The $90 million school

Published 10:38 am Monday, March 3, 2008

Edmonds-Woodway High School broke ground in September 1996, with a total project cost of about $43 million. Meadowdale High School, which started construction in November 1996, followed suit at $42.6 million.

The new Lynnwood High School, set to break ground in May 2007, is estimated to cost more than double that at $90 million.

The building is equitable to the other high schools, Edmonds School District officials said. The difference is that now the district, like others across the state, faces skyrocketing construction costs.

“This is the most volatile construction market I’ve experienced in my 30 years of doing this,” said Ed Peters, capitol projects director. “Since early 2004, there has been more inflation in construction than I’ve seen since the 1970s.”

As a result, schools statewide are trying to find $50 million to cover the gap between construction costs and initial estimates.

For example, renovations to Snohomish High School have been put on hold because the bond money voters approved in 2004 hasn’t kept up with rising cost estimates.

Before 2004, national construction inflation was roughly 3 to 4 percent a year. In 2004, that inflation was between 8 and 10 percent, according to data from The Robinson Company, a professional cost estimating company that works with several school districts, including Edmonds.

By the end of 2005, it had gone up another 6 to 8 percent.

Construction costs have risen even higher in the Puget Sound area because there’s so much building here, according to the company. There is so much local work that construction firms can be much more choosy about the projects they choose, Peters said.

But the problem is not just local. The East Asia market and China in particular is buying up most of the steel in the world, Peters said.

“I was just at a seminar where they summed up how much of the world’s structural steel China bought, and it is staggering,” Peters said.

The district will go out to bid on the project in spring 2007.

“We appear to be able to live within the amount we allocated,” Peters said, referring to the project’s $90 million budget. “What will happen when we open bids in March or April will be interesting.”

The volatile construction market was figured into the estimation, he said.

Voters approved replacing the school when they approved $86 million for the project in February 2006, part of a $140 million construction bond for projects district-wide.

“Everything is wearing out or is outdated or obsolete or not functioning and needs to be updated or replaced,” Peters said.

Julie Waterman, Lynnwood parent, said she hasn’t heard anyone say that $90 million is too much money.

The school is in sad shape and needs to be replaced, she said. For example, her son is in drama and the school’s theater is “atrocious”: just one of many problems with the buildings, she said.

“I know it sounds like a lot of money, but the (new) building will last a long time,” she said.

The new school is to open in 2009 on North Road, a mile east of the existing school.