Despite a couple of slight changes to the original plan, construction projects related to the WISD Bond are still on track to finish as expected.
At Monday’s school board meeting, trustees approved a change order assigning a bid for cabinetry work to Southwest Drywall (a company already working on the bond projects).
As the plans for the new auditorium began to come into focus, it was clear the original bid for the cabinetry work needed (essentially a wall panel system in the lobby) was going to be too high.
After a re-bid, when Southwest Drywall confirmed that they could not only do the work but at a fraction of the cost originally quoted, they earned the job.
The second change came from the general contractor, whose bid for the new multi-purpose building wasn’t finalized until December, thus pushing back their start time. The project will still take the same amount of time to complete, adding about 200 days to the original time frame. Regardless, the company is confident they’ll finish the project in time.
Work at the new agricultural building is moving right along. Plumbing has been dug, rebar has been tied, slabs have been poured and the structure is getting ready for metal paneling. The electrician should be arriving in the next two weeks.
Rebar that wasn’t used at the ag building has been transferred to the new multi-purpose building site.
Work on the new Early Childhood Center is also moving forward. Exterior metal studs are scheduled to be installed this week and interior will follow. The team now has two steel erector cranes on-site to help move the work along.
The CTE/auditorium buildings are also on-track. Over the Christmas break, crews reworked the slope of the existing roof to help minimize water collection.
All in all, contractors and work crews were happy to report that all projects are moving forward as hoped and expected. At this point (although variables like weather are always a factor), anticipated project completion dates are as follows:
• Agri-Science Building - 6/30/2026
• ECC Building - 8/1/2026 (although this time frame is pretty tight, so there’s a possibility it could be slightly later)
• Multi-Purpose Building - 10/22/2026
• Auditorium/CTE Addition - 1/1/2027 (this one may finish a little earlier, but the projected completion date provides teams a little wiggle room for any unplanned factors)
Citizens are encouraged to monitor construction updates by visiting www.whitesboroisd.org and clicking on the 2024 Bond Construction tab at the top of the page.
There, the public can see construction progress videos and gain a clearer understanding of layout, design and bids.