FARMINGDALE — There appear to be no more barriers to building a fire station in Farmingdale after bids came in under budget Wednesday.
Selectmen opened up nine bids from Maine-based contractors to build a station on Maine Avenue, all under the $1.7 million budget approved by residents in December 2018.
“Everyone did a big sigh of relief,” Selectman Wayne Kilgore said Thursday.
Augusta-based Peachey Builders offered the lowest bid, with a $1,349,176 proposal. Kilgore said the town never has worked with the company but has “heard a lot of good things about them.”
The next closest bid was from Etna-based Lupo Construction Inc., coming in at $1,427,664. The highest bid came in from Scarborough-based Ducas Construction at $1,654,719.
Six other contractors returned bids: Augusta-based Blane Casey Building Contractor Inc., Rockport-based Bruce Laukka Inc., South Portland-based DiMatteo Construction, Freeport-based Doten’s Construction, Winthrop-based S.J. Wood Construction and Turner-based T. Buck Construction.
Two contractors provided prices for steel-framed buildings: Doten’s and S.J. Wood bid $1,578,065 and $1,602,817, respectively. Bruce Laukka Inc., which bid $1,564,308 for this project, built Hallowell’s fire station last summer.
Kilgore said a bid will likely be chosen at the selectmen’s next regular meeting on Wednesday. Waterville-based engineers A.E. Hodsdon will review all bids before one is selected. Construction is expected to start when the weather warms up, Kilgore said.
In 2017, voters approved up to $1 million in funding for a new station next to Gosline’s Hardware on Maine Avenue. That funding was never secured because it was insufficient to cover the cost of bids received in September 2018. Those bids — all of which were rejected in October 2018 — ranged from $1,543,000 to $1,776,651. Selectman and engineers said skyrocketing material prices were to blame for the high bids.
Kilgore, who also works at Home Depot, said prices have not changed since the last bid cycle, but contractors are more eager to schedule their work before the season has started.
Residents thought the plans were too expensive in December 2018. In response to their complaints, selectmen approved minor changes to the project, which will save $43,650 in construction and engineering costs.
Financing for the building was finalized in January when selectmen accepted Kennebec Savings Bank’s loan offer based on a 4.29 percent interest rate. The town was looking to secure funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but the government shutdown complicated the process. The town could make annual payments of $126,759.48 or pay it down monthly to reduce total interest. Projections by town staff showed $835,189.60 in accrued interest over the 20-year term.
The fire station site, just north of Gosline’s Hardware on Maine Avenue, has been clear since May 2018. The plan is to build a three-bay, 80-foot-by-80-foot station.
Sam Shepherd — 621-5666
Twitter: @SamShepME
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.