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Forum Troll
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What's the going rate to build a high school these days?

Fort bend passes 1 billion in school bonds in November elections then today unveils a 180 million dollar plan to build a high school in Rosharon (265 per square foot).

180 million dollars....
Liquid Wrench
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Rosharon is in FBISD?
Forum Troll
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I think part of it is in far southeastern fort bend county.
TXTransplant
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Grand Oaks is the newest high school in Conroe ISD, and it supposedly cost ~$150 million. IDK the size, but it's up to 4K in enrollment and is already overcrowded.

Tomball Memorial opened in 2011, is 350k sq ft, and cost $60 million.
mm98
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It's crazy. I think Morton Ranch in Katy was about $125 several years ago. Tompkins that opened a couple of years ago was $202 I think. But that included a natorium that all schools use (I think).
strohag
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There are plenty of elementary schools being built that cost 25 to 30 million. This is not uncommon for a high school especially since athletic facilities are built with a high school.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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BigPuma
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mm98 said:

It's crazy. I think Morton Ranch in Katy was about $125 several years ago. Tompkins that opened a couple of years ago was $202 I think. But that included a natorium that all schools use (I think).


OTHS wasn't that expensive iirc. HS9 will be in excess of 250mm
mm98
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BigPuma said:

mm98 said:

It's crazy. I think Morton Ranch in Katy was about $125 several years ago. Tompkins that opened a couple of years ago was $202 I think. But that included a natorium that all schools use (I think).


OTHS wasn't that expensive iirc. HS9 will be in excess of 250mm


You're correct. I was looking at the website wrong.

#9 will be the expensive one over $200M. Paetow will be around $170M.

Tompkins was lower $100s
Goodest Poster
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Forum Troll said:

What's the going rate to build a high school these days?

Fort bend passes 1 billion in school bonds in November elections then today unveils a 180 million dollar plan to build a high school in Rosharon (265 per square foot).

180 million dollars....


Sucks to own apartments
BrazosBendHorn
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Social Media Influencer said:

Rosharon is in FBISD?
It may depend on how you define Rosharon. The community of Rosharon located around the intersection of FM 1462 and FM 521 is in Brazoria County, 4 miles distant from the Fort Bend County line (both to the north and the west) ...

But the postal designation for Rosharon probably extends quite a ways out ...
Liquid Wrench
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Ok, maybe so. Looking at the map of the boundary and where the new site is, that's a lot closer to Sienna Plantation or Arcola than what I would call Rosharon. Looks like it's just reporters calling it "Rosharon" because there isn't a bigger town name there, I guess. And it looks like you're right about the postal designation.
chimpanzee
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Government construction contracts with jurisdictions that are less commercially savvy and less accountable than TxDOT?

I'm shocked that the prices are skyrocketing.
schmellba99
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BrazosBendHorn said:

Social Media Influencer said:

Rosharon is in FBISD?
It may depend on how you define Rosharon. The community of Rosharon located around the intersection of FM 1462 and FM 521 is in Brazoria County, 4 miles distant from the Fort Bend County line (both to the north and the west) ...

But the postal designation for Rosharon probably extends quite a ways out ...
Yep. Rosharon postal code is a pretty large area, but the actual town is pretty small. Big debate down here as to whether Bonney is a suburb of Rosharon, or Rosharon is a suburb of Bonney after all.

The new HS will be in the Sienna Plantation area, going to pull from the north much more than it will pull from the south. And $150MM isn't out of range for a new greenfield facility.
Bassmaster
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Are you sure? I thought they didn't even have a junior and senior class yet?
TXTransplant
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Bassmaster said:

Are you sure? I thought they didn't even have a junior and senior class yet?


My mistake - I read the article wrong. Grand Oaks was designed for 3100, but it's Oak Ridge HS that's overcrowded with 4K+.

I was just using those numbers to give the OP an idea of the size of the school, since I couldn't find square footage info for Grand Oaks when I was looking last night. It's 535k sq ft, though (~$300/sq ft)
chimpanzee
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schmellba99 said:

BrazosBendHorn said:

Social Media Influencer said:

Rosharon is in FBISD?
It may depend on how you define Rosharon. The community of Rosharon located around the intersection of FM 1462 and FM 521 is in Brazoria County, 4 miles distant from the Fort Bend County line (both to the north and the west) ...

But the postal designation for Rosharon probably extends quite a ways out ...
Yep. Rosharon postal code is a pretty large area, but the actual town is pretty small. Big debate down here as to whether Bonney is a suburb of Rosharon, or Rosharon is a suburb of Bonney after all.

The new HS will be in the Sienna Plantation area, going to pull from the north much more than it will pull from the south. And $150MM isn't out of range for a new greenfield facility.

Don't Rosharon my Liverpool!
NoahAg
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Public school spending is ridiculous.
schmellba99
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chimpanzee said:

schmellba99 said:

BrazosBendHorn said:

Social Media Influencer said:

Rosharon is in FBISD?
It may depend on how you define Rosharon. The community of Rosharon located around the intersection of FM 1462 and FM 521 is in Brazoria County, 4 miles distant from the Fort Bend County line (both to the north and the west) ...

But the postal designation for Rosharon probably extends quite a ways out ...
Yep. Rosharon postal code is a pretty large area, but the actual town is pretty small. Big debate down here as to whether Bonney is a suburb of Rosharon, or Rosharon is a suburb of Bonney after all.

The new HS will be in the Sienna Plantation area, going to pull from the north much more than it will pull from the south. And $150MM isn't out of range for a new greenfield facility.

Don't Rosharon my Liverpool!
Dawg....Liverpool is hell and gone from this metroplex. It's on the other side of 288 in the boonies.
chimpanzee
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schmellba99 said:

chimpanzee said:

schmellba99 said:

BrazosBendHorn said:

Social Media Influencer said:

Rosharon is in FBISD?
It may depend on how you define Rosharon. The community of Rosharon located around the intersection of FM 1462 and FM 521 is in Brazoria County, 4 miles distant from the Fort Bend County line (both to the north and the west) ...

But the postal designation for Rosharon probably extends quite a ways out ...
Yep. Rosharon postal code is a pretty large area, but the actual town is pretty small. Big debate down here as to whether Bonney is a suburb of Rosharon, or Rosharon is a suburb of Bonney after all.

The new HS will be in the Sienna Plantation area, going to pull from the north much more than it will pull from the south. And $150MM isn't out of range for a new greenfield facility.

Don't Rosharon my Liverpool!
Dawg....Liverpool is hell and gone from this metroplex. It's on the other side of 288 in the boonies.
It's a slippery slope.
schmellba99
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NoahAg said:

Public school spending is ridiculous.
Some aspects of it are, but the new facilities really aren't when you look at construction costs of pretty much anything and the life cycle you get out of a building (assuming maintenance is done halfway properly).

And construction costs don't include just the building either - most of the time they also include the infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, electricity, internet, etc.) to get to the building itself. Add in exterior facilities like stadiums/athletic fields, swimming pools, STEM campuses, FFA/4H facilities, etc. as well in the published cost of the school.
Dr. Doctor
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schmellba99 said:

NoahAg said:

Public school spending is ridiculous.
Some aspects of it are, but the new facilities really aren't when you look at construction costs of pretty much anything and the life cycle you get out of a building (assuming maintenance is done halfway properly).

And construction costs don't include just the building either - most of the time they also include the infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, electricity, internet, etc.) to get to the building itself. Add in exterior facilities like stadiums/athletic fields, swimming pools, STEM campuses, FFA/4H facilities, etc. as well in the published cost of the school.
And don't forget simple things...like

- desks
- chairs
- janitor supplies
- office equipment
etc.

Those aren't free and don't magically show up. As a construction guy in a different field, it's funny to watch potential owners start balking at prices when you have to include EVERYTHING in the quote. Or excluding things in the quote and they realized they forgot to include that in their budgets....

~egon
ThunderCougarFalconBird
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People do seem to forget the amount of civil work that has to go into these big projects. Things like site preparation, infrastructure installation, electrical, roads, etc. This isn't slapping a tract house into a subdivision. Hell, it isn't even dropping box retail on a site.

And then there's maintenance for the life of the building. I assume that just gets pilfered by sticky fingered school administrators for pet projects and then has to be replenished by new bond issues, but what do I know?
Pahdz
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Tech ain't cheap either, and ol Cankles McGee the history teacher isn't rolling the overhead projector or laser disc cart down the halls from classroom to classroom anymore.
Liquid Wrench
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The new elementary in my neighborhood basically looks like a spaceship compared to ye schools of olde.
Dr. Doctor
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I worked for a client that was installing 3x100% of everything for the plant.

Why? They could get CAPEX, not OPEX. So when one broke, they could turn on another system. When that broke, turn on the third system. When that broke, pilfer from the other 2 machines and see if you get something up and running.

After 10-15 years, you can claim you need to 'upgrade' and get three more machines. And scrap the original 3.

~egon
Worm01
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Yeah, current AVG budget for a HS is around $265-285/SF, and that's JUST construction costs. Some are going for over $300/sf. There are several large HS projects over $200M. Waller is about to build one for $195M all-in.

Middle Schools are $240-260/sf. Elementary schools are going for $200-225/sf.

And these aren't overly extravagant. It sounds crazy, but things cost what they cost.
TXTransplant
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Some additional numbers for comparison:

Tomball ISD just approved a budget that includes a new elementary school, junior high, and football stadium. They are all being built on the same site. Cost breakdown is -

$21 million for the elementary school (K-4, 675 students, 117k sq ft)
$43 million for the junior high (6-8, 900 students, 232k sq ft). The design is modeled on another jr high the district opened in 2016. That school cost $36.6 million, so that gives an idea of how much construction costs have increased (although, the new school is about 10% bigger)
$42 million for the stadium (10k seats)
$44 million for site development, which includes a wastewater treatment plant.
Biz Ag
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I audited the construction company that built Ft. Bend Austin HS. It opened in 1995 at a cost of $23 million.
Zobel
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Quote:

And these aren't overly extravagant. It sounds crazy, but things cost what they cost.
Bullcrap. Cmon man, schools these days aren't built the same as they were 30 years ago.
TriAg2010
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schmellba99 said:

NoahAg said:

Public school spending is ridiculous.
Some aspects of it are, but the new facilities really aren't when you look at construction costs of pretty much anything and the life cycle you get out of a building (assuming maintenance is done halfway properly).

And construction costs don't include just the building either - most of the time they also include the infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, electricity, internet, etc.) to get to the building itself. Add in exterior facilities like stadiums/athletic fields, swimming pools, STEM campuses, FFA/4H facilities, etc. as well in the published cost of the school.

And they don't do jack **** to educate kids. We're publicly subsidizing very, very expensive hobbies. In 1962, someone made an entire movie about how marching bands are a rip-off and now those look like a friggin' bargain.
TriAg2010
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Dr. Doctor said:

schmellba99 said:

NoahAg said:

Public school spending is ridiculous.
Some aspects of it are, but the new facilities really aren't when you look at construction costs of pretty much anything and the life cycle you get out of a building (assuming maintenance is done halfway properly).

And construction costs don't include just the building either - most of the time they also include the infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, electricity, internet, etc.) to get to the building itself. Add in exterior facilities like stadiums/athletic fields, swimming pools, STEM campuses, FFA/4H facilities, etc. as well in the published cost of the school.
And don't forget simple things...like

- desks
- chairs
- janitor supplies
- office equipment
etc.


Those aren't free and don't magically show up. As a construction guy in a different field, it's funny to watch potential owners start balking at prices when you have to include EVERYTHING in the quote. Or excluding things in the quote and they realized they forgot to include that in their budgets....

~egon

Man that's all OpEx and has no business getting wrapped into a bond. GTFO if you want to depreciate Windex and desk chairs.
bularry
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TriAg2010 said:

Dr. Doctor said:

schmellba99 said:

NoahAg said:

Public school spending is ridiculous.
Some aspects of it are, but the new facilities really aren't when you look at construction costs of pretty much anything and the life cycle you get out of a building (assuming maintenance is done halfway properly).

And construction costs don't include just the building either - most of the time they also include the infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, electricity, internet, etc.) to get to the building itself. Add in exterior facilities like stadiums/athletic fields, swimming pools, STEM campuses, FFA/4H facilities, etc. as well in the published cost of the school.
And don't forget simple things...like

- desks
- chairs
- janitor supplies
- office equipment
etc.


Those aren't free and don't magically show up. As a construction guy in a different field, it's funny to watch potential owners start balking at prices when you have to include EVERYTHING in the quote. Or excluding things in the quote and they realized they forgot to include that in their budgets....

~egon

Man that's all OpEx and has no business getting wrapped into a bond. GTFO if you want to depreciate Windex and desk chairs.
how many desks in a 6A high school? that ain't windex $
Liquid Wrench
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Slightly on-topic, but I drove past Angelton HS yesterday and that's a pretty impressive looking complex from the road.


*from google image search
Worm01
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k2aggie07 said:


Quote:

And these aren't overly extravagant. It sounds crazy, but things cost what they cost.
Bullcrap. Cmon man, schools these days aren't built the same as they were 30 years ago.
Oh, of course not. Schools today are MUCH nicer than they were 30 years ago. I meant overly extravagant by today's standards. If you want to debate if Districts are providing adequate ROI for what they are investing in new facilities, that's a different and worthy discussion. I'm just saying, for the most part, construction costs are in line with what they should be based on the designs.
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