By Eric Althoff
LAKEFIELD, Minn.鈥擪raus-Anderson has finished up its work for the Jackson County Central Schools District on a new-build middle school and an elementary school renovation.
The $26 million, 84,000-square-foot Jackson County Central Middle School, designed by JLG Architects, entails new classrooms, kitchens, common areas, technology classrooms, music education areas, as well as a gymnasium. Construction commenced in March of 2021.
Kraus-Anderson has also finished renovating the adjacent Pleasantview Elementary School. The contractor鈥檚 work at the elementary school entailed air quality upgrades and necessary improvements to be in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
Both projects were funded thanks to a $35.4 million bond referendum that was passed by voters in November 2019 in order to meet upgrades throughout the district. The new technical classrooms are also meant to help students as they prepare for careers beyond the post-secondary educational paradigm.
Kraus-Anderson project manager Dustin Kempf spoke with 91视频 recently about the construction. Among the early issues, he said, was that when the project went out for bid in late 2020, contractors were 鈥渁 little bit more hungry鈥� for work, but the industry still hadn鈥檛 quite figured out how to operate as the covid-19 pandemic continued.
鈥淚t was fighting our way back from that,鈥� Kempf said. The next big hurdle Kempf related was that the subcontractor that was scheduled to fabricate steel for the school鈥檚 construction suddenly went out of business.
鈥淭he day it was scheduled to get installed, we got a notice [that] their doors closed鈥攁nd we found out they did not fabricate any of the steel,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淏efore we even had a chance to set the steel, we were already three to five months behind. We actually had to sub it out鈥nowing construction rebidding the job out can take four to six weeks, and that鈥檚 the best-case scenario.鈥�
Kraus-Anderson was eventually able to source the necessary steel for the construction.
鈥淭he design company that we were working with for the steel, we kept them on because the fabricators subbed out the design part of it,鈥� Kempf said. 鈥淭he in-house engineering firm was鈥robably a 10- or 12-hour time difference鈥o most of our conversations had to be [done] very early in the [morning].鈥�
Kempf added that the initial fire protection contractor also went into default, as did a tile contractor, requiring yet more rebids for subcontractors. All told, he believes the various delays resulted in the work being six months behind schedule. Nevertheless, his firm was able to get it all completed.
鈥淲e still feel supply chain issues,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 have to believe it’s going to improve. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 any way it can be sustained.鈥�
Kraus-Anderson was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Minneapolis.