Two million smackeroos!

By Meg Olson

The Point Roberts water district commissioners will be deciding what to do next when they meet in November after both bids to build a consolidated shop and office came in at over double the project budget.

“It was really a shocker,” said district manager Dan Bourks following the October 17 bid opening. Faber Construction and Tiger Construction were the only companies to submit bids to build a 4,200 SF shop, a 1,200 SF office building and adjacent parking and landscaping. Both bids were over $2 million. “We just can’t do that,” Bourks said. “It would drain our reserves.”

Bourks said the engineer’s construction estimate was under $1 million and he had expected bids between $1.2 and $1.4 million because of add-ons related to soils.

Bourks said he will ask commissioners to consider options from re-bidding the project as it is or limiting it to only the office building at this time.