid in the amount of $435,506 came from Robbinsville Custom Moulding, Inc. Marino said both bids came in over-budget, but the board voted unanimously to issue a letter of intent to enter negations with Aldridge Brothers in attempt to lower the cost further. Both bids were open during the board’s regular meeting Dec. 15.
At this point, neither bid has been fully approved by the board. The board maintains the right to reject the bid.
“We had figured after talking to some of them that we were looking at a low of around $211,000 for this 1,900-square-foot building, and the high was around $240,000,” Marino said. “That $341,442 is about within $100,000.”
Marino said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there would be a lead time of approximately 12-15 weeks to get the building onsite, and that the pandemic had also led to the higher costs the county saw in the bids.
“The intent was to order it hopefully this month or early next month, and that gives them that window that they need to start April 1, but it’s still another 180 days,” Marino said.