Randy Schaefer: SBS Project Using All Local Men and Material

You can't judge a building project's commitment to local economic development by its house wrap: landowner Randy Schaefer e-mails to say that the Menards house wrap on the Secure Banking Solutions building going up in his taxpayer-assisted commercial/residential development on South Washington Avenue is an exception to an otherwise keenly locally focused project.

According to Mr. Schaefer,

ALL building materials for my building were purchased here in Madison…at Pro-Build. That was my requirement when I bid it out. I hired a local contractor who hired local people and local subcontractors to build with locally purchased materials. It may have cost me extra to do so, but I did it because it’s the right thing to do, and I try to practice what I preach.

Why the Menards wrap? After listening to my rant about how for the love of all that’s good he could possibly have put Menards wrap on my local Pro-Build building, he admitted that he saved himself a little money…$420…by using wrap he had left over from a prior job [Randy Schaefer, personal communication, 2010.12.07].

Mr. Schaefer assures us that a new sign will be going up in front of the development shortly declaring the all-local nature of the project. If he's smart, he'll even put a link to this Madville Times article so people know who inspired the sign.

Save Big (Local Economic Development) Money at Menards...

Speaking of "reasons to go out of town for almost everything"...

Construction proceeds on new Secure Banking Solutions building,
Schaefer Plaza, Madison, SD, 2010.12.06

Some hardy fellows were out in yesterday's cold working on the new Secure Banking Solutions building in the Schaefer Plaza—you know, the little biz/rez district by the Second Street Diner that the Lake Area Improvement Corporation and your tax dollars have helped develop.

Is it still called house wrap when it's on an office building?

Note where the project gets its Typar HouseWrap. It's not Pro-Build up the street.

Not that I'm complaining: I'm getting ready for another big cereal run to Hy-Vee myself. And that big telehandler on the job says "Amert Construction," so the project is putting local guys to work.

But, as my commenters have pointed out in our discussion of supporting main street renovation, local economic development requires offering goods and services of real value. The LAIC's record on that score is pretty weak.

Madison New Gym Actually Over $5 Million?

In response to my post questioning the $2.9 million price tag cited by the Madison school district for its proposed new gym, I get the following comment on my KELO blog from Tim S.:

As a Construction Project Manager/Estimator if I were to put a conceptional estimate number to a 42,500SF Gymnasium for this area of the country the costs would probably be somewhere around $121.39 per SF = $5,159,075.

In the current bidding market we have seen most public projects coming in at an average of 20% less than the anticipated cost estimates, so if that holds true the cost could be reduced to around $4,127,260. Most of the time they can get creative with cost estimates by not including certain things or by creating lots of alternate bid items to achieve their end means. Not being able to see the full breakdown it is possible that the 2.9 million is for just the gym area alone and does not include other supporting areas. Estimates are always just educated guesses and the more information available the better you end number will be.

Just My Two Cents.

Two cents... which by Madison math would actually be four cents?

Chinese Could Build MHS Gym in Two Days

If Madison does build a new gym, maybe we could hire these Chinese guys who built the 15-story Ark Hotel in Changsha last summer in six days:



Pre-fab parts make building like playing with big Legos. The Chinese say no one was injured on the job site, either. Wow!