Final Report

On the

Relocation of the

Arlington Duplicate Bridge Club

Overview

The Board of Directors requested a review of the relocation of the Club in order to evaluate the reasonableness of the final costs associated with preparing the new facility. This report contains a review of the chronology of the relocation, with specific emphasis on the events that influenced the decisions relating to cost, a summary of the key items wherein the original estimate and the final cost differed significantly, and a summary of other topics associated with the costs, principally a summary of unusual actions implemented through the Relocation Committee in order to reduce the costs to the benefit of the Club.

The sources of the data for this assessment were the following:

• The spreadsheet summary, prepared by the Relocation Committee and used as their principal tracking tool.
• Follow-up discussions, via email, telephone, and in person, with the principal members of the Relocation Committee (primarily Jack Muzzio and Jim Brown).
• A review of the final vouchers from subcontractors, as they were certified for submittal to Cencor for our renovation reimbursement.

It should be noted that all bills due to the prime contractor and his subcontractors have been paid. In addition, the reimbursement check of $20,040 from Cencor (negotiated as a renovation allowance in our basic lease) has been received. The interim financing during the renovation period was graciously provided without interest by three members of the Club; they have been reimbursed. Thus, all costs associated with the renovation and move have been settled in full.

Chronology of the Relocation

In summer of 2005, there was an armed robbery at the previous facility at 2136 North Collins. Fortunately there were no injuries during the event. However, that punctuated the continuing concerns regarding the long-term future of the club in that location. Several members suggested that the Club seriously consider a move to a more favorable location. Lauren Brown and Dee Berg initiated a search for potential locations, and were referred to Bryan Graham, a commercial realtor who eventually became our representative in the relocation. Bryan generated a list of sixty-three potential sites in Zip Codes 76011 and 76012.

Lauren and Dee did considerable research and evaluation and condensed the initial list to six sites for further investigation. Although the Board had executed an extension to the lease of the facility on North Collins, they agreed to endorse a committee to develop alternatives for relocation. Lauren Brown was appointed Chairperson of the Relocation Committee.

The Relocation Committee quickly focused in on two potential sites in Fielder North Plaza, both of which required significant renovation in order to be suitable for the Club’s purposes. Jim Brown requested Steve Loe, a general contractor with over ten years record of performance for construction and remodeling for Don Davis Auto Group (Jim’s employer), to look at the sites and give an informal assessment of minimum renovation costs. Steve met with the Committee at the larger Fielder Plaza location on the next visit and provided an “off the cuff” estimate of $30,000 to $35,000 to provide the minimal work necessary to move in. Once we received rental costs on that space, it was determined that it would be completely out of reach of our budget. We then decided to look again at the smaller space at Fielder Plaza. Once again Steve looked at the property with the Committee. Steve indicated that he thought if we cut corners, that we might be able to get it done for $25,000 to $35,000, depending upon the addition of expanded restroom facilities. Jim Brown then asked if he (Steve) knew of anyone who might work on such a small project. Much to Jim’s surprise, Steve said that he would take on this project, with Jim as the liaison between him and the Committee.

As the Relocation Committee moved forward, it became apparent that the smaller Fielder Plaza property (the one we now occupy) would be the selected candidate. At Jim’s request, Steve conducted a walk-through of the facility (a difficult task, as there was at that time no electricity in the unit) and gave an initial estimate of $34,638 (including the expanded women’s restroom), so we could develop our presentation to the membership. At that point, we thought, based on Bryan’s best guess, that we might be able to get $25,000 to $30,000 finish-out allowance. Jim asked Steve if he thought there might be any chance of completing the project for $25,000; he said that it might be possible, but would depend on many factors. He was not familiar with the property and did not have any idea what we might find in the walls and ceilings. He said he should be able complete the renovation in about two to three weeks. If we could cut as many corners as possible and find members willing to donate some work and supplies, we might be able to accomplish the feat. He said that if it would help us get the club, he would be willing to waive his fee (a little over $4,000).

The committee developed a presentation for the membership, detailing the incidents leading up to the search for a new location, the selected property, the monthly costs and the estimated finish-out costs and allowance. There was a Special General Membership Meeting on 12 November 2005. When the relocation proposal was presented to the membership, it was overwhelmingly approved.

The Committee continued to work with Bryan and Kathryn McGlinchey (an attorney at Cary Jennings’ law firm, who donated these services at no cost to the club) to negotiate the lease contract language, monthly rent and finish-out allowance with Cencor. After much hard work, we negotiated a finish-out allowance of $20,040 plus the first two months rent free (a total of $5,010) for a total of approximately $25,000.

We next found out that our current sign did not meet the shopping center’s specifications and would have to be replaced with a new sign. Bryan referred Jim to Van Waugh with Sign-A-Rama, who had made our sign for the Collins street location. Van provided an estimate of approximately $3,000 for the signs. Jim was able to get Van to give us a 20% reduction, since he had recently made our other sign. Bryan generously agreed to forego $2,500 of his commission to cover the cost of the sign.

The Committee learned that an independent asbestos survey would be required, resulting in an impact to both cost and schedule. There was a significant delay in securing electricity for the new facility, due to the fact that the unit had apparently been subdivided and the meters were not properly marked and certified. Cencor provided an electrician to trace and certify the wiring, and after a delay, Jim Brown was able to meet TXU late one evening to get the electricity turned on so that construction could begin.

A similar delay occurred in getting gas hook-up, and once again Cencor provided a plumber at their expense to repipe for the gas hook-up. Jim Brown handled final arrangements with the gas company in order to allow for obtaining the Certificate of Occupancy.

Final Cost of Renovation

The final invoiced cost, paid to Steve Loe and used to obtain our $20,040 renovation reimbursement from Cencor, was $33,353.55. The original estimate (10 November 2005) was $34,638. This was the baseline from which the Relocation Committee started, with the objective being to “cut corners” as much as possible, hoping to come in with a final cost of near $25,000 (which would have resulted in zero out-of-pocket to the Club, based on Cencor’s providing $20K cash and two months rent-free at $2500 each). An assessment of the actual final costs reveals that most of the items in the original estimate came in reasonably close to the estimate. There were, in fact, only five items that drove the $8300 overrun. There are reasonable explanations for each of these variances, and they are summarized in the table below.

Item	Original Estimate	Actual Invoice Cost	Difference	Explanation
Plumbing	$2400	$5500	$3100 (+130%)	Problems with the existing plumbing (location and condition of the lines). A much larger amount of concrete had to be removed to get to worn out plumbing lines that had to be replaced, in addition to running the needed new lines for the expanded restrooms. The layout of the plumbing was not as expected, as the two restrooms had apparently been added at different times and the plumbing was not aligned with the needed location of the walls.
Electrical	$1600	$4259.35	$2659.35 (+166%)	Although we did not have to purchase any additional fluorescent fixtures, almost all of the fixtures were rearranged and aligned, rather than just spreading the existing fixtures around to obtain adequate light. Spot lights were added along the pathway on the north wall of the middle playing room. Ceiling fan supports and wiring were added to both rooms. Additional electrical outlets were added to accommodate the director’s desks and other needs. Light switches were added in every room (in place of turning on the lights at the breaker panels), and switches were added for the fans in both rooms (rather than using the pull cords on the fans). A new circuit had to be added to accommodate the exterior sign. An emergency exit sign had to be added by the storage closet, since the emergency exit over the back door could not be viewed around the closet.
Carpet	$4050	$5506.43	$1456.43 (+36%)	Original estimate was for 2,500 square feet of carpet. Ended up carpeting the entire facility (except the restrooms) for around 3,200 square feet of carpet. We also did not receive any of the donated carpet squares as had originally been anticipated.
Panic Bar for Rear Door	$0	$480	$480	Unable to move the one from the Collins facility as had been planned.
Ceiling Grid in East Playing Room	$2416	$3326	$910 (+38%)	Apparently this was simply a case of material costs exceeding the estimate.

It should also be recognized that the Relocation Committee took many extraordinary steps to contain costs. There were also donations of time and services from the membership of the Club. A summary of the key elements is the following:

• Cary Jennings and his associate, Kathryn McGlinchey, who provided legal review of the rather extensive Cencor lease (25+ pages with attachments) at no cost to the Club.
• Steve Loe, the general contractor, who waived his fee of about $4000.
• John and Carol McConnell, Bill White, and Jim and Lauren Brown provided interim financing for the renovation at no interest.
• Van Waugh, Sign-A-Rama, who reduced the price of the sign by 20%, and Bryan Graham, our realtor, who generously paid for the sign from his commission ($2500).
• Jack Muzzio, who did portions of the electrical work himself to minimize additional charges by the electrical subcontractor. Steve Hibbard, Mark Arneson, and Chuck Burke assisted Jack in the removal of ceiling fans from the Collins facility and installation in the Fielder Plaza facility.
• John Comeau, who provided all labor required for painting, both walls and cabinets.
• Steve Loe, who located a front door assembly at about $1400 under the initial estimate.
• Cencor, the property management firm, who is replacing all three HVAC units with new high-efficiency units at no cost to the club.
• The leadership provided by Lauren Brown, together with countless hours of follow-up on renovation activities by Jim Brown, were vital elements in keeping the project essentially on schedule in spite of numerous unforeseen snags which could have wrecked the schedule.
• Finally, the membership of the Club pitched in to accomplish the physical move of all property from Collins to Fielder Plaza at no additional cost to the Club.

Thus, it should be recognized that these contributions resulted in cost avoidances to the Club of about $9000 (exclusive of the HVAC, which alone is nearly $20,000).

Summary

Although there was initial concern about the $8300 out-of-pocket cost to the membership, analysis has yielded the following conclusions:

• If extreme measures had been taken to “force” the cost into the $25000 area, numerous of the features we now have would not have been possible, such as the expanded rest rooms, the second counter in the kitchen, the enhanced lighting, and full carpeting.
• As noted above, the Renovation Committee, acting through Jim Brown as the designated interface with the general contractor, negotiated several extraordinary contributions, both monetary and services, that actually provided a much higher quality renovation than originally planned, and did so near the original estimate.
• The $8300 increase was driven by a handful of individual items for which reasonable explanations of the increases are documented herein. In fact, plumbing and electrical accounted for nearly $6000 increase, and both of those tasks are significantly related to the original condition of the plumbing and wiring prior to our renovation. There is no reasonable method by which these conditions could have been determined prior to initiating renovation. While this is unfortunate, it is a recognized risk in renovation of commercial real estate.

An overwhelming majority of our club members and guests have remarked on the high quality of our new facility. The facility meets the objectives originally identified by the Relocation Committee in the presentation to the Special Membership Meeting in November. It provides a much larger playing facility in an area not identified as a high risk for crime. We have ample well-lit parking and visible onsite security patrols. The increase in the monthly rent will initially be funded through the modest $1 increase in card fees authorized by the membership. Lighting and ambient noise allow for a much more comfortable playing environment. Finally, access via the freeway system has been upgraded over the Collins Street facility.

Recommendation

With the completion of this review, it is recommended that the Board of Directors take the following actions:

• Approve this report as the final report on the relocation and publish it on the website for communication to the members.
• Officially disestablish the Relocation Committee with the thanks of the membership and the Board.
• Use any of the information contained herein for guidance and “Lessons Learned” if and when the club has occasion to conduct any similar complex endeavors in the future.

In addition, it is recommended that the Board provide special recognition to the key members of the Relocation Committee for their countless hours of over-and-above tasks that were critical in identifying the site and managing the renovation – Jim Brown, Lauren Brown, Dee Berg, and Jack Muzzio.

Submitted to the Board of Directors on 12 April 2006.

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C.C. Burke

Reviewed by the ADBC Board of Directors on 2 May 2006; approved as submitted herein.

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Caron Peck 5/3/06