Big, small contractors line up for sports projects

After completing a new concession stand and restrooms for its football field last year, the district put out bids for a locker room facility for several sports, including football and boys’ and girls’ soccer.

Contractors’ response to that project shows how competitive the construction market has become in southwest Missouri.

“We had 14 bids for that building,” said Willard Assistant Superintendent Janell Royal.

The winning bid – $711,000 – came from Springfield contractor Nesbitt Construction.

Owner Bill Nesbitt attributed competition for Willard’s project to the large projects in Springfield in the last year. He said the largest contractors take the largest projects, forcing remaining builders to compete for what is left.

“The industry is in a state where, with the airport and the power plant and JQH Arena and (expansions at) St. John’s (Health System) going, that’s hundreds of millions of dollars in projects,” he said. “It’s pulling everybody up the ladder – (smaller contractors have) taken up the slack.”

The Willard locker room project is part of a series of district expansions, Royal said, noting that a 5,500-square-foot gymnasium for South Elementary, planned for completion in the fall, received nine bids.

Nesbitt added that the slowing economy boosts the competitive nature of the bidding process.

Willard is by no means the only local school expanding its sports facilities.

Springfield R-XII School District is replacing the home bleachers at Hillcrest football field, according to Athletic Director Mark Fisher. The $650,000 project is being built by Branco Enterprises.

Ozark R-VI School District is close to completion on a $5 million project comprising a new multipurpose field with bleachers, a 9,500-square-foot multiuse building and new restrooms, concession stands and press boxes. That project is funded through a no-tax-increase $10 million bond approved by voters in 2006.

The general contractor on the Ozark project, DeWitt and Associates, also bid on a small bleacher project for the Cabool school district – as did Nesbitt.

“That surprised us,” Nesbitt said, noting that neither his firm nor DeWitt won the bid for the Cabool project. “It was only about a $300,000 job – just a set of steps up a hill that they could bolt the bleachers to.”

Royal said that she has been pleased with the effect the competition has had on bids that have come in for the Willard district’s many projects.

“In November, December and January, the market was really hungry for the work,” she said. “I’m pleased with the local vendors that have been bidding on these projects.”

On the horizon for Glendale High School is a health, physical education and recreation facility funded by sports boosters. Plans for the project, which does not yet have a general contractor, include a football locker room, training room, weight room, coaches offices and a year-round training facility.

The timeline for the Glendale project has not yet been determined, as it will depend on when the money is raised, according to a news release from the booster club. [[In-content Ad]]