Developing a Paving Scope of Work: How to Get Apples to Apples


JayThobe Ben's Asphalt, Inc.


One of the necessary evils of managing and living in an association is the daunting task of maintaining the community streets. Most asphalt companies recommend repair and seal coat of the streets every three to five years. This can range from simple repairs and seal coating (also known as slurry seal) to a full removal and replacement of the streets, and everything in between.


Regardless of the size of the job, it is necessary to get at least three proposals so the association can make an informed decision about the cost of the project and which company to use. If there is not a paving engineer setting the scope of work, getting proposals that are "apples to apples" can be tricky because, with asphalt, five estimators can go out to look at a project and come up with five completely different scopes of work. Below, you will see how to obtain "apples to apples" scopes from all bidders, what to look for in each proposal to make sure they contain the same scope, how to prepare for and execute the project, and why the time of year matters.


The first three questions an association should ask itself when considering an asphalt project is what's our budget; how do we want our streets to look; and how long do we want the repairs to last. Once that is determined, the community manager should coordinate a job walk with at least three bidders, and have all bidders on site at the same time to walk the project together and agree upon a scope of work.


Some managers might be nervous about getting multiple bidders together at the same time because, after all, they are competitors. But in the end it saves everybody time and frustration because being on site at the same time, the estimators can agree on the areas of repair and how to repair these areas. Will it be removal and replacement? Will it be an overlay? Is there grinding involved? Do manholes or valves need to be adjusted in repair areas? What are the sizes of each area to be repaired? The variables in any repair are numerous and diverse and, unless agreed upon in advance, will lead to an "apples to oranges to bananas" comparison of the bids when received. The idea is that by the end of the walk, all estimators will have the same dimensions and locations of repairs, the same square footage for seal coat, the same striping take off, etc. This in turn will make the community manager's job much easier when presenting members of the board with the


14 May | June 2022


proposals, because they can evaluate cost, knowing the scopes are the same.


Below are ten items to look for after the community manager has received the proposals to make sure scopes are the same. The following items can make a big difference in the price of a job and they should be on all of the proposals. The community manager should require the bidders to call out all of the below information on their proposals. If there is a discrepancy in any of them, the community manager will want to find out why from that contractor, as a discrepancy will make the bids vastly different.


1 >> Are the square footage measurements and number of areas being repaired the same?


2 » If there Is grinding as part of the scope, Is It a full grind of the areas, or Is it an edge grind?


3 >> For overlay/ resurface areas, are thicknesses of overlays and asphalt the same?


4 » Do the proposals Include Forti-Fi, Glass Pave, or Petromat as part of the overlay? Petromat and Glass Pave are fabrics used to reduce reflective cracking when overlaying. Forta-Fi is a type of fiber mixed into the asphalt at the plant and also designed to reduce reflective cracking.


5 » Are valves and manholes being raised? 6 » How many phases is the job bid for?


7 » Do any of the proposals exclude dumping of Petromat In existing asphalt?


8 » What type of slurry seal will be used? 9 >> Is the slurry seal bid for one coat or two?


10» And finally, does the proposal include any resident notification requirements?


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