You guys have got a lot of data. We could go on for two or three, four hours and we overran when we met with the admin team one time too. So um planning it all starts with plan. If you don't have a plan you're planning to fail and you've heard that before. So comprehensive assessment which Grant talked about. Then we get into ideiation options and consensus which Ryan talked about. And then it's the implementation. With this planning, we can develop a a clear scope that you guys support, your community supports. The one thing that we look at is we don't want this to be transactional. Okay? We don't want to step in, do something, and run away. And my site IQ, I think this is such a neat thing. Used to have a a book that we gave people. Used to um do spreadsheets and different things.
My side IQ was developed at a relationship with a comp with a school up in Minnesota and through 10 years plus we just continued and evolved and there's actually a demonstration for all of us I think in the next couple weeks on new features that are being added to that. So we also want to be here beyond construction. So, one of the things we talked about and Grant kind of hit on an Ashray standards and just I think about it as my house. I bought an old house built in 1950. I had to go in and start replacing all kinds of stuff. My wife and I got married. We were able to buy a new house. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. And then all of a sudden, it's like this drop in the water. As it goes farther and farther out, the ripple gets bigger.
And I got to spend more to make that house better again. And the same If you built an elementary school in 2023, interior finishes, those have an average life around 20 years. At roughly right now, 10 $10 a square foot on a hundred,000 square foot building, that's a million dollars that you got to start planning for. Exterior 20, that's 2 million. Or you're mechanical, that's six million. And you can see how that just keeps repeating. So, our goal is to help you put together that plan and level that out. How can we do that? Grant went through it. We take identify projects. You help prioritize what those projects are, put together scenarios. What can we do here? What can we do here? How much are we going to go bond? Maybe we only do this, so we're going to do this much. What's the escalation?
And then these summary reports. And Chris hit on that. One of the words I hear everywhere I go and on the news, you guys hear it. Transparency. Everybody wants transparency. You're doing it. Why are you doing this? These allow you as board members, as faculty, as your community to be able to see those things and take those asset scores and you can say, "We did this and look at look at what we've done with our with our schools." What separates us? Again, I'm summarizing real quick, but one point of contact Chris hit on what this traditional approaches. You've got an architect, you've got a construction, you've got engineering, you've got construction managers. We want to take that headache off of you. By doing that, we get a flat contracting model. It's an open bid process. You see what all the bids are. We evaluate them.
We give you a recommendation. You can make the decision on recommending. Again, we adise. we don't decide for you. It eliminates markups. And then we just talked about this transparent process. By going out and gathering data from everybody that's interested, you haven't hidden anything. You're being as transparent as you can. My side IQ, I don't know what else to say about it. Like I said, we could spend two hours on it. And then community engagement and referendum support. All those other states that we work in in Midwest, most of those are referendum states and Iowa is a supermajority. You got to have 60%. We know how to work through that if you ever want to have decided to go that route. Okay? Some people might like an apple, some people might like an orange. We're coming in here competing with other companies and we know that.
We can look at their websites and see what they are. We believe that we are like an apple and orange. What we can bring to your district is going to be different than what you're going to get from a traditional model.
And with that, we will say thank you and we will open it up for any questions that you might have. >> Since you guys only got 15 minutes, do you want to grab your pizza and eat while you ask questions? I don't want you guys to miss out on dinner. >> I hate to Yeah. >> So, any other questions, guys? >> So, have you guys already received a a fee for having come in and and done the walk? >> No, no. >> Okay. Then what what is that fee when we decide if we decide to go with you guys? >> Okay. Well, our fee structure is unique. No matter who you choose, you're going to pay an architect, you're going to pay an engineer, you're going to pay construction management, and you're going to pay commissioning. There's no way out of that. Um, a traditional model has schools typically will hire an AR architect or sometimes an AM firm and then they'll turn it over to construction management and keep them separately.
With us, since we're all in house, all those fees, like you have other architecture firms coming in, they'll probably give you the architectural costs. Um, with us, uh, can you pull up >> our model? >> Well, just like your your initial >> initial cost through filling things in >> it's all included in our one fee. It's not like you're going to pay for each individual piece. >> Yeah. Once we >> What is that? >> Yeah. >> So, >> Dr. Gin, >> go ahead. >> I was going to say Dr. Gin can tell you if you go look at a traditional construction project, once you pay for all of this stuff plus all the add-ons and everything else, you pay anywhere between 20 and 30% >> of the construction cost. >> Baker Tilly will tell you the state average is 21 or 30. What you don't see though when you just work with architecture sometimes you don't even get to see the other pieces architect engineering fees are competitive uh or better than most in the state.
You have construction management that you can't get out of whether they work through an architecture firm or separately. You're looking at 5 to 10% no matter what. We max we we top it at 5%. Commissioning you can't get away from commissioning. It's just a part of it. And program management, those are your site engineers. Um, and your you have site, you have construction engineers, um, and you have program managers all in there. So, go ahead. >> I was going to say I think you had mentioned let's say we go with you guys, we put the plan in place, you guys lay out who is doing the mechanical, who's doing etc etc. Then would you guys place an on-site staff member here or will that be through the construction management company to help kind of >> Yeah, you'll have a superintendent and you have a site um management supervisor and then you'll have me because I live local and I'll be here two three days a week.
So, okay. >> Yeah, there's somebody to talk to every day. >> Um there's always somebody managing and and I want to point out too, uh we were talking about bidding in southern Indiana. This is from experience. You have to have a company that is aggressively going out and seeking bids. I have been on the other end where I got one bid. I've been on the other end where I didn't get a single bid and we had to go out and that cost money because if there's no competition, you're going to pay more, right? >> So part of our process is, you know, we just finished a project where we had gone out and recruited. We got seven bids and their bid prices came in way lower because of competition. >> Sure. So >> kind what's the cost of just the facilities audit that >> it's a part of a project.
It's just part of a project. There's no cost built in >> and you'll get this too. Just to be transparent my side IQ you'll own it throughout the project. >> At the end if you wanted to get a subscription we're not a software company but you can get a subscription if you want. >> Some of the things we've done is we've actually built it into the project. Yeah. And we can build it into the project. Let's say you want it for five years. >> Yeah. >> You can make it a part of the bond and build it in. So >> there's no cost for this though. Direct costs. >> Any other questions? >> I just think it's neat how you're able to keep that kind of zoom in and manage and track everything because right now we have no system to manage or track >> anything.
It's just when it breaks down, it breaks down. >> Not uncommon. Yeah. >> So I I was in a district and for 13 years we did nothing. It seemed like we were just >> we can't do that. We can't do that. And we actually we couldn't even go bond. We didn't have the capacity to even go bond. We were have to do a referendum or nothing. We finally had some debt fall off. And it was so nice to be able to take that because I was in a position that I was trying to manage all this >> and try to figure out and you got those questions. Well, how'd you decide to do that? Why are you doing that? Um, we even brought in, it wasn't Baker Tilly, it was another financial company that came in and did a presentation for the task force in the community so they could understand school funding.
you know that you can you could go build a new fieldhouse and not give teachers a raise and people don't understand that. >> It's the way the state does it and but to be able to help educate people in that way. >> Yeah. >> So, and it it is a hard question because when I set you know what is your fee >> honestly I don't think you can take our fee and compare it to the other two that are sitting here because we are the orange when you've got apples and I think that's the that's the hard Sometimes it seems like we're not maybe totally answering, but >> yeah, >> it's hard to because our fee ends up being all of this. What we don't want you to do is silo everything, right? And that's that's what happens. And again being I ran one $5 million project that it took 90% of my time and then I hired Site Logic and it was like okay I can actually focus on what I need to focus on which was kids transportation improving that driving a bus.
I just wanted to touch on the community engagement we did with John's district because I was in part of that demonstration. I remember at the beginning of the process, the overwhelming community uh want was a new fieldhouse. That's what everyone wanted. But when we toured the schools, showed them the equipment, showed them why, the cost, how much they were spending each summer to maintain it. At the end of that, the recommendation was we need to get our facilities better. You know, we had some CO2 measurements to show the air quality, those sorts of things. And so, they kind of came to the conclusion, well, you know, we really want the fieldhouse, but is that what we need? you know, and you know, with the dollars you have, you can't always get both. You know, you can't get what you want. So, >> did you did you have a lot of community uh input on that?
>> There on the on the task force there were 29, >> right? >> They put 18 hours into this because it was spread out over time and we put together a chart to show you what that is. As far as survey inputs, um, we had a ton. And again, part of it is some people will say, you know, we're just going to go get the yes vote out. We're going to put us, we're going to do this, and here's why. We really wanted to ask for for feedback. >> And so mailings, because some of your older people don't use the internet, okay? So, we mailed stuff. We sent the postcards. there were QR codes that you could scan. Um, you could actually go to the school and pick up one of the surveys, you know, so it was trying to get out and I more than anything that was the trying to be transparent because when you're going to go spend that money >> and you guys are in a unique position, right?
You got one of the lowest debt service rates I've seen. >> Yeah. you've got a great opportunity >> to really impact futures because what you're doing now is just going to be extending and I think that's really exciting for you guys. I mean whether you choose us or not and hopefully you go do something and hopefully you do choose us but I mean to the opportunity you have is is really good. >> I would stress too that we work with districts from East Gibson all the way to IPS. We specialize in small districts and the one thing that we do so well is take the stress off the superintendent. Most of us have been district leaders or building leaders. We know what the job entails and because it's all in house um the superintendent is not managing four companies and uh it makes it much less stressful throughout the process.
>> And I would say it also to me I think it takes the pressure off of you. >> Yes. as well because through the community engagement, through being able to identify some of those things, you're not you're almost gonna have people that disagree with you, right? You got to eventually make a decision, >> but they can't say you did it in a vacuum. >> Yeah. >> And that's the that's the cool part. Any other questions? We got what, four minutes? >> Thanks, guys. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate the opportunity. Wish you guys best luck in this process. >> Thank you, John. >> I thought it was great. >> It was my decision, gentlemen. We'll move forward. >> If you guys have any other questions, Dr. Galvin has our cards know how to get it. >> Did you? >> He also did share with me what they did at what school corporation was it?
Which one that you >> where I was? >> Yes. >> Oh, Frankton Lapel Community Schools. There's a Did I I sent you that link? Yeah. So, we have a link of what they did with the community, the meetings that they had and stuff. And so, >> I looked through it. Very impressed, by the way. Very good job. And I would probably steal it. So, anyway, >> the teacher would >> I think that the cool part about that was >> is >> I was there. I didn't do any of it. >> It's turned over >> to us >> so that it doesn't look like Dr. Galvin is driving the ship. >> Right. Basically, we walked out, they did it, they created the website for us, they posted everything, they took the pictures, and it was like, "Oh, man. This is awesome." >> There's a card of mine in each of the folders, and I don't know if you guys, but feel free to contact me at any time, too.
>> And I am local if I need to come and look at anything. And then I think like I shared with the board as well that we can go see Orleans or >> love Jimmy Superintendent Orleans. Um he loves to show off the new building. We added a wing on the elementary and we completely remodeled the middle school and the high school and he loves to show off. >> I've met Jimmy. I know. >> Did you learn anything new tonight? >> It was just like the first time. >> It was great. only a little better because we didn't have the lag with Ryan. >> It was. Yes. Yes. >> Yeah. The lag was a little little difficult. >> All right, guys. Thank you so much. >> The first one. Missed the first one. >> Thank you guys very much. >> Thank you. >> I will.
I will. Wow. >> Because we knew how short of a drive you guys had. >> I don't need any pizza. I just need a drink. I'm good. You can have it all. >> These two stuck together. I couldn't get them apart. Dr. Josh does >> technical difficulties. >> Josh does what? >> Well, there's a hand here like this and it's been that way for an hour. >> Stop. Maybe the battery. >> It shows that it's still running. Okay. >> Yeah. >> But it's not. >> One thing we got to make sure we do is get some chairs that are comfortable. >> These suckers kill the rear end. >> I seen some of that nice furniture. I was like, can we get some of that right now? >> It says it's still streaming. >> This is worse than a picture. Yeah. >> Got it. I thought it was recording, but It's got a different picture on it now.