Ortonville – Painting the Old Mill just became a little more costly.
An unexpected expense of more than $6,000 was added to the original bid of $12,000 for painting the Old Mill—and now no one wants to pay the extra charges.
Russ Adams, owner of Adams Paint the company which stripped and painted the mill, asked the village council on Sept. 22 to “spill” the extra cash.
Adams presented the village council with the additional $5,321.32 bill for the completion of the old mill, after the job was done. The total job cost turned out to be $17,321.32 rather than $12,000.
The council, however, is not so sure the higher bill belongs to the village, and will review whether it might be a matter of vendor loss or a Historical Society commitment.
Adams says the extra tab is due to an underestimation of the paint stripper.
“The bottom line,” said Adams, “is the product coverage that cost us.”
“I’m asking you for the overage.”
Originally, a Sherwin-Williams representative told Adams the estimated material amount to strip the mill would be approximately 50 gallons of “Peel-Away” paint stripper.
“Peel-Away” is a stripper paste used to dissolving the existing paint down to the bare wood.
Ultimately, however, it took more than 300 gallons of paste; all of which were discounted $10 per gallon by Adams’ supplier, Sherwin-Williams.
The boggling $5,000 difference in the final bill prompted Council Member Marcy Hanes to state that as a contractor Adams should have known the difference between 50 and 300 gallons of materials while doing the job.
Calling the project a convoluted process because of subsequent repairs during painting, delays, and additional material and labor, Adams said the final numbers were not available to him until the end of the five week job.
Further, President Pro-Tem Kay Green questioned Adams as to why he was asking the village to pay the additional bill when Sherwin-Williams should stand behind the representatives’ original estimate of only 50 gallons.
Although he delivered the additional $5,000 plus bill to the council for the payment request, Adams said he understood the council could tell him to “fly out the window,” adding that he actually thought he was working for the Historical Society, but was confused because he received payments through the village.
After receiving three bids to repaint the mill, in May, Historical Society President Tom Stowell presented a plan to council to strip, seal, and repaint the mill.
Further, Stowell requested supplemental funding of the lowest bid to total $6,000 from the village’s pockets. Council agreed to support the supplement for the lowest bid, which was from Adams Painting. Village Manager Paul Zelenak said later the council agreed to an additional $500.
Although Stowell says painting the mill was a joint project (between the society and the village) however, no further funding was requested from the village until Adams requested the village to make up the material overage.
Council, deferred the additional payment until they could meet with the Historical Society president, Tom Stowell for further investigation.