The County School Board on Tuesday afternoon approved the low bid submitted by an Alcoa, Tn., construction firm to build the new Ooltewah Elementary School.
Hickory Construction bid $21,454,548. That includes having the school ready to open by Aug. 1, 2013.
If the work is not finished by then, the school will not open until the fall of 2014, and Hickory Construction will forfeit $545,000 of the bid amount.
Other bids:
Tricon of Cleveland, Tn. $22,853,598
Rentenbach Constructors of Knoxville $22,857,950
EMJ Corporation of Chattanooga $23,412,300
Dillard Construction $23,841,400
DBS Construction $23,909,150
P & C Construction $28,788,742
Gary Waters, who oversees buildings and maintenance, said most new schools here were long built by local contractors.
But he said there now are fewer construction firms here who are able to get bonds on a job above $20 million.
He said construction companies now do work over a wide territory.
Mr. Waters said he recommends against a policy favoring local construction firms. He said that can cause similar barriers to be raised elsewhere against Chattanooga builders.