Whistler’s mayor and council voted unanimously at the Jan. 25 meeting to award a $1.7-million contract for a new public safety building roof to Surrey company Bollman Roofing and Sheet Metal Ltd.
The two-story building located at 4315 Blackcomb Way that houses both Whistler’s main fire hall and the local RCMP detachment was built in 1979. Its roof was last replaced with cedar shakes during a second phase of construction in 1995, explained RMOW facilities construction manager Andy Chalk.
“After 27 years, the shake roof has exceeded its design life expectancy and is in urgent need of replacement,” he told council.
The roof replacement project was initially tendered in July 2021, but received just a single bid that was ultimately rejected by the RMOW due to both cost and lack of clarity.
RMOW staff expanded the parameters of their request for proposals last fall to allow for several different types of roofing materials. When the tender closed in mid-November, the RMOW had received three formal bids, two of which were compliant.
Consultants recommended the RMOW proceed with Bollman Roofing and Sheet Ltd.’s bid of $1,482,100. With an additional contingency of 15 per cent of construction costs, the 2022 budget allotment for the project amounts to $1.7 million, to be drawn from the RMOW’s general capital reserves.
Construction is due to begin this spring and take approximately 10 weeks, ideally wrapping up prior to July 1.
Following Chalk’s presentation, Councillor Duane Jackson noted that the 2021 budget consideration for the project was listed at approximately $700,000 and inquired whether the increase was due to fluctuating market conditions or a change in the project’s scope.
The answer is both, said Chalk, first citing seismic concerns due to the building’s age.
The new roof will include an additional three-quarter-inch plywood layer tied into the walls to improve the public safety building’s structural dynamics “that probably wasn’t well-considered in the original budget for the project,” Chalk explained.
The price tag “is also very indicative of the market conditions today,” he added. “We worked very hard with a number of different contractors to understand what the cost of this project would be, and we felt that somewhere in the neighborhood of $700,000 to $1 million should be enough to do the work. However, we’ve been to the marketplace twice and we’re getting these numbers back.”
