A message for the elected leadership of Maine

To the editor:
    I own and operate a small business in Maine. We do plumbing and heating work at the light commercial level, meaning office buildings, municipal buildings, apartment complexes, etc.
    We have just today bid a project at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. The reason I am writing today is to possibly enlighten you to the horrendous expense incurred on the taxpayer by the U.S. Government on projects such as this.
    The building is an existing unused nurses’ dormitory that is being converted to barracks for the SERE school. The specifications for the plumbing include cast iron pipe for the waste piping at a cost of 5 to 7 times the material cost of PVC (plastic) piping and at least double the labor cost.
    When it comes to the water piping there are three grades that could be utilized for the domestic and heating water piping. The most common used is what’s known as type L. This grading is based on the thickness of the tubing wall. Type L is used throughout the residential and commercial industry as a standard and its durability is more than adequate for all uses except underground.
    On this project, the Navy has specified Type K, which is mainly used for industrial use, high corrosion applications and underground. Type K costs on average 30 percent more. Today the cost and quality of plastics used for water and waste piping make me wonder why our government insists on using more expensive and labor-intensive materials. I suppose it’s the mentality that if they spend more today they can get an increase in their budget tomorrow.
    If the money for this or any other project were private money and the owners wanted to blow thousands of dollars for no real gain, it would be the owners’ business, however the money my government spends is my business since it is my money, not the government’s. Our elected leaders need to bring into legislation some tool that would stop or at least curb the unnecessary waste. Have the government specification manuals and engineers replaced with competitively bid engineering and common sense (an extinct animal in government).
    Remember years ago the expose of the $300 hammers and toilet seats? Well, this project is an 11-unit dormitory and the cost of the plumbing and heating alone will be around $70,000 to $100,000 per unit. That is correct. The cost is going to be close to or a bit above one million dollars for just the plumbing and heating of a 3-story building 125 feet long and 35 feet wide. The total cost to renovate this existing structure is estimated to be $6 to $8 million.
    I have built a complete 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 3,000 square foot home with garage and barn for less than one unit in this project. Of course the government didn’t write the specifications or draw the plans. (That may change at the rate we are losing our civil rights — think USSR state-owned housing, comrade)
    In Houlton, construction has started on a 28-unit elderly apartment building. The total plumbing and heating package was under $500,000 and the total building is around $5 million. This is a completely new building with 28 full apartments as the SERE barracks is an existing building with 11 units with no kitchen except one common area.
    America, Maine, Aroostook County and Ludlow do not need this kind of waste from our leadership. Do something! That goes for everyone but especially the elected leadership.
Jeffrey A. Boudreau
Ludlow