University of Wisconsin System officials are developing a proposal to change outdated laws that prevent new buildings from being constructed as quickly and inexpensively as possible.
According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, the system is proposing to raise the maximum amount the university can spend on minor building improvements without having to get the plans passed by the Legislature.
Giroux said the current threshold is set at $150,000. Any project above the thresholds must be approved before it can be completed.
“The thresholds was established back in the ’60s,” Giroux said, “Back in the ’60s, you could buy a nice home for $30,000 and an awful lot of maintenance for $150,000. Today home costs and construction costs are a lot higher so we are asking that the thresholds that we use be brought in line with today’s standards.”
Giroux added the system is not asking for unprecedented leeway. By raising the threshold, UW is looking to regain its ability to complete small maintenance projects originally under its jurisdiction prior to inflation.
UW System officials are also looking to modernize the process of development, Giroux said.
“Right now we have a process that has many complicating factors to it,” Giroux said. “It’s a process in that in one area we hire a contractor and then the contractor gives us a cost and then we hire an electrical contractor, and each gives us a cost.”
UW architect Dan Okoli said the current process known as “multiple prime design” is not the most efficient method of production since the different sectors of development are not officially consolidated and often work at their own pace with their own agendas.
Okoli said having a different person controlling each aspect of development often leads to confusion and finger pointing, which results in loss of time and money.
The proposal looks to consolidate every factor of development under one contractor who will oversee the entire project.
“If we had a process that was more integrated where the designer and contractor were at the table together we could not only speed up these projects but also make fewer changes and have fewer cost once the project has begun,” Okoli said.
One contractor would also come with a smaller staff, Giroux said, which would contribute to a more cost-effective method of production.
According to Okoli not every project would use this method. The system intends to look at each project on a case-by-case basis.
“We don’t have a one size that fits all method so we are trying to accommodate different projects with different means by choosing different alternatives,” Okoli said.
Okoli also said no official recommendation will be complete until the building commissions meet to discuss the proposal’s specifics.
Giroux said the UW System Board of Regents has been very supportive of the proposal thus far, but he does not know for certain how the board will vote at Thursday’s meeting.
