Thompson addition will not be done by start of school – Wicked Local Arlington

Abbi Matheson

The original completion date for the critical Thompson school addition is Friday, Aug. 18 and the general contractor, GTC Construction, now says only the existing classrooms will be finished by then.

"I don't know if I have a lot of faith," Brian DeFilipis of PMA Consultants, the Owners Project Manager for the Thompson School project, told Permanent Town Building Committee (PTBC) members on Aug. 15.

The six-classroom addition is meant to alleviate overcrowding at the school.

Final push on existing classrooms

The only construction work remaining on the existing classrooms are installation of dry-erase boards and doors and flooring at the connectors to the new addition. The existing classrooms also need to be cleaned before they move furniture in and teachers move their supplies in.

On Aug. 15, there were only six men working on the site, all cleaners.

"[It] doesn't feel like the end of a job," DeFilipis said.

Burt Barachowitz, also of PMA Consultants, told the committee the existing classrooms had to be finished by Aug. 25 so teachers could move in and set up their classrooms. Teachers who were supposed to be in the new classrooms would remain in the modular units.

Facilities Director Ruthy Bennett told the committee town janitors can finish the cleaning and, if need be, the town can use their own facilities workers to finish the remaining work in the existing classrooms, freeing up contractors to work on the additional classrooms. Since town workers are not specialized contractors, Bennett expected it would take them about four days for her crew of five to finish the work.

"It's not a lot of work," she told the committee. "You just have to do it."

Flooring and furniture timing

According to DeFilipis, flooring in the addition is scheduled to begin Aug. 21, the same day furniture is scheduled to be delivered. He told the committee the classrooms in the addition would be floored first so furniture could be moved out of the gym, where it is being constructed.

The schedule GTC Construction provided to PMA at the beginning of the month was supposed to look ahead three weeks. It stopped at Aug. 18, DeFilipis told the committee, only looking ahead two weeks.

"It has to be a perfectly oiled machine," said DeFilipis.

DeFilipis told the PTBC that he had requested two teams from GTC Construction to install flooring in the addition. Barachowitz said he hoped the flooring contractor will come to the site this week to assess the workload.

Discussing damages and moving forward

On Aug. 18, Defilipis told the committee PMA would make a list of everything at the site that is not completed. Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine and Bennett will also be at the site on Aug. 18 to asses the progress. If they are not comfortable with it, they will discuss how town facilities workers can be used to finish the existing classrooms in time for the start of school.

PTBC member John Maher noted that at some point the town will have to consider damages resulting from the delay in construction. These damages come in the form of monetary compensation and are based off of financial setbacks that may occur if the contractor is late finishing the project. One such damage, Bennett noted, could be the cost of having to move furniture multiple times because of delays in flooring installation.

Maher added that damages are tricky because the town don't want to send the wrong message to other contractors, like ones coming in for the Arlington High School project, that they will be charged for being a few days late. The dilemma, he said, is where town officials should draw the line.

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Thompson addition will not be done by start of school - Wicked Local Arlington