Last Things First
Trends in Restroom Structures
By Rick Dandes
|
Many park agencies, Kaufman said, have banked some of the developer fees and other revenue they collected during the boom years and they are spending those funds building new parks at 50 percent of what those same parks cost in 2008. Federal funds issued for "shovel ready projects" are also being used in current development. Still other park projects are being constructed with corporate donations, lottery funds, special bond funds or donor funds with emphasis on meeting political demands for services.
During the boom years, Kaufman continued, many park agencies did not pay attention to the quality of construction of restroom materials, and they often focused on either low-cost construction or low-cost design. The premise that a restroom is just a restroom was the characterization of the times, so many poorer quality park restroom buildings were constructed that are now causing a maintenance nightmare for underfunded park maintenance budgets. The crises is yet to come as the backlog of existing maintenance bandaids increase and new construction projects come on line to further stretch park maintenance staffs and available budgets.
A restroom is complicated and expensive. It usually includes all the building trades: site work, utilities, plumbing, electrical, concrete, masonry, doors, windows, hardware, metals, painting, roofing, signs, fire protection, accessories and specialties, plus building permits and building inspections. So it's imperative that you carefully plan the design to address all the issues.
When calculating the total cost of a restroom, think of it as like owning a car, William Fee suggested. "Capital cost, plus maintenance cost, plus cost of utilities, plus replacement cost equals total cost."
There are ways to reduce cost, Fee added. "You can buy a pre-fabricated design and save on the cost of hiring a designer. You can build a smaller structure. Or have people pay to use them."
A pre-engineered building, for example, can actually be moved. It can be moved on site or reused at another site. Its transportability could help with the phased development of a project. And save on costs.