Barrington residents learned last week that a new middle school in town is estimated to cost approximately $80 million.

Meanwhile, Barrington school and building officials are tempering the estimate, stating that the final price may be less. Jeff Brenner, a former member of the town council and current member of the school building committee, said the estimate offered by the design firm Kaestle Boos Associates is preliminary.

"Do I think the final figure is going to be $80 million? No. But you have to start somewhere," he said.

On Monday, Jan. 25, officials from Kaestle Boos unveiled two estimates — one for a new middle school building ($80.7 million), and one for a renovated middle school with an addition ($89.6 million).

The estimate for the new building included $53.9 million for hard construction costs, $15 million for contingencies and price escalation (assuming the project would not begin until 2018), and soft costs such as engineering fees and consultant work totaling $6.2 million.

The estimate also showed $1 million for the owners project representative, $125,000 for pre-construction services and nearly $500,000 in "miscellaneous soft costs."

In addition, officials projected $2 million in traffic improvements.

Mr. Brenner said the $80 million estimate may have surprised some people because of an earlier estimate. He said officials from a different firm offered a $40 or $45 million estimate for a new middle school about six years ago. He added that in six years, construction prices have increased.

In fact, officials offered the school department an escalation calculator with the project estimate. Starting with a project costing $40 million in 2010, a 4.5 percent increase in 2011, 2012 and 2013, pushed the price to $45.6, then 5 percent increases in 2014, 2015 and 2016, bumped the price to $52.8 million. Two more increases of 5.5 and 6 percent push the construction estimates to $59.3 million.

Barrington School Committee member Patrick Guida was a member of the building committee that first promoted an addition to the high school more than a decade ago. Speaking as the co-chairman of the current building committee, Mr. Guida said "I wasn't stunned" by Kaestle Boos's project estimate. "I would say unpleasantly surprised."

Mr. Guida said the earlier estimate was likely the result of a depressed construction market following the economic recession in 2008.

Mr. Guida added that Kaestle Boos used a student population estimate of 900 while crafting the proposal. Population projects have shown there to be about 750 students in grades 6, 7 and 8 in 2020, when the school is expected to open, but Mr. Guida said districts often see increases when new schools are built.

"We didn't want to be caught in the future with a building that was too small," he said.

Mr. Brenner said that building committee officials will request better cost estimates from the designer in the near future, which will allow officials to understand how eliminating or reducing portions of the project will impact the bottom line.

"That's how it works," said Mr. Brenner.

Renovation estimate

Despite having less square footage, a renovated middle school carries a larger estimate for building construction — $49 million vs. $44.8 million for new construction.

The estimates for soft costs are also more expensive for the renovated middle school.

The vote

During the Jan. 25 meeting where the estimate was offered, Jeff Brenner made the motion to recommend to the school committee the following: (1) to approve the conceptual plans and preliminary cost estimates for the middle school building project as presented by Kaestle Boos Associates to include both the new construction and addition with renovation designs to be presented to the Rhode Island Department of Education in a Stage II application; and (2) to authorize Kaestle Boos to proceed with providing more specific future cost estimates for both proposals with a focus on a new construction design as the building committee's preferred design approach.