#2805: Need assistance to estimate school costs

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: P. Cormier <Pcorm00@concentric.net>

[Please reply to Paul at his address.  thanks,  Bob] 

> Greetings to all!
>
> For those of you on the list that don't know me, I'm Paul Cormier,
> president of the Soleil Foundation.  We sponsor a small peasant village
> in Leogane, Haiti.  Our main goal is to provide education and medical
> care to the children who can't afford it.  This foundation started as a
> result of my deployment to Haiti with the USCG, during Operation Uphold
> Democracy.
>
> We been working with this village (located 2 miles northwest of town)
> near the ocean on Rue Bossier, for over 4 years now.  Actually, my kids
> just moved to Leogane a couple of years ago when the government forced
> them from their village near the wharf in Port au Prince.
>
> Currently, the pastor in the village allows us to use his meager church
> pavilion to hold our school classes.  We have grades 1 through 3.  We
> now need grades 4 through 6.  We started with 72 students.  It has now
> grown to 132 students.  We have outgrown our location.
>
> It is time for my foundation to plan for a new school.  I have purchased
> some property and now I need help with designing a new school.  We need
> a school design which can be expanded in the future. (We plan on a
> maximum of 1500 students in five years) What I am looking at now is a
> structure which will hold 300 kids.  I would like it broken up into six
> class rooms and one office.  We would also like a kitchen and bathroom
> facility.
>
> I am working with some fundraising experts here in Michigan.  They need
> a budget plan from me.  What they need from me immediately are some
> estimates as to what it would cost per student or per square foot to
> build this school.  This would include the chalk boards and
> bench-desks.  I want large rooms for class rooms, but not out of the
> norm for Haiti.  I would like the school to be built by the local
> natives.  My goal is to enhance the economy of the local area whenever
> possible.  All materials will be purchased locally or from PAP.  I'm not
> looking for anything fancy.  A concrete block building with a corrugated
> steel roof and steel exterior doors would suffice.  The interior rooms
> would have wooden doors.  The office would have a secure steel door.
>
> Can someone please assist me in coming up with some figures.  The person
> who is helping me raise funds would like to know what it would cost per
> student and/or per square foot to construct this new facility.
>
> I would appreciate any assistance with this.  I realize there are many
> factors that come into play when trying to estimate costs of
> construction.  I just need a rough estimate.  I would say border on the
> high, not the low figure. I need thes figures by monday morning.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul Cormier
> Soleil Foundation
> Bringing Happiness, Health and Hope to Haiti