A Guilford County staff selection committee has decided that Greensboro-based Samet Corp. is “by far” the right company to build a new $20-million adult services mental health building to be constructed on Third Street in Maple Professional Park in Greensboro, near the Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services Building on Maple Street.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is expected to give official approval to Samet at the board’s Thursday, Jan 17 meeting.
The arrangement calls for Samet to act as project manager using the “Construction Management at Risk” (CMAR) method. That method gives the county a good deal of flexibility during the construction process and it also protects the county against cost overruns. Under the CMAR method, Samet will act as a consultant during the bid process before overseeing construction of the major new county project. Samet will assure the county a guaranteed maximum price.
Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing told several commissioners, at a small meeting held to set the agenda for the Jan. 17 meeting, that staff overwhelmingly considered Samet the best choice.
“They are by far the best, most qualified for CM at risk,” Lawing said.
He added that, for this project, it made sense for the county to use the CMAR method rather than design the project first and then put it out for bids.
“We decided early on that that would be the best process for this particular project,” he said, “and we took proposals for construction managers and received two: CT Wilson Construction and Samet Corporation – and Samet has extensive experience with CM at risk.”
CT Wilson Construction Co. is based out of Durham.
The agreement with Samet will be entered into without knowing the total amount the county will pay.
“Usually you base the total CM at risk fee on the cost of the project – a percentage of the project,” Lawing said, adding that it would be based on the guaranteed maximum price. “The building hasn’t been designed yet so you don’t know what the guaranteed maximum price will be.”
The fee to be paid to Samet for “preconstruction services” is known. That will be $154,252.
“They will work with the architect to try to design it as efficiently as possible and then the construction manager will produce all the bid documents and send out each bid document – plumbing, electrical, masonry,” Lawing said, “and then they will get all the bids in for each specialty and see what those are and will award those to the lowest responsible bidder.
Once the price tag is known, Samet will get 5.59 percent of that number for managing the project.
Once open, Cone Health will provide mental health services and substance abuse treatment.
