Trust the contractor or hire a construction manager for three proposed building projects?

That is the latest question facing Lehighton Area School District as it moves forward with plans for a new K-5 elementary center, and renovations to its middle and high schools.No official vote has been taken on the matter.Quandel Construction Group, based out of Harrisburg, made a pitch to Lehighton's school board this month claiming it could save the district around $2 million on $52 million worth of work."Corners are cut when nobody is watching," said John Koury, Quandel vice president. "The architect drives the car during the preconstruction process, but when the construction starts, we would really be the only ones watching out for the district. The contractor is going to look out for the contractor."If hired, Quandel would charge 1.63 percent, or $850,000, of the total cost for the three projects.The elementary center is projected to cost $32.5 million with middle school renovation estimates coming in at $10.7 million and high school renovations at $9.3 million.Their preconstruction services would include developing a project budget and site management plan. During the construction phase, they would have a full-time construction superintendent on-site for the project duration, manage change orders, and provide monthly board updates, among other duties."All the superintendents and board members I have talked to have spoken about the value of having a construction manager," Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. "Now it's not cheap and we are likely talking about a three-year marriage with this organization, but they are going to do a lot of things that we just can't do as administration. During the work, we still have the general operations of the district to run. The architect is not going to have eyes on the projects all day, every day. It doesn't hurt to have another set of professional eyes watching things."Several Lehighton board members questioned the need to spend more money on already expensive projects.William Hill Jr. dubbed the potential hiring of a construction management firm "overkill."In September, Quandel presented a "Construction 101" workshop at Lehighton's administration building, and Hill said he now feels "blindsided" that they are back asking for work."We have a lot of money out on the street without so much as a shovel in the ground yet," Hill said. "Trane is going to be the mechanical prime contractor for our middle school renovations. They are an $18 billion company. Do we really need to babysit them?"Fellow board member Rocky Ahner agreed, noting that the architect should be able to keep watch over the project."We had it shoved down our throats for two years that these architects, EI Associates, are the greatest in the world," he said. "We are not paying them $5 million or $6 million just to come up with some designs."Quandel officials promote their ability to save money on projects. A recent Gettysburg Area School District middle school had a project budget of $35 million and came in at an actual cost of $32,780,265.Meanwhile, board president Gloria Bowman said she doesn't want a repeat of the Lehighton High School construction 20 years ago, when problems with the roof ended up costing the district around $300,000 in legal fees.Tim Tkach, Lehighton coordinator of curriculum, instruction and grants, said prior projects in Lehighton Borough have him supporting a construction management firm."Talk to anybody who did the fire company building in Lehighton and they'll tell you that hiring a construction management team is the smartest thing they ever did," Tkach said. "If you don't have eyes there to watch during construction, corners are going to be cut."