Bids low (and not so low) in Washington county garage demolition project.
If the high bid for the demolition of an old garage comes in at $599,000, take a guess at what the low bid was. For those of you that said $300,00, you’re out. $200,000? Nope, not even close. How about $73,000?
Sounds crazy but that is precisely the bid spread on the demolition of Washington East Chestnut Street’s garage project. According to local news sources, this is all down to the escalating price of scrap steel (perish the thought that anyone would ever bid at suicidal rates).
“We were pleasantly surprised,” said Nancy Basile, city transit director. According to Basile, bids were anticipated to come in between $300,000 and $350,000.
However, that cost did not take into consideration the price of scrap steel. Steelmakers have increased prices six times, for a total increase of 20 to 30 percent, since November on basic flat-rolled steel, used in everything from cars to toasters, to offset the higher cost of raw materials, such as iron ore and coal.
In fact, the rise in scrap prices has been one of the factors driving steel prices higher.
Basile said she’s reviewing all the bids to make sure that they meet the bidding specifications. She said eight of 12 bids received are under the budgeted cost.
Read more here.
