Four change orders add $13,620 to the trade contracts on Plymouth's Harmonville fire station rebuild

Plymouth Township’s manager has signed four change orders worth $13,620.14 on the mechanical, plumbing and electrical contracts for the Harmonville Fire Company’s new Station 2 at 904 Germantown Pike, and Township Council is set to acknowledge them at its business meeting on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. The township’s October 5 workshop packet carries each one on the American Institute of Architects’ G701 change order form, with the contractor’s pricing sheet attached.

Counting earlier changes, the three trade contracts now total $1,765,679.21, which is $8,747.21 or 0.5% above the $1,756,932 awarded in 2025.

Section APlymouth took 39 bids for four separate prime contracts

The township bid the station in spring 2025 as four separate prime contracts, for general, mechanical, plumbing and electrical construction, with bids due April 10, 2025 through PennBid. The invitation to bid required bidders and their subcontractors to follow the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act. In a June 2, 2025 letter to the township manager, the project architect, KCBA Architects of Hatfield, reported 39 bids from 29 contractors: 11 for general construction, 10 for mechanical, 12 for plumbing and 6 for electrical.

The packet for council’s June 9, 2025 meeting carried motions to accept E.R. Stuebner, Inc. at $3,299,000 for general construction, Integrity Mechanical, Inc. at $563,475, Guy M. Cooper, Inc. at $444,750 and Albarell Electric, Inc. at $748,707. The architect’s letter puts the total cost of construction at $5,055,932. The change order forms date the contracts July 1, 2025.

At council’s May 5, 2025 workshop, according to the minutes, Dan Staufenberg estimated the project at about $5.6 million. He listed a $1.975 million grant from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, the state’s grant program for building projects, a $200,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, and a township contribution of $3.5 million that the fire company asked to raise to $4 million. Chief John Hoffman told council the budget carries a 5% contingency, the minutes say.

Section BOne owner decision on a pump opened change orders on two contracts

Two of the four come from one owner decision. MC-04, for $1,087.89, has Integrity Mechanical move the condensate pump in the day room to a spot on the wall about 21 inches from the left jamb of Door 206, at the owner’s request. Integrity’s proposal excludes electrical work. EC-02, for $1,476, has Albarell Electric demolish the conduit and wire it had already run, back to the nearest junction box, and run new conduit and wire to the pump’s new location outside Bunk Room 206.

The two plumbing changes concern the compressed air system. PC-01, for $2,057.53, adds a concrete housekeeping pad that fills the niche where the existing air compressor will sit, plus an Ingersoll Rand vibration isolation kit with anchors. PC-02, for $8,998.72, is the largest. The form says mockups showed how the hose reels would fit on the wall, and the owner then chose to hang three compressed air reels overhead to free up wall space. Guy M. Cooper’s proposal covers three racks hung from the bar joists, built from 180 linear feet of galvanized 1-5/8 inch strut at $6.75 a foot, and includes the cost of a first mockup rack that it says was not sufficient to support the reels.

Change in contract timeNone of the four changes the contract time, and each form says the date of substantial completion is unchanged.

Section CThe three trade contracts now sit 0.5% above their awards

Before these four, the mechanical contract carried net credits of $11,127.93 and the electrical contract $6,255 in added changes, according to the forms. The packet gives only those totals. PC-01 is the plumbing contract’s first change order.

Section DLabor was 47% of PC-02, the lowest share of the four

Integrity’s sheet for MC-04 carries six hours of journeyman fitter labor at $131 an hour, listed as an established unit rate, for $786. Its material is a supplier quote for copper pipe, elbows and pipe insulation, $262.51 with sales tax, plus 5% overhead and 10% profit on that material.

Guy M. Cooper’s sheets list a mechanic at a base rate of $67.53 and a total wage rate of $105.84 an hour. The sheet applies a mandated burden to the base rate only: Social Security at 7.65%, unemployment taxes at 8.51%, workers’ compensation at 11.57% and liability insurance at 1.43%, or 29.16% in all. It then adds 15% for overhead, general superintendent and profit to material, labor and equipment, and 2% for the bond on the whole. Worked through, a mechanic-hour on these sheets comes to about $144.36 before the bond.

Labor was 47% of PC-02’s price, the lowest share of the four, because the strut, fittings and scissor lift rental made up more of that job.

Albarell’s sheet for EC-02 carries 5.41 hours for a journeyman at $125.89 an hour, half an hour for as-built drawings, four hours for the project manager at $95 and half an hour for the general foreman. Indirect labor came to $448.42, or 30% of the $1,476 price. The sheet adds consumables at 3% of direct labor, overhead at 15% of total cost and a bond at 1.16%. It shows a calculated 5% markup set to zero, then a $0.37 credit that brings the price to an even $1,476.