Baltimore County's expert tallies up costs

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 17, 2009 by Danny Jacobs

Design errors by the architectural firm behind the Baltimore County Detention Center addition cost the county $5.3 million, adding about 9 percent to the $58 million construction component of the project, the county's architectural expert testified Tuesday afternoon.

Thomas C. Crabtree, head of a Pennsylvania architectural firm, said a majority of the errors were omissions -- that is, elements that were not included in the jail's original design documents provided by DMJM H&N Inc. to contractors.

Crabtree reviewed the more than 340 change orders received from the project's contractors and classified them based on type, from design errors to unforeseen conditions to owner's requests. The change orders totaled $8.4 million, he said.

Crabtree also created a design timeline, from proposal to completion, comparing the contracted schedules with the actual timeline of events.

The original plans called for DMJM to deliver design documents -- also known as bid packages -- to the first two contractors at the same time, with the remaining packages delivered to other contractors at the same time at a later date, Crabtree said. But the first packages were delayed while the rest were "staggered out" in order to keep construction going, he said.

"As bid packages got stretched out, the amount of information available is dwindling and the work is dwindling," he said.

The addition "looked like a construction site," Crabtree continued, "but work that could've been done ...was not happening."

His firm, Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, has done $600 million worth of correctional facility work in the last 25 years, Crabtree said. Its projects include the design of two detention centers in Anne Arundel County working with Gilbane Building Co., which served as on-site construction manager for the Baltimore County project.

Crabtree, Rohrbaugh did not submit a bid for the Baltimore County Detention Center addition, Crabtree added.

The project was completed in May 2006, 18 months behind schedule, at a total cost of $77 million.

Crabtree also identified further damages, which he called premium costs, flowing from errors, problems and code violations.

The county is seeking $6.2 million in damages from DMJM, which in turn is seeking $2.1 million in unpaid fees from the county.

Crabtree's testimony is scheduled to continue Wednesday morning.