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School Construction Cost

A school's construction cost in the current day and age isn't as cut and dried as it once was. School districts around the country have varying demands for their new facilities, which can drive up the school construction cost above previously established levels.

School construction cost includes more than just classrooms. It includes labs, a cafeteria, theater and band facilities, gymnasiums and, in some cases, outdoor athletic facilities. School buildings can be built with a minimum of frills, which can cut down the school construction cost; in many cases, however, school districts are looking to do with more, instead of with less. Recently, school districts across the country have become interested in sustainable construction and have been looking for their new facilities to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. Achieving LEED certification is not a cheap process and can drive the school construction cost up as much as 10 percent.

A school's construction cost can also depend on the delivery method selected. The traditional (and usually cheapest) is the design/bid/build process, where the contractor is only interested in the amount it would cost to build a project, pay its employees and make a small percentage of profit. The school construction cost covers the cost of items like concrete for the foundation, cables for electrical wiring, flooring, plumbing, carpentry and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning). In the design-build process, the work done to determine the school construction cost is more involved. In this process, an architect and general contractor combine as a team and present a building or project design and construction contractor services in one proposal. The design-build process is used by those who believe an architect-contactor team with a past history of working together would be more efficient and, as a result, cheaper than an architect and contractor working together for the first time.

The school construction cost determined as part of a construction manager at-risk (CM at-risk) project falls in between the two. The architect is hired separately from the general contractor, but the contractor is involved in the project from the pre-construction process all the way through completion. The estimate comes in the form of a guaranteed maximum price, which covers all services rendered from pre-construction through the building process.

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