Inner-workings of jail’s schematic budget

The first of two options for the jail’s design explored

By Steve Van Kooten

Greg Callin, vice president of client services for Kraemer Brothers, sat at the finance committee’s table with a schematic budget in his hands. Along the wall, lined up next to him were several of the jail project’s movers and shakers, including Project Architect John Grothman, Project Manager Mitch Gilbertson and Architect Eric Daniels.

On March 20, Callin asked the committee to move the schematic budget presentation to April 3 to allow Kraemer Brothers extra time to  craft an accurate budget. Callin provided the budget as expected.

But there’s a twist: it was the first of two schematic budgets.

By design

Based on the county’s needs assessment, the design team developed a stair-less, “stacked day room” option for the schematic design, which was one of multiple possibilities explored for the new addition.

“When we went down that path, especially with the jail component, at that schematic design level, that’s always a time you want to look at different approaches and different things.”

Klein McCarthy and Kraemer Brothers also  included input from county workers for jail cell layout and other necessities.

“When we got to the jail cell design, in particular, there were a couple ways we could go,” said Callin.

He said jail cells are traditionally designed in two stories, even in a single-story building. 

In the design, a stairway and  mezzanine allowed access to cells on the upper level. Day rooms and commons areas remained one-level areas.

Architects considered multiple designs for the interior of the jail cells, including side-by-side bunks instead of stacked bunk beds.

Callin said the side-by-side bunking system increased the project’s cost because it required additional area. To accommodate the bunks and maintain the required floor clearance, each cell would need 25 square feet more space.

The presented schematic budget said the “stacked” design required 79,000 total square feet for the project, an increase from the concept budget’s 66,000.

“When that square footage grows by that much, do the math on it,” said Callin. “If the jail’s square footage cost is $650 a foot, you can see how that translates to what the additional cost of the project may be.”

He added the presented design added “complexity” to the jail’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems compared to facilities Kraemer Brothers built in Iowa and Burnett counties, which were the basis for Crawford County’s initial design and budget.

“There’s probably pros and cons to both designs from an operational standpoint, but, clearly, there’s a difference from a cost perspective,” said Callin.

By budget

“When we get into a schematic design level, [Klein McCarthy] are [sic] really advancing designs. On a percentage complete level, it’s about 15 percent,” said Callin.

When a project moves from the concept design phase to the schematic design phase, budgets become more complete because project managers have more details about materials, including subcontractor input, to estimate costs.

“Take concrete block,” Callin said. “That new addition is going to be a lot of concrete block in that building. Mitch [Gilbertson] can measure and quantify how much concrete block now.”

Kraemer received subcontractor input on electrical, mechanical and HVAC systems, as well as detention equipment, to apply cost analysis to most, though not all, divisions of labor.

“We’re now quantifying and measuring your project with today’s costs,” said Callin.

The design’s general construction costs increased from the concept budget, which Callin called “disappointing news.” The increase in square footage and changes to MEP systems accounted for the lion’s share of increased costs.

Callin also said inflation factored into the higher budget numbers.

“When we factored in inflation to get to the spring, everything we had been looking at in 2023 indicated that the last year of annualized inflation was going to be in the three to four percent [range] as it relates to commercial construction. It’s currently ticking at 10–11 percent.”

Higher-than-expected inflation affected material costs, including concrete and precious metals needed for the jail’s structure and utility systems.

“We continued to see increases in all the mechanical trades consistently over the last year,” said Callin.

Site development costs decreased from $1.5 million to $855,000. Those costs included utility work on Hayden Street and roadwork to accommodate approximately 23 diagonal parking spots on Park Street.

The work on Hayden Street would install a new water main to meet the new facility’s fire protection needs, according to Gilbertson.

“Even with that, we’re still under budget for site development,” Callin said.

By time

The schematic budget’s total cost was $32.5 million.

“The good news is that the budget is on a design we no longer would like to pursue,” Callin said. “What you’re seeing today is us going through that and still budgeting that design concept. We needed to go through that process to really validate it collectively as a team.”

Koch said, “These numbers will hopefully be lower in the bid concept; in other words, we’re hoping, competitively, those numbers go down when we get to market.”

“This is pretty normal for a schematic budget; we work on some design options and concepts, get those out [to subcontractors] to see what the numbers are,” Callin said.

Callin added that the jail committee started work on a traditional jail design that reduced the building’s square footage and addressed other design issues presented in the current budget.

“Lots of good ideas and efficiencies [are] being built into that design.”

Callin will present a schematic budget for the traditional jail design to the finance committee on April 17.