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Findlay City Schools Begins Multi-Year $6.85 Million Dollar Facility Improvement Program With Design-Build Firm Plug Smart

FINDLAY, OH - (NewMediaWire) - August 24, 2016 - Findlay City Schools is beginning a facility improvement program to upgrade, retrofit and update various internal systems for all of the schools in the district. The $6.58 million dollar project will be broken down into five phases beginning in 2016. "In developing the district facility improvement program we have two goals. First is to create and maintain a safe learning environment for our students where each facility actually promotes learning and enhances the educational experience," states Findlay City Schools Maintenance Supervisor, Dennis Doolittle. "Second is to steward the facilities in such a way as to prolong building life and minimize energy and facility management costs for the district. I believe the phased program we developed will accomplish both goals in the most cost-efficient manner."

To help the district in this endeavor, Energy Services & Design-Build firm Plug Smart of Columbus, Ohio was chosen as the design-build general contractor to assist in the planning, engineering, sourcing and supervision of the project. Earlier this year, Plug Smart completed a self-funded energy project for Findlay City Schools that enabled the district to access over $370,000 in grants and rebates with a net-positive investment of over $2 million over 25 years. "The district already had a very detailed idea of what they wanted to accomplish for improving each school," states Will Lytwyn, Energy Management Specialist for Plug Smart. "This is a complex, multi-facetted project spread across ten facilities. A big part of our role has been to develop the most efficient way to tackle the various tasks, contractors and procurement that allow the district to receive optimal benefit quickly."

Improvements will be made at Findlay High School, Donnell Middle School, and Northview, Whittier, Jacobs, Washington, Wilson Vance, Chamberlin, Bigelow Hill, and Jefferson elementary schools. The work is wide ranging and includes new roofs, asphalt work, HVAC, venting and control upgrades, repairs to a loading dock, new gymnasium flooring, bleachers, lockers, security cameras and door access protection, windows and air conditioning for all the schools.

"Plug Smart demonstrated a deep understanding of what we wanted to accomplish and how we wanted to do it in their proposal to us," continued Dennis Doolittle. "They have open book pricing transparency with vendors and procurements, and have guaranteed their pricing over the course of the project -- all of this promotes trust in working together over the next five years. That coupled with their excellent engineering and project management skills and track record on the last project made us very comfortable selecting them as the design-build contractor. We anticipate a smooth project that will be completed on time and with no surprises."

Year one's budget of $1.2 million will address the roofing issues, bathrooms and loading dock at Findlay High School along with security cameras, HVAC and other work at various elementary schools.

"Design-build was definitely the most efficient and cost-effective way for Findlay City Schools to go for this project and we are glad they selected us to manage it," concluded Plug Smart's Will Lytwyn. "The State of Ohio's HB 153 legislation allows districts to choose design-build as the method to develop projects is a very cost effective way to implement facility improvement projects. Having to bid, manage and oversee the dozens of vendors and complex procurements would be a nightmare for anyone responsible for herding and managing all those tasks. We're looking forward to delivering another project on-time and under budget and making it a smooth, seamless process for Findlay."

Plug Smart is a full-service, Ohio-based energy services and design-build company with offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland, and Ft. Myers, Florida. Plug Smart offers turnkey and individual project services for commercial/industrial clients, school districts, government facilities and hospitals.

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