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Home My WebLink About06/07/1994, C-7 - FRENCH PARK-CONTRACTOR APPEAL OF LIQUIDATED DAMAGES. Ilfll�ly�ll�lllllll� NII II MEETING DATE: GI II�AIIIII M Of San La- IS OBISpO June 7, 9994 uCOUNCIL AGENDA REPORT ITEM NUMBER: of y FROM: Michael D. McCluskey, Director of Public Works Wayne Peterson, City Engineer_ SUBJECT: French Park-Contractor Appeal of Liquidated Damages. CAO RECOMMENDATION: By motion deny request of Wysong Construction for release of penalties for late completion of project. DISCUSSION The Contractor of the recent park improvements, Wysong Construction, has requested that the Council not assess liquidated damages against him for being late in the completion of the French Park Improvement project. The contract as written requires the staff to assess the damages. The Council may approve the changes in the contract that the contractor requests. This contract was awarded November 11, 1992. The contractor had 40 working days to complete the work The initial project start was delayed due to wet conditions of the park area and rain that occurred during the winter. Actual work did not start until January 1993. During the work the staff, under terms of the contract did grant an additional 51 working days due to extra work requested by the city and circumstances beyond the control of the contractor. ,In addition the contractor was granted over 90 non-working days due to weather or wet soil conditions. According to the May 15th pay estimate the contractor was noticed that while he had only accomplished 13% of the work he only had 6 days remaining on the contract. On May 20th the contractor submitted a letter to the city indicating he would complete the park by June 25th. In June the park had not yet been planted but the contractor indicated the work was scheduled to begin. Later correspondence from the contractor indicates he will finish planting the park on September 24th. Between the time of these letters there was numerous contacts with the contractor attempting to encourage him to finish the project. The Park was finally ready to begin the maintenance period on November 21, 1993. The Contractor in his letter indicates that he was delayed in the completion of the work due to two things, hard rocky soil and sprinkler systems not located in the planned location. There is a provision for the contractor to request time extensions during a contract if he feels he is delayed due to unforeseen or changed circumstances. The hard rocky ground was apparent before the project started. The real problem in staffs opinion was his choice of construction equipment. The light duty equipment that he used did breakdown many times resulting in many delays. Also his choice of number of workers and pieces of equipment affected the speed at which he could complete the project. On contracts that require short completion schedules we expect contractors to staff appropriately. I The issue of the location of the underground sprinkler lines is also clear. If during construction the contractor had made a claim as provided under the terms of the contract staff may have been able 2_y_ / �� ►�IIIII�IIpa��Ill city of San tins osIspo COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT to work with him to identify exactly how much delay was caused by the sprinkler system. The Contractor made no such claim. Typically sprinkler systems are only shown schematically on the plans and the contractor would need to work carefully in areas where they might exist or plan to repair them. In any case it is impossible at this late date to calculate any delay cost to the project relative to this claim FISCAL IMPACT The terms of the contract call for the assessment of$250 per day for every calendar day the contract extends beyond the number of days allowed in the contract and in approved change orders. The Contractor went beyond the contract 64 working days. If every calendar day had been counted as allowed in the contract the number of days would have been considerably more. Denial of the claim will result in the assessment of$16,000 against the amount of money remaining to paid to the contractor. Any reduction in the number of days penalized will result in a corresponding reduction in the amount of the penalty. ALTERNATIVES The Council can allow any reduction in the penalty it chooses. A reduction in penalty for no apparent reason will send a message to the construction community that appeals to the City Council is a viable means of escaping contract responsibilities. Attachment: Letter from Wysong Construction �r� CITY COUNCIL EAN LUIS OB!SFO, CA 0 n S T R U C T I O n 8720-B EL CAMINO REAL• ATASCADERO,CA 93422 • (805)466-1038 • FAX(805)466-5176 • LIC.#471850 March 28, 1994 San Luis Obispo City Council City Hall 990 Palm Street San Luis Obispo, Ca 93401 Re: French Park CP #S-18Y Honorable Mayor and Council Members: This letter is being sent to ask for relief from the liquidated damages assessed on the project we have recently completed at French Park. At the present time, we are being assessed approximately $16, 500.00. I can agree that the project was not completed on time, but I do not feel that this was due to lack of responsiveness on the part of Wysong Construction Co. or Gilbert' s Landscape, the landscaping contractor. At the start of the project both myself and Gilbert ' s Landscape discovered that not only did the project site contain some rock, but that the entire project site was solid rock. Basically, what has been done here is to landscape a rock. As you can well imagine, this is a very time consuming process. Seldom did a day go by that a piece of equipment didn't break down due to the hardness of the rock. This item in itself has already cost us thousands of dollars. Upon the start of the tree planting, many bubbler lines were broken due to the fact that they were not shown correctly on the as- built drawings prepared by the previous contractor who had installed them. These were all repaired without cost to the City, but they did take additional time, effort and costs on behalf of Gilbert' s Landscape. During the entire length of the project, the workmen of Wysong Construction and Gilbert 's Landscape fought the water that ran out of the hill above the baseball diamond and drained to the north. Gilbert' s Landscape spent many days trying to get this area to drain without much success and without any charges being imposed on the City. It is my understanding that the City: has hired another contractor to install a drainage system in this area. If you have driven by the park, I feel that you would have to be in agreement that the project turned out well . �'-r 3 San Luis Obispo City Council March 28, 1994 Page 2 I also feel that the taxpayers of San Luis Obispo may have been caused some inconvenience from the park not being done on time, but they did not suffer any costs from this. Your consideration in waiving some or all of the liquidated damages will be appreciated. I will be happy to discuss this matter with you over the phone, or personally if you would like. Sincere y, Larry M. Wysong LMW:nd