Bird Blog: Week 16

Every week, Jennifer Mankins, owner of the Bird boutiques, tells us about the new 2,500-square-foot store on Grand Street in Williamsburg that she’s getting ready to open. Up this week: getting money back from the government, part 2, and finding a new contractor.

One of the contractors dropped out of the bidding a couple of weeks ago, but we received the preliminary bids from the remaining three contractors. Two bids were almost identical, around 330k, and the third was much lower, almost half. It was easy to see who had done their homework &#8212 who had fully researched the cost and availability of specified materials; who had broken down the bid in the detailed way we requested; who had taken the extra time to source alternative materials that he thought would work well with the project. Last week, the fully detailed, amended bid sets were sent out to the three contractors, and we’re waiting for the final bids now. In the end we will probably have to cut some of the scope of the design to get the project down closer to my original budget of 250k, but hopefully not too much.

When you last heard from us, we had just learned that with the extra due diligence from our architect and project manager, our tiny project had been reconsidered and approved by NYSERDA. The next step was to have a meeting between all interested parties: Gwen, the OPC (outreach project consultant) representing SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation, the company hired by NYSERDA to manage many of their projects); me, the client; Mark, the project manager representing the architect; Stephanie, the project manager representing the client; and Lorey, the TA (Technical Assistance) representing the engineering firm hired for the fundamental commissioning. (Phew! Deciphering the acronyms alone has been a bit of work.)

The first part of the meeting was spent just trying to understand Lorey’s role and how the money that NYSERDA is promising will cover her costs. She will oversee and evaluate our energy systems, which seems simple enough, but she also calculates the Capital Cost Incentive, which, as I understand it, is an estimate of how much money we might receive as based on our projected kWh and kW savings.

As a reader pointed out last week, $12k is still a lot of money to be spent on a commissioning agent. Fortunately, NYSERDA’s Capital Cost Incentives cover up to $10k of Lorey’s fees, as well as 50% of any additional amount (up to $50k).

Of course, we will have to pay costs associated with implementing her suggestions. To this end, the Capital Cost Incentives also include funding (up to 20%) toward suggested equipment purchases and installations. And, of course, if we do manage to achieve our goal of LEED-CI certification, there is a $7500 bonus to be spent as we see fit.

Here’s a list of potential building improvements that Lorey is looking into:
• High-efficiency economizer this is an attachment to the HVAC unit that determines when the outside air is of optimum temperature and humidity, and then brings in fresh, outside air into the building
• Daylighting sensors adjusts lights automatically, according to daylight
• Occupancy sensors adjusts lights automatically, according to occupancy (as in dressing rooms)
• Window glazing keeps the heat out

In the meantime, we are hoping to enjoy a few more days of peace and quiet, and sand and sun, before we hit the ground running fast next week. Happy Labor Day indeed!