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Construction Closeout
In addition to impacting issues of entitlement, one other area of impact we’re seeing COVID-19 have on local government is in the delays of fire marshal inspections and certificates of occupancy. In New York City, for example, a number of charter schools have reported being on track to complete construction this May and June, but they are having difficulty getting any scheduled fire marshal inspection on the books for buildings to be occupied starting July 1st. While there should still be time for those inspections to happen before school starts, it highlights that just getting the building completed is not the only thing that matters, and there can be some serious heartburn even at the finish line. Anecdotally, we have heard that this is one of the areas of value in using an expediter, a person or service to quickly shepherd certain facility-related permission requests or approval. It should be noted that not all expediters are having similar success. Ask your facility development team about key closeout activities, a timeline on when those activities will be started and completed and confirm that they are beginning them as early as possible.
SchoolPrint is a free service to charter schools who need assistance in identifying and working with quality construction service providers, or general assistance in navigating the facilities process. We provide the blueprint schools need to successfully complete their facility projects. If your current facility situation has been further exacerbated by COVID-19 and you need expert advice, please feel free to email us at SchoolPrint@lisc.org.
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