"NEW" HANNA CONSTRUCTION TRADES BUILDING: HOW NOT TO BUILD ONE; NO A.C., WATER SEEPAGE, CANCER AGENTS USED

4. Recommend approval of Payment #8 for $23,839.67 as Final payment to NM Contracting for work completed at the Hanna ECHS Construction Technology Building to be paid from Local Fund 192.

By Juan Montoya
The Brownsville Independent School District is engaging in a real-time exercise to teach construction trades students a hands-on lesson with today's planned approval of the final payment to the contractor of the Hanna ECHS Construction Technology Building, NM Constructing.

The lesson to construction trades students? How not to build an instruction facility.

The Hanna ECHS Construction Technology building was originally going to cost somewhere around $550,000 and would include instruction in the building trades, painting, carpentry, an other skills associated with the building and vocational trades.

But after a succession of change orders and changes in the specs approved by the district, the real cost will be climbing past $600,000 toward $700,000.

These changes – after negotiations by board members and facilities maintenance supervisor Kenneth Lieck – have resulted in the higher costs and several glaring anomalies in the construction of the facility.

The building, for example:

1. Has no air conditioning. That was included in the original specs for the building that was later removed to lower costs. If the students want to have some cool air, they will have to open the large garage doors to allow air to circulate from the outside.



This despite promises on the record by the contractor to Lieck and board members on a walk-through tour that he would construct curves where the air conditioning and drives (in the future) may be placed. They never were.

2. The district, at its own cost, is placing large fans in large squares they broke through the cinder block walls to provide a place for exhaust and dust to exit the working space. With the building still under warranty, was it wise for the district's crews to make these changes and forfeit the warranty?

3. Already, the inside of the building has water leaks, including water seeping near the main electric fuse boxes, and mold appears to be beginning to form. (See graphic at left. Click to enlarge.)

4. There will be no spray booth for lacquering or varnishing cabinets and furniture in the building. Uses for the booth in a normal Construction Technological Program include light spray painting, and varnishing or lacquering on cabinets, tables, shelves and custom projects. That was also removed to cut costs. If the students want to apply lacquer or varnish to a piece of woodwork, they will have to open the garage doors and turn on the exhaust fans to provide ventilation.

5. The outside security lights, instead of being placed on the trim line near the roof, were placed on the side of the walls almost as an afterthought.

6. Sewage pipes will run along the ceiling, above the working areas where students will receive instruction.

7. And workers used cancer-causing materials which the State of California found cause cancer when the materials were drilled, sawed, or by sanding or machining, causing dust to be inhaled by people (students?).




But Lieck and his crew have a "sweetener" for
the BISD and construction trade students. NM Contracting has agreed to change orders giving a credit back to the district totaling $46,937.

But some of the costs have been questioned, such as the district's testing of concrete beams which is the responsibility of the supplier.

Workers at the site overheard of a foreman for the company saying that it had been so difficult working with the district that it might be the last time they would bid on a BISD facility.

There will be a Construction Technology Course for Hanna students using the building as a hands-on educational tool: Building 101: How Not To Build a Construction Trade Facility.