Maplewood Homes Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino
San Bernardino, CA
Improving the quality of life for San Bernardino residents with much-needed housing rehabilitation and lead encapsulation.
Built in the 1950’s, the Maplewood Homes housing community encompasses 296 residential units consisting of single homes or duplexes ranging from one to five bedrooms. Most of these homes were aged and experiencing weathering and discoloration. The exterior improvements of these homes consisted of new stucco, roofs, windows, security screening, painting, rough carpentry, and electrical upgrades. Environmental improvements included: containment of hazardous materials, replacement of fascia boards and removal or encapsulation of lead-based paint.
HKA was hired by the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino (HACSB) to perform constructability review, value engineering, labor/material market survey, bid strategy, and construction management. HKA’s architectural redesign, constructability review and value engineering recommendations resulted in $1.5 million in savings of which $750,000 was attributable to revisions in the lead abatement specifications. The redesign of the plans, specifications, and bid sheets resulted in obtaining bids $1 million dollars lower than the original estimated budget for the project.
The HACSB advertised each construction trade separately so the project did not have a general engineering contractor. HKA’s construction management services included: preparing of bid packages, scheduling the advertisement of each trade bid, conducting pre-bid job walks, reviewing bids for completeness and accuracy, scheduling and coordinating various trade contractors in addition to the general construction management responsibilities of day-to-day oversight and contract administration. The day to day contract administration included recording daily site inspection, stormwater and labor compliance, safety, coordination with tenants, property managers, and daycare director, processing daily, weekly and monthly paperwork, processing monthly pay requests, and mitigating conflict resolution.
Due to HKA’s responsiveness, talented staff, and professionalism, HKA was hired to prepared landscape design plans for the entire project site. The landscape plants needed to have native materials and be selected with consideration for height and location to maintain security and line of sight visibility.
The existing water system had only 30 psi which was inadequate for the irrigation of almost 300 homes. HKA coordinated and negotiated contract prices for a 3 phase master irrigation system pump which would provide the needed pressure and would operate at a higher electrical efficiency. In order to use a 3 phase motor, HKA coordinated with Edison to bring 3 phase electrical power from a nearby location to the Maplewood Homesite. The 3 phase electrical power along with the use of native plants substantially reduced both the water bill and electrical bill for the HACSB. The design of the project included plan approval from the City of San Bernardino and coordination with numerous utility providers for five City street irrigation crossovers.
Again, HKA assisted the HACSB in the bidding process to locate qualified bidders and performed construction management services.