A change of plans
Paradise approves change orders for infrastructure projects
By Mark Squibb | Vol. 32 No. 47 (Feb. 6, 2020)
Paradise town council recently approved some change orders, meaning some projects will cost a little more than anticipated.
The first in a series of change orders approved during the Jan. 21 meeting was for additional work to the 2018 Water and Sewer upgrades, at a cost of $9, 927.50, HTS included.
“A little bit of a background here, there were some here changes made to the 2018 Water and Sewer construction on O’Brien’s Way to minimize disruption on St. Thomas’ Line, resulting in the need for a construction change order,” explained councillor Deborah Quilty.
“The watermain connection from O’Brien’s Way onto St. Thomas Line would have required a two to three day water service shut down for all services tied into St. Thomas Line North of O’Briens Way, which the Town was not willing to entertain. The consultant proposed some design changes which allowed the contractor to perform a line tap into the existing watermain, eliminating the need to shut off the water. The change also included moving the watermain up to cross the stream above the new culvert as opposed to below as originally planed.”
She noted several fire hydrants on the street also required extensions to meet the new plan.
This is in addition to previous change orders, totalling roughly $37,400, excluding HST, approved during 2018.
Two further change orders were made to Phase 3 of Paradise Road Upgrading.
One was for additional construction time related to replacing valves on Paradise Road during the excavation.
The Town approved the replacement of the valves with change order no. 1 at a cost of $4,117 in August of 2018. However, as Quilty explained, that payment did not include additional engineering time for site inspection and contract administration.
“Change order no. 2 is for this additional engineering time, and is in the amount of $1,460.50, HST included,” said Quilty.
Change order no. 3 was for additional construction time related to the removal of unsuitable material and replacement of blasted rock
“Once Paradise Road was excavated to install the storm sewer, there was significant USM [unsuitable material], which can deteriorate the road further if not replaced,” explained Quilted.
“The work itself was covered in the unit price contract, but there were additional engineering costs incurred for site inspection and contract administration for the extra days.”
The change order is in the amount of $28,709.75, HST included.
Council voted unanimously to approve the change orders.